Amazon Technologies, Inc.

Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Athorus, Pllc

Daniel Buchmueller

Gur Kimchi

Amir Navot

Brian C Beckman

Fabian Hensel

Brandon William Porter

Scott A Green

Louis LeRoi LeGrand, Iii

Severan Sylvain Jean-Michel Rault

Avi Bar-Zeev

Ricky Dean Welsh

Frederik Schaffalitzky

Scott Michael Wilcox

Joshua White Traube

Walker Chamberlain Robb

Scott M Isaacs

Nathan Michael Paczan

Lowell Timothy Neal

Jeffrey P Bezos

Jack Erdozain, Jr

Samuel Sperindeo

Subram Narasimhan

Jin Dong Kim

Koohyun Um

Ronald Joseph Degges, Jr

Sang Eun Lee

Samuel Park

Louis Leroi Legrand

Ohil Krishnamurthy Manyam

Ramanathan Palaniappan

Michel Leonard Goldstein

Scott Raymond Harris

Michael Kroepfl

Atishkumar Kalyan

Long Xuan Nguyen

Steven Gregory Dunn

Robert Roy Champagne, Jr

Robert John Anderson

Yves Albers Schoenberg

Jon Lewis Lindskog

Michael Bolotski

Raymond Wheekyun Lim

Yves Christian Albers Schoenberg

Nathan Stuart Friendly

Trevor Barr Walker

Ishwarya Ananthabhotla

Christopher Aden Maynor

Benji Barash

Scarlett Elizabeth Koller

Anamika Sinha

Eric Alexander Riehl

Severan Sylvain Rault

Jesper Mikael Johansson

Eyal Ofek

Jon Arron McClintock

David Nister

Varadarajan Gopalakrishnan

Andrew Jay Roths

Blaise Hilary Aguera-Arcas

Jon Robert Ducrou

Min Liu

Scott Vernon Fynn

Neil Whitney Woodward, Iii

Meir Ben Itay

Avi Bar-zeev

Elad Ben-Israel

Jose D Saura

Vadim Cugunovs

Christopher Hammond Sczudlo

Scott Micheal Wilcox

This disclosure describes an unmanned aerial vehicle ('UAV') configured to autonomously deliver items of inventory to various destinations. The UAV may receive inventory information and a destination location and autonomously retrieve the inventory from a location within a materials handling facility, compute a route from the materials handling facility to a destination and travel to the destination to deliver the inventory.

Aerial vehicle delivery location

This disclosure describes a system for determining an estimated user departure time from a materials handling facility. For example, a user may enter a materials handling facility to pick one or more items from the materials handling facility. Those items may be provided to an agent for processing, such as packing, while the user picks other items within the materials handling facility. To ensure that the items are processed in a timely manner and made available to the user when the user is ready to depart from the materials handling facility, the implementations discussed determine an anticipated user departure time and compare that time with an estimated processing time needed to process the items.

Item tracking within a facility

The disclosure describes an automated aerial vehicle (AAV) and system for automatically detecting a contact or an imminent contact between a propeller of the AAV and an object (e.g., human, pet, or other animal). When a contact or an imminent contact is detected, a safety profile may be executed to reduce or avoid any potential harm to the object and/or the AAV. For example, if a contact with a propeller of the AAV by an object is detected, the rotation of the propeller may be stopped to avoid harming the object. Likewise, an object detection component may be used to detect an object that is nearing a propeller, stop the rotation of the propeller, and/or navigate the AAV away from the detected object.

Propeller safety for automated aerial vehicles

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can deliver a package to a delivery destination. Packages delivered by a UAV may be lowered towards the ground while the UAV continues to fly rather than the UAV landing on the ground and releasing the package. Packages may sway during lowering as a result of wind or movement of the UAV. By modulating a rate of descent of a package, a package sway may mitigated. The lowering mechanism includes wrapping a tether in various directions around the package such that the package rotates in a first and second direction as the package descends. Additionally, a rip-strip lowering mechanism that separates under tension to lower the package and a rappel mechanism that slides the package down a tether may be used. Accordingly, the tether can control a descent of the package assembly.

