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GeekWire has come across two new patents for drone technology awarded to Amazon. The first is for "Speech interaction For UAVs," which is for drones that can emit and receive an audio message. Although the patent does not mention Alexa explicitly, one can assume that this is going to be an Alexa enabled delivery drone.
The second, and more amusing patent, is for "Human Interaction With UAVs." The patent outlines how the drone can recognize human gestures, including a friendly thumbs-up, or screaming and frantic arm waving. Depending on the gesture recognized, the drone could release the package it's carrying, or change it's flight path to avoid crashing.
Everytime I write an article about Amazon, the more convinced I become that Jeff Bezos is actually Dr. Evil.
For instance, the other humans may gesture by waving their arms in a shooing manner as the vehicle approaches them. Based on these gestures, the vehicle may determine that such gestures indicate that it should not proceed further in the direction of the other humans. Accordingly, the vehicle may instruct its propulsion subsystem to adjust its trajectory and/or speed, or otherwise adjust or modify the vehicle's behavior. On the other hand, the human recipient may wave his arms in an inviting manner as the vehicle approaches. This may be interpreted by the vehicle as an instruction to land and deliver the package. Thus, the vehicle may instruct its delivery subsystem to execute delivery of the package. The identity of the human recipient may be verified in some manner prior to delivery of the package.
The second, and more amusing patent, is for "Human Interaction With UAVs." The patent outlines how the drone can recognize human gestures, including a friendly thumbs-up, or screaming and frantic arm waving. Depending on the gesture recognized, the drone could release the package it's carrying, or change it's flight path to avoid crashing.
Everytime I write an article about Amazon, the more convinced I become that Jeff Bezos is actually Dr. Evil.
For instance, the other humans may gesture by waving their arms in a shooing manner as the vehicle approaches them. Based on these gestures, the vehicle may determine that such gestures indicate that it should not proceed further in the direction of the other humans. Accordingly, the vehicle may instruct its propulsion subsystem to adjust its trajectory and/or speed, or otherwise adjust or modify the vehicle's behavior. On the other hand, the human recipient may wave his arms in an inviting manner as the vehicle approaches. This may be interpreted by the vehicle as an instruction to land and deliver the package. Thus, the vehicle may instruct its delivery subsystem to execute delivery of the package. The identity of the human recipient may be verified in some manner prior to delivery of the package.
