公开(公告)号：EP3038914B1

公开(公告)日：2018-10-10

申请号：EP14863900.8

申请日：2014-08-25

申请人： X Development LLC

发明人： PATRICK, William Graham ,  BURGESS, James Ryan ,  CONRAD, Andrew

IPC分类号： B64C39/02 ,  B64D1/02 ,  B64D47/00 ,  B64D1/12 ,  B64D1/22

CPC分类号： B64D1/12 ,  B64C39/024 ,  B64C2201/128 ,  B64C2201/141 ,  B64C2201/145 ,  B64D1/22

摘要： Embodiments described herein may help to provide medical support via a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). An illustrative UAV may include a housing, a payload, a line-deployment mechanism coupled to the housing and a line, and a payload-release mechanism that couples the line to the payload, wherein the payload-release mechanism is configured to release the payload from the line. The UAV may further include a control system configured to determine that the UAV is located at or near a delivery location and responsively: operate the line-deployment mechanism according to a variable deployment-rate profile to lower the payload to or near to the ground, determine that the payload is touching or is within a threshold distance from the ground, and responsively operate the payload-release mechanism to release the payload from the line.