MECHANISMS FOR LOWERING A PAYLOAD TO THE GROUND FROM A UAV

Title:

MECHANISMS FOR LOWERING A PAYLOAD TO THE GROUND FROM A UAV

Document Type and Number:

WIPO Patent Application WO/2015/076886

Kind Code:

A3

Abstract:

Embodiments described herein may help to provide medical support via a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). An illustrative UAV may include a housmg, a payload, a line-deployment mechanism coupled to the housing and a line, and a payload-release mechanism that couples the line to the payload, wherein the payload -release mechanism is configured to release the payload from the line. The UAV may further include a control system configured to determine that the UAV is located at or near a delivery location and responsively: operate the line-deployment mechanism according to a variable deployment- rate profile to lower the payload to or near to the ground, determine that the payload is touching or is within a threshold distance from the ground, and responsively operate the payload-release mechanism to release the payload from the line.

Inventors:

PATRICK WILLIAM GRAHAM (US)
BURGESS JAMES RYAN (US)
CONRAD ANDREW (US)

Application Number:

PCT/US2014/052553

Publication Date:

July 30, 2015

Filing Date:

August 25, 2014

Export Citation:

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Assignee:

GOOGLE INC (US)

International Classes:

B64C39/02; B64D1/02; B64D47/00

Foreign References:

US20110084162A1	2011-04-14
US20050230555A1	2005-10-20
US20080099623A1	2008-05-01
US20100243815A1	2010-09-30
US20110174931A1	2011-07-21

Other References: