A UAV for transporting a payload comprising a vehicle body; a retractable rail exposed on an underside of the vehicle body; a retraction mechanism coupling the rail to the vehicle body for causing the rail to raise and lower relative to the vehicle body; and a barrier located on the vehicle body so as to confront the rail when the rail is in its raised position to block the removal from the rail of a payload slidably engaged with the rail. A mechanism for advancing a payload onto and along the rail and pushing it off.

FIG. 1

A UAV for transporting a payload comprising a vehicle body; a retractable rail exposed on an underside of the vehicle body; a retraction mechanism coupling the rail to the vehicle body for causing the rail to raise and lower relative to the vehicle body; and a barrier located on the vehicle body so as to confront the rail when the rail is in its raised position to block the removal from the rail of a payload slidably engaged with the rail. A mechanism for advancing a payload onto and along the rail and pushing it off.

FIG. 1

A flying robot includes a body portion, a propulsion portion including a plurality of propulsion units configured to generate propulsion force by driving rotor blades, the plurality of propulsion units being provided at the body portion, a plurality of leg portions configured to support the body portion, each leg portion of the plurality of leg portions including at least one joint and being configured to be able to change a posture of the leg portion, and a controller configured to control the plurality of leg portions when landing on a landing surface from a flying state, and the controller controls part or all of at least one leg portion among the plurality of leg portions to adjust a tilt of the body portion from when the at least one leg portion comes into contact with the landing surface until when landing on the landing surface is completed.

A package supporting device including: a base; ground contacting portions that contact a landing surface in a state of having landed; package supporting portions provided at an underside of the base, the package supporting portions supporting a package; a drive portion that is operable in a first state to cause each of the package supporting portions to move toward the package, and is operable in a second state to cause each of the package supporting portions to move away from the package; and a restricting portion that is provided independently from the drive portion, and that allows operation of the drive portion in a state in which the ground contacting portions are contacting a landing surface, and, in a state in which the ground contacting portions do not contact a landing surface, restricts operation of the drive portion in at least the second state.

A package supporting device including: a base; ground contacting portions that contact a landing surface in a state of having landed; package supporting portions provided at an underside of the base, the package supporting portions supporting a package; a drive portion that is operable in a first state to cause each of the package supporting portions to move toward the package, and is operable in a second state to cause each of the package supporting portions to move away from the package; and a restricting portion that is provided independently from the drive portion, and that allows operation of the drive portion in a state in which the ground contacting portions are contacting a landing surface, and, in a state in which the ground contacting portions do not contact a landing surface, restricts operation of the drive portion in at least the second state.

Systems, devices, and methods for a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aerial vehicle having a first GPS antenna and a second GPS antenna, where the second GPS antenna is disposed distal from the first GPS antenna; and an aerial vehicle flight controller, where the flight controller is configured to: utilize a GPS antenna signal via the GPS antenna switch from the first GPS antenna or the second GPS antenna; receive a pitch level of the aerial vehicle from the one or more aerial vehicle sensors in vertical flight or horizontal flight; determine if the received pitch level is at a set rotation from vertical or horizontal; and utilize the GPS signal not being utilized via the GPS antenna switch if the determined pitch level is at or above the set rotation.

Disclosed is a system and method for reducing the total latency for transferring a frame from the low latency camera system mounted on an aerial vehicle to the display of the remote controller. The method includes reducing the latency through each of the modules of the system, i.e. through a camera module, an encoder module, a wireless interface transmission, wireless interface receiver module, a decoder module and a display module. To reduce the latency across the modules, methods such as overclocking the image processor, pipelining the frame, squashing the processed frame, using a fast hardware encoder that can perform slice based encoding, tuning the wireless medium using queue sizing, queue flushing, bitrate feedback, physical medium rate feedback, dynamic encoder parameter tuning and wireless radio parameter adjustment, using a fast hardware decoder that can perform slice based decoding and overclocking the display module are used.

Systems, devices, and methods for a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aerial vehicle having a first GPS antenna and a second GPS antenna, where the second GPS antenna is disposed distal from the first GPS antenna; and an aerial vehicle flight controller, where the flight controller is configured to: utilize a GPS antenna signal via the GPS antenna switch from the first GPS antenna or the second GPS antenna; receive a pitch level of the aerial vehicle from the one or more aerial vehicle sensors in vertical flight or horizontal flight; determine if the received pitch level is at a set rotation from vertical or horizontal; and utilize the GPS signal not being utilized via the GPS antenna switch if the determined pitch level is at or above the set rotation.

Indoor mapping and modular control for UAVs and other autonomous vehicles, and associated systems and methods. A representative unmanned aerial vehicle system includes a body, a propulsion system carried by the body, a sensor system carried by the body, and a controller carried at least in part by the body and operatively coupled to the propulsion system and the sensor system. The controller is programmed with instructions that, when executed, operate in a first autonomous mode and a second autonomous mode. In the first autonomous mode, the instructions autonomously direct the propulsion system to convey the body along a first route within an indoor environment. While the body travels along the first route, the instructions receive inputs from the sensor system corresponding to features of the indoor environment. The features are stored as part of a 3-D map. In the second autonomous mode, the instructions direct the propulsion system to convey the body along a second route within the indoor environment, based at least in part on the 3-D map, and direct performance of an operation on the second route.

A hybrid propulsion aircraft is described having a distributed electric propulsion system. The distributed electric propulsion system includes a turbo shaft engine that drives one or more generators through a gearbox. The generator provides AC power to a plurality of ducted fans (each being driven by an electric motor). The ducted fans may be integrated with the hybrid propulsion aircraft's wings. The wings can be pivotally attached to the fuselage, thereby allowing for vertical take-off and landing. The design of the hybrid propulsion aircraft mitigates undesirable transient behavior traditionally encountered during a transition from vertical flight to horizontal flight. Moreover, the hybrid propulsion aircraft offers a fast, constant-altitude transition, without requiring a climb or dive to transition. It also offers increased efficiency in both hover and forward flight versus other VTOL aircraft and a higher forward max speed than traditional rotorcraft.