Mobile Robotic Arm for Automated Package Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current automated package delivery systems face limitations in capacity and efficiency, as they are often semi-automated, small in size, and can only handle a limited number of packages, primarily serving individual customers rather than multiple customers simultaneously.
Innovation Solution
The proposed automated package delivery machine and system feature a housing with auto-lock doors, carousels with multiple storage containers, and mobile robotic assemblies that can move packages along rails and deliver them to customers through auto-lock doors, allowing for increased capacity and efficient multi-customer package handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If semi-automated kiosks with limited lockers are used, then device complexity is reduced, but capacity and productivity are limited to serving only about 50 customers at a time
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic arm is designed to be mobile rather than static, allowing it to dynamically move between different storage containers and retrieve packages from any location within the system. This mobility enables the system to serve many more customers simultaneously while maintaining full automation, resolving the contradiction between productivity and device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The single mobile robotic arm serves multiple functions by being able to access and retrieve packages from numerous different storage containers throughout the system. This universal capability allows one robotic unit to handle deliveries for many customers, significantly increasing productivity without proportionally increasing the number of robotic units required.
2Productivity
If horizontal carriers with static robotic arms are used, then device complexity is minimized, but capacity is limited and multiple retrieval doors are required
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic arm transitions from a static position to a mobile configuration that can travel along rails to access different storage containers. This dynamic capability eliminates the need for multiple fixed retrieval doors, as the mobile robotic arm can service the entire system through a single customer access point, improving productivity while reducing structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The retrieval function is extracted from multiple fixed door locations and consolidated into a single mobile robotic arm that travels to packages. This extraction allows the system to maintain high retrieval efficiency while using fewer physical access points, simplifying the overall device structure.
3Productivity
If each locker contains only one customer's packages, then package security is maintained, but capacity is limited to the number of lockers available
Solution Approach 1:
The storage system is segmented into multiple independent storage containers that can hold packages for different customers. Each container remains securely isolated, but the mobile robotic arm can access any container, allowing the system to serve many more customers than the number of physical access points would suggest, thereby increasing capacity without compromising security.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile robotic arm acts as an intermediary between customers and their packages stored in various containers. It retrieves packages from secure storage locations and delivers them to the customer access point, enabling the system to handle a larger number of customers simultaneously while maintaining package security through automated, controlled access.
Data Source
AI summary
An automated package delivery machine, comprising: a housing with auto-lock doors; carousels; and robotic assemblies. The housing may substantially enclose the carousels and the robotic assemblies, and substantially prevents unwanted access to an interior of the housing. Each carousel may comprise a plurality of storage containers, a drive belt, a motor, and one or more rails. The storage containers may each have a plurality of slots, which are configured to accept and contain one or more packages to be delivered to one or more customers. The rails may form a loop track to which the storage containers are slidably engaged. The drive belt, driven by said motor, is configured to slidingly move the storage containers along the rails. The robotic assemblies are configured to remove the packages from the slots and deliver them to an interior side of the auto-lock doors.