An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a stand for launching, landing, testing, refueling and recharging a UAV, and methods for testing, landing and launching the UAV are disclosed. Further, embodiments may include transferring a payload onto or off of the UAV, and loading flight planning and diagnostic maintenance information to the UAV.

A system for homing and recharging an unmanned vehicle comprises a plurality of homing layers operative along the radius of an imaginary circle that has the homing target at its center, each homing layer consisting of a sub-system provided with location means of increasing accuracy relative to that of a sub-system that operates along said radius farther away, from the center of said circle.

Provided are a device for communicating with and controlling a small unmanned airplane, and a method therefor. In an information processing system to which the present invention is applied, a drone is provided with: a converter module that operates on a storage battery; an onboard communication means; an FDR module; a drive unit or the like, not illustrated; a leg section that contacts or approaches a landing port; and a charging terminal for supplying power for charging to the storage battery, the charging terminal being disposed in the proximal area. The landing port is the landing port where the drone lands, and has a projection for guiding the leg section onto a planar section.

Drone-based systems and methods are described for providing an airborne relocatable communication hub within a delivery vehicle for broadcast-enabled devices maintained within the delivery vehicle. Such a method has an aerial communication drone paired with the delivery vehicle transitioning to an active power state, uncoupling from a secured position on an internal docking station fixed within the delivery vehicle and then moving to a first deployed airborne position within the delivery vehicle. At a first position, the method has the aerial communication drone establishing a first wireless data communication path to a first broadcast-enabled device within the delivery vehicle, then establishing a second wireless data communication path to a second broadcast-enabled device within the delivery vehicle. The drone then couples the first and second wireless data communication paths it established operating as the airborne relocatable communication hub for the devices.

The location detection unit detects a destination location for delivery of an item by a drone. The release determination unit determines whether the drone transporting the item can release and place the item at the destination. Upon determination that the release and placement is not possible, a standby airspace determination unit determines a standby airspace within which the drone waits. The wait-time determination unit determines a wait-time for the drone in the determined standby airspace. The wait-time determination unit determines a wait-time by which the drone can arrive at a next destination by a scheduled arrival time following departure of the drone departs after standby. The standby instruction unit issues to the drone an instruction related to the standby.

An energy system is provided, including: a first placement unit for removably placing a mobile energy storage device capable of storing energy or energy sources; a second placement unit for removably placing the mobile energy storage device; an abnormality acquiring unit for acquiring an abnormality on an energy path used for energy exchange, the energy path built between a first energy consumer having the first placement unit and a first energy consuming device, and a second energy consumer having the second placement unit and a second energy consuming device; a mobile object for autonomously moving with the mobile energy storage device loaded thereon, so as to remove the mobile energy storage device from the first placement unit and place the mobile energy storage device on the second placement unit, if the abnormality acquiring unit acquires an abnormality when the mobile energy storage device is placed on the first placement unit.

Example implementations may relate to using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) dedicated to deployment of operational infrastructure, with such deployment enabling charging of a battery of a UAV from a group of UAVs. More specifically, the group of UAVs may include at least (i) a first UAV of a first type configured to deploy operational infrastructure and (ii) a second UAV of a second type configured to carry out a task other than deployment of operational infrastructure. With this arrangement, a control system may determine an operational location at which to deploy operational infrastructure, and may cause the first UAV to deploy operational infrastructure at the operational location. Then, the control system may cause the second UAV to charge a battery of the second UAV using the operational infrastructure deployed by the first UAV at the operational location.

A vertical landing is performed by an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle above a charger where the eVTOL vehicle includes a rotor that is configured to rotate during an occupant change state to keep the eVTOL vehicle stationary during the occupant change state. A vertically-oriented male charging port that is part of the eVTOL vehicle and a female charging port that is part of the charger are detachably coupled and a battery in the eVTOL vehicle is charged using the charger while the vertically-oriented male charging port and the female charging port are detachably coupled.

A drone is deployed from a vehicle, e.g., an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle, to assist in vehicle control, e.g. in situations in which the vehicle's embedded sensors may not provide sufficient information to perform a desired operation safely, e.g. backing up, parking in a tight environment, traversing a very narrow road, navigating a sharp corner, or bypassing an obstruction, etc. The deployed drone includes sensors, e.g. cameras, radars, LIDARs, etc, which capture sensor data from a position offset from the vehicle. Captured sensor data is communicated from the drone to a vehicle control system in the vehicle and/or to a remote control system, e.g., including an operator who can make decisions. Based on the captured sensor data, which supplements sensor data collected by the vehicle's embedded sensors, vehicle movement is controlled.

Systems and methods for swapping mobile robot batteries on battery charging stations are disclosed herein. An example system may comprise at least one mobile robot, wherein the mobile robot may be optionally coupled to a modular component, and wherein the mobile robot and the modular component may each have robot batteries configured to be detachably removed from the mobile robot and the modular component. An example system may also comprise at least one battery charging station for receiving robot or modular component batteries for charging, and also for providing charged batteries to mobile robots or modular components. Finally, the system may comprise a service provider and a network that may be used to manage data and handle interactions between the mobile robots and the battery charging stations.