A package delivery apparatus of a vehicle may include a servo, a servo arm rotated by the servo, a latch that rotates responsive to rotation of the servo arm, and a rod and slider that moves responsive to rotation of the servo arm. The components of the package delivery apparatus may move between a plurality of positions, including a loading position, a locking position, a sensing position, and a release position. The rotation of the latch may control loading, locking, sensing, and release of a package within a package path of the vehicle, and the movement of the rod and slider may control movement of a door assembly of the vehicle between open and closed positions.

To provide a structure capable of further improving safety of a device that autonomously moves in an emergency situation. Provided is a circuit including: a report unit configured to report action-allowable time information regarding an action-allowable time to a base station; and an action control unit configured to control an action of a moving object on the basis of an action instruction decided on the basis of the reported action-allowable time information and notified of by the base station and to control an action with reference to a map in which a danger level for each place is defined in an emergency situation.

Provided is a circuit including a report unit that reports action-allowable time information regarding an action-allowable time to a base station, and an action control unit that controls an action of a moving object on the basis of an action instruction. The action instruction is decided on the basis of the reported action-allowable time information and notified of by the base station. The action control unit further controls the action with reference to a map in which a danger level for each place is defined in an emergency situation.

A VTOL aircraft comprising a plurality of motor assemblies, each configured to generate thrust by movement of air past the motor assembly along a respective axis of thrust of the motor assembly, and a wing, wherein 1) the orientations of the axes of thrust are each fixed, during operation of the aircraft, at a constant respective pitch angle oblique to a pitch orientation of the wing; 2) the plurality of motor assemblies is operable together to both fully support the aircraft in a hovering mode, and to propel the aircraft forward in a forward flight mode; 3) the wing does not intersect with any right cylinder centered on any motor assembly and having a central longitudinal axis aligned with the axis of thrust of the motor assembly, and having a radius equal to a radius of a propeller of the motor assembly.

A method for controlling a movable object is described. The method may include controlling the movable object to move with a variable speed along one or more directions; collecting sensing data from one or more sensors onboard the movable object during the movement along the one or more directions, wherein the one or more sensors do not include a magnetic sensor; and determining a correspondence between a local coordinate system and a global coordinate system based on the sensing data.

An agricultural aircraft for spreading granular fertilizer and a spreading method thereof. The agricultural aircraft includes an aircraft body, a power system, and a spreading device, where the spreading device is located at a front part of the aircraft body, and the aircraft body is also provided at the front thereof with a wind direction sensor and a wind speed sensor communicatively connected a controller; the spreading device includes a box body, a throwing disc, and a tray connected to the box body, where a left baffle plate and a right baffle plate with controllable opening angles are disposed on the tray; an upper part of the box body is a material box for storing granular fertilizer, a cavity for accommodating the tray and the throwing disc is disposed on one side of the box body.

Systems and methods for identifying thermal run-away events in a battery pack can include using infrared sensors to measure infrared radiation emitted by and reflected by subsets of the battery cells arrayed in a battery pack. Each infrared sensor can generate temperature data based on the received infrared radiation, which includes reflected infrared radiation for several and potentially many individual battery cells aligned in rows or columns within the battery pack. Each infrared sensor can sense the beginning of a thermal run-away event by sensing when an individual battery cell in the array has a temperature exceeding a threshold, and can generate a signal indicative of a thermal run-away event based on the detected excessive temperature.

An automated system and method for controlling a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is described. The system can include a receiver, a transmitter, and at least one processor in communication with a memory. The receiver receives first telemetric data from the plurality of UAVs. The transmitter is configured to transmit control data to the plurality of UAVs. The memory stores processor-issuable instructions to: substantially simultaneously determine a plurality of plans for each of the plurality of UAVs and for a predetermined time period based at least on the first telemetric data; and iteratively revise the plurality of plans.

A method of providing an increase of communication capacity in a communications system is disclosed. The method is performed in a network device and comprises: establishing a need for a communication capacity increase in a first coverage area C1, directing an unmanned aerial vehicle comprising an access node towards the first coverage area C1, and providing communication resources by the access node of the unmanned aerial vehicle to meet the communication capacity increase in a first coverage area C1. A method in an unmanned aerial vehicle, a network device, unmanned aerial vehicle, computer programs and computer program products are also provided.

A system includes an aerial drone. The aerial drone includes first and second electrically conductive end effectors. The first and second electrically conductive end effectors are electrically connected to a power source.