Smart drone rescue and mission rescheduling on a swarm of drones

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12422857-B2
Application number	US-202318337121-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 19, 2023
Priority date	Jun 19, 2023
Publication date	Sep 23, 2025
Grant date	Sep 23, 2025

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a method, computer system, and computer program product for rescuing a malfunctioning drone is provided. The present invention may include responsive to detecting a total failure in a malfunctