Autonomous ground vehicles providing ordered items in pickup areas
US10303171B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 29, 2016 |
| Grant date | May 28, 2019 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 9, 2037 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG05D1/0027
- WIPO fieldControl
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
Autonomous ground vehicles (“AGVs”) containing ordered items travel (e.g., from materials handling facilities, etc.) to pickup areas (e.g., on a street, in a parking lot, inside a store, etc.) where users may retrieve the ordered items from the AGVs. In various configurations, an AGV may have a single storage compartment or may have multiple storage compartments, and multiple AGVs may congregate at a pickup area which may include various facilities/services for the AGVs (e.g., a charging station, a common control station for the AGVs, etc.). Multiple AGVs at a pickup area may be arranged in a particular configuration (e.g., according to a particular order, stacked, etc.), and the configuration may be changed (e.g., when a new AGV arrives and/or when an AGV departs, such as after an ordered item is retrieved from an AGV which then leaves the pickup area to return to a materials handling facility, etc.).
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.