Delivery drop rate modulation

This disclosure describes an unmanned aerial vehicle that may be configured during flight to optimize for agility or efficiency.

Adjustable unmanned aerial vehicles with adjustable body portions

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can deliver a package to a delivery destination. Packages delivered by a UAV may be lowered towards the ground while the UAV continues to fly rather than the UAV landing on the ground and releasing the package. Packages may sway during lowering as a result of wind or movement of the UAV. A package sway may be monitored and mitigated by rapidly paying out a tether, when using a winch mechanism, to dissipate the energy of the sway as downward energy. Further, the UAV may navigate in the direction of the sway or reduce the altitude of the UAV to dissipate the energy of the sway. Open-loop and/or closed loop drop techniques may be utilized to lower a package from the UAV, and the package may be released in the air or on the ground.

Delivery drop platforms, tethers, and stabilization

An illustrative battery charging device may identify a battery to be charged, and charge the identified battery using charge settings that are optimized for the identified battery. In some embodiments, the battery charging device may determine the optimized settings based on monitoring charging performance and discharge activities of the battery over time. The battery charging device may exchange data with a battery management service device, such as by exchanging battery health information, battery settings, and/or other data. The battery charging device may determine charge setting and times to charge a battery that is intended to power an unmanned aerial vehicle to complete a flight path.

Automatic battery charging

A system and method for operating an automated aerial vehicle are provided wherein influences of ground effects (e.g., which may increase the effective thrusts of propellers by interfering with the respective airflows) are utilized for sensing the ground or other surfaces. In various implementations, operating parameters of the automated aerial vehicle are monitored to determine when ground effects are influencing the parameters associated with the propellers, which correspondingly indicate proximities to a surface (e.g., the ground). Such ground effect sensing techniques may be utilized as a backup to other sensors (e.g., which may be determined to not be functioning properly and/or may be otherwise inhibited due factors such as to rain, snow, fog, reflections, bright sunlight, etc.).

Ground effect based surface sensing utilized with other sensing technologies in automated aerial vehicles

Automated inspections of aerial vehicles may be performed using imaging devices, microphones or other sensors. Between phases of operation, the aerial vehicle may be instructed to perform a plurality of testing evolutions, e.g., in a sequence, at a testing facility, and data may be captured during the evolutions by sensors provided on the aerial vehicle and by ground-based sensors at the testing facility. The imaging and acoustic data may be processed to determine whether any vibrations or radiated noises during the evolutions are consistent with faults or discrepancies of the aerial vehicle such as microfractures, corrosions or fatigue. If no faults or discrepancies are detected, the aerial vehicle may be returned to service without delay. If any faults or discrepancies are detected, however, then the aerial vehicle may be subjected to maintenance, repairs or further manual or visual inspections.

Automated aerial vehicle inspections

Described is an airborne monitoring station ('AMS') for use in monitoring a coverage area and/or unmanned aerial vehicles ('UAVs') positioned within a coverage area of the AMS. For example, the AMS may be an airship that remains at a high altitude (e.g., 45,000 feet) that monitors a coverage area that is within a line-of-sight of the AMS. As UAVs enter, navigate within and exit the coverage area, the AMS may wirelessly communicate with the UAVs, facilitate communication between the UAVs and one or more remote computing resources, and/or monitor a position of the UAVs.

Airborne unmanned aerial vehicle monitoring station with adjustable image capture devices

This disclosure describes a configuration of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that will facilitate extended flight duration. The UAV may have any number of lifting motors. For example, the UAV may include four lifting motors (also known as a quad-copter), eight lifting motors (octo-copter), etc. Likewise, to improve the efficiency of horizontal flight, the UAV also includes a pushing motor and propeller assembly that is oriented at approximately ninety degrees to one or more of the lifting motors. When the UAV is moving horizontally, the pushing motor may be engaged and the pushing propeller will aid in the horizontal propulsion of the UAV.

Unmanned aerial vehicle configuration for extended flight and heat dissipation

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Seattle, WA, United States of America

Daniel Buchmueller