Oh, patents! Starship robots (2) The mothership

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

 The Mercedez-Benz robovan has been called the Starship robot mothership (Vincent, 2016). An adapted Mercedez-Benz Sprinter van, the Mercedez-Benz robovan ferries eight Starship robots for 99% autonomous parcel delivery, directly to clients, on an algorithm-optimized route. Eight Starship robots enter the van from the rear, using a ramp, and exit the van from the side, also using a ramp. The Starship robots deliver goods within a 2-mile radius. The goods, stored in robovan bins above the robots, are manually loaded into the robot’s payload compartment. After delivery of the goods, directly to customers, the Starship robots return back autonomously to the mothership, where they can dock to recharge, and be refilled with a new payload. The robovan mothership, together with its fleet of eight Starship robots, makes an estimated 400 deliveries per 9-hour day, which solves the last-mile logistics of delivering goods, efficiently and cost-effectively (Burgess, 2017). Especially in response to the surge in demand for online and contactless deliveries, during and post, pandemic.

 The YouTube video below shows the Mercedez-Benz robovan, together with the Starship delivery robots.

 The robovan mothership invention is recited in a family of three patents.  

• WO2018024851A1, titled Vehicle (1) 
• GB2573382A, titled Vehicle (2) 
• DE102016009572A1, titled  Fahzeug (3) 

The patents reciting the Starship mothership vehicle invention are surprisingly wider in scope than the Mercedez-Benz robovan embodiment. Looking at the British patent, for example, the definition of the term “vehicle” is extended to:

 “a passenger car, rail vehicle, watercraft (e.g. ship), underwater vehicle or aircraft.” [0006]

 Likewise, the definition of the term “delivery robot” has a much wider definition, understood in particular to mean: 

a self-driving delivery robot, a self-flying delivery robot (drone), a self-controlling floating vehicle, etc..” [0007]

Otherwise, the delivery robots are described as autonomous vehicles, able to charge or refuel autonomously inside the mothership hold. The robots are also described as preferably fully autonomous. Thus, the robots are equipped with navigation and positioning means, as well as a robot-guidance system, a 2D/3D guidance route, and sensors to collect recordings of the environment, for evaluation in regards to existing obstacles. Equipment ultimately designed to enable the delivery robots to locate a customer’s address and to return to the mothership, without the assistance of a human operator.   

The mothership vehicle is equipped with automated mechanical clamping means to secure the robots in place within the vehicle’s hold. Such automated mechanical clamping means are also described as partially inflatable, in order to accommodate different design contours or angles of the individual delivery robots, loaded into the vehicle hold. 

Communication between the vehicle and the robots is Bluetooth® enabled. For example, communication to monitor loading and unloading of the robots, to transmit the recipients’ delivery addresses to the robots and instructions for remitting the payloads to the recipients, to launch automated routines, as well to transmit information to a communication center and/or to the vehicle driver, for monitoring and oversing the condition and activity of both the mothership and the robots.

The mothership vehicle is also equipped with accumulators, able to interface with each individual delivery robot, for the purposes of charging or refueling, particularly during vehicle travel. Advantageously, charging might be designed contactless via induction. In any event, charging occurs without human intervention. 

To optimize the vehicle’s automated handling of the delivery robots, the cargo hold is also equipped with sensors, able to communicate information in regards to the number of robots in the hold and their position. Likewise, the vehicle is also equipped with means to record and perform the loading and unloading of the robots into the vehicle hold, whether loading and unloading invoke ramps, platforms, and/or a docking interface. 

The British patent abstract of the Starship vehicle invention is included below, together with the patent Figure drawings 1a & 1b of the mothership vehicle, loaded with delivery robots. In Figure 1a, the vehicle (1) is further depicted with a non-inflated fixing device (12) for securing the robots (50) in the hold (10). In Figure 1b the fixing device (12) is shown inflated, and actively securing the delivery robots in place, in the cargo hold (10). 

The invention relates to a vehicle (1) for accommodating a number n ≤ N of delivery robots (50) in a cargo compartment (10) of the vehicle (1), where N is the maximum number of delivery robots (50) which can be accommodated in the cargo compartment (10) and n is the number of delivery robots (50) currently in the cargo compartment (10). The vehicle (1) has the following: - a fixing device (12) for the automatic individual fixing of N delivery robots (50) in the cargo compartment (10), - a communication interface (14) for communication between the vehicle (1) and the n delivery robots (50), and - a number N of charging interfaces (16) for the individual automatic charging of energy stores of the n delivery robots (50) in the cargo compartment (10) [Abstract GB2573382A].

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Notes 

(1) A Patent Cooperation Treaty [PCT], United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization [WIPO] patent, filed in German, by StarshipTechnologies.
(2) A British patent, filed in English, by Starship Technologies
(3) A German patent, filed in German, by Daimler AG

References 

Burgess, M. (Sept. 7, 2016) Mercedes vans filled with swarming delivery bots could be heading to your hometown – Wired Mag.  https://www.wired.co.uk/article/mercedes-starship-drones-delivery-van

Daimler.com (Jan. 13, 2017)  Mercedes-Benz invests in Starship Technologies, the world's leading manufacturer of delivery robots.  https://media.daimler.com/marsMediaSite/en/instance/ko/Mercedes-Benz-Vans-invests-in-Starship-Technologies-the-worlds-leading-manufacturer-of-delivery-robots.xhtml?oid=15274799

Starship Technologies - https://www.starship.xyz/

Vincent, J. (Sept. 6, 2016) Mercedes Benz has made a ‘mothership’ van for six-wheeled delivery robots. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2016/9/7/12830298/delivery-bot-van-mercedes-starship-technologies