Autonomous Delivery Compartments With Dimming Glass Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing autonomous vehicle-based transport services face challenges in ensuring the safety and accuracy of object delivery, particularly in cases of erroneous delivery, where the contents cannot be verified before unlocking, potentially leading to safety issues, especially with perishable items.
Innovation Solution
An autonomous mobile body equipped with a container apparatus featuring sections with dimming glass windows that can switch between opaque and transparent states, allowing authentication and verification of the object before unlocking, ensuring safe handling and preventing incorrect deliveries.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the container section is locked during transport, then the safety and integrity of the transported object is maintained, but the consignee cannot verify the contents before receiving it, leading to potential erroneous deliveries
Solution Approach 1:
The container is divided into multiple independently lockable sections, each with its own dimming glass window. This allows the verification function to be applied to specific sections without affecting the security of other sections, enabling targeted content verification while maintaining overall container security.
Solution Approach 2:
The dimming glass window changes its optical properties (from opaque to transparent) in response to authentication signals, allowing the system to dynamically control visibility. This enables the window to remain opaque during transport for security while becoming transparent upon successful authentication for verification, resolving the contradiction between security and verification needs.
2Loss of information
If the dimming glass is made transparent for verification, then the consignee can authenticate the object, but the privacy and security of the transported item is compromised during transport
Solution Approach 1:
The dimming glass window's transparency is dynamically controlled based on authentication status. The controller receives authentication information and automatically adjusts the window's optical state, making it opaque during transport and transparent only after successful verification. This dynamic adjustment ensures security during transport while enabling verification when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary authentication verification through the dimming glass window before allowing access to the container contents. The window provides a preliminary view for verification purposes, and only after successful authentication does the system proceed to unlock the section, ensuring security is maintained throughout the process.
3Ease of operation
If traditional locking mechanisms are used without verification capability, then the system is simple to operate, but erroneous deliveries cannot be detected or corrected
Solution Approach 1:
The consignee performs self-verification by viewing the contents through the dimming glass window and confirming whether the delivered item matches the expected item. This self-service verification mechanism is simple to operate (just view and confirm) yet significantly improves delivery accuracy by enabling the consignee to detect and report erroneous deliveries.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enhances the safety and accuracy of object delivery by enabling verification of contents before unlocking, allowing for timely correction of errors and maintaining the integrity of transported items, particularly perishables.
Implementation Method 1
a window using a dimming glass is provided in a door of each of the plurality of sections
Data Source
AI summary
An autonomous mobile body comprises a container apparatus where a plurality of sections can be separately locked and unlocked, where a window using a dimming glass is provided in a door of each of the plurality of sections; and a controller configured to cause movement to a predetermined location corresponding to a user who is a consignee of a first object, in a state where the dimming glass corresponding to a section where the first object is contained is made opaque, and cause the dimming glass of the section where the first object is contained to be transparent, in a case of successful authentication of the user.