An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) includes one or more sources of propulsion coupled to provide propulsion to the UAV, and a power source coupled to power the one or more sources of propulsion. A communication system is coupled to communicate with an external device, and a controller is coupled to the communication system, the power source, and the one or more sources of propulsion. The controller includes logic that when executed by the controller causes the UAV to perform operations, including: measuring a status of the UAV; sending the status of the UAV to the external device; receiving movement instructions from the external device; and engaging the one or more sources of propulsion to move the UAV from a first location to a second location within a storage facility.

A docking system for drones and a method for operating the same include: a seat part configured to land a drone thereon; a wire provided on the seat part and configured to allow the landing drone to be hung on the wire so that the drone may land on the seat part; and tension adjusters configured to adjust tension of the wire so as to allow the drone to land at a target position of the seat part when the drone is hung on the wire.

An artificial intelligence entry management device for an entry and delivery system includes a camera, a microphone, a motion detector, a speaker, and a housing. The housing has an oval shape with a substantially open middle. The substantially open middle has a housing protrusion portion configured to house the camera, the microphone, the motion detector, and the speaker. The entry and delivery system may also include one or more robots that interface with the entry management device to monitor an area around an access point and to alert the user of activity. A robot may be an aerial robot that has a camera, a robot light, a speaker, a microphone and an actuator to enable picking and moving a package. Aerial robots may be configured around a perimeter of a building to monitor the building and may turn on a robot light when motion is detected.

An artificial intelligence entry management device for an entry and delivery system includes a camera, a microphone, a motion detector, a speaker, and a housing. The housing has an oval shape with a substantially open middle. The substantially open middle has a housing protrusion portion configured to house the camera, the microphone, the motion detector, and the speaker. The entry and delivery system may also include one or more robots that interface with the entry management device to monitor an area around an access point and to alert the user of activity. A robot may be an aerial robot that has a camera, a robot light, a speaker, a microphone and an actuator to enable picking and moving a package. Aerial robots may be configured around a perimeter of a building to monitor the building and may turn on a robot light when motion is detected.

An apparatus (1) for changing a power source of a drone, the apparatus (1) comprises an adaptor (2) for securing a power source (3) to a drone and comprising a first energy connection for supplying energy from the power source (3) and a second energy connection for supplying energy to a drone, wherein one of the first and second energy connections comprises a pair of energy links (20, 21) which are movable between a first position (FIG. 5) to facilitate energy supply and secure the power source (3) to the drone and a second position (FIG. 4) to interrupt energy supply and enable the power source (3) to be removed from the drone.

A first and a second aircraft are detachably coupled where the first aircraft is configured to perform a vertical landing using a first battery while the first aircraft is unoccupied and the unoccupied first aircraft includes the first battery. In response to detecting a second, removable battery being detachably coupled to the first aircraft, a power source for the first aircraft is switched from the first battery to the second, removable battery. After the switch, the first aircraft takes off vertically using the second, removable battery while occupied. The detachably coupled first aircraft and second aircraft are flown using the second aircraft (the power to keep the detachably coupled first aircraft and second aircraft airborne comes exclusively from the second aircraft and not the first aircraft).

An unmanned aerial system (UAS) may comprise an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) configured to search and recover persons and things, collect and produce data of an emergency situation for display on a vehicle navigation system, or explore for natural resources. The UAS may include a landing pad, and/or a sensor such as a ground penetrating sensor configured to search for a person trapped underground. The UAS may be configured to receive data from the one or more sensors. An analyzer may be used to assess surrounding environment and the status of the person or thing, and send a signal to the UAV. The components attached to the UAV may include connectors, a robotic arm, a sensor, and/or a portable power source. The UAS may be configured to, for example, detect an emergency situation and determine the nature and location of the emergency situation. The UAS may be configured to explore for oil, gas, and mineral sources, and/or excavate location using a robotic arm.

Various measures (for example methods, UAVs, controllers and computer programs) are provided in relation to controlling a UAV. The UAV is caused to provide energy to and receive energy from a given vehicle. The received energy is used to provide power to at least one component of the UAV.

Systems and methods are disclosed for image capture. For example, methods may include accessing a sequence of images from an image sensor; determining a sequence of parameters for respective images in the sequence of images based on the respective images; storing the sequence of images in a buffer; determining a temporally smoothed parameter for a current image in the sequence of images based on the sequence of parameters, wherein the sequence of parameters includes parameters for images in the sequence of images that were captured after the current image; applying image processing to the current image based on the temporally smoothed parameter to obtain a processed image; and storing, displaying, or transmitting an output image based on the processed image.

A pipeline in a controller may be configured to interface between sensors and actuators. The pipeline may elements such as drivers, filters, a combine, estimators, controllers, a mixer, and actuator controllers. The drivers may receive sensor data and pre-process the received sensor data. The filters may filter the pre-processed sensor data to generate filtered sensor data. The combine may package the filtered sensor data to generate packaged sensor data. The estimators may determine estimates of a position of a vehicle based on the packaged sensor data. The controllers may generate control signals based on the determined estimates. The mixer may modify the generated control signals based on limitations of the vehicle. The actuator controllers may generate actuator control signals based on the modified control signals to drive the actuators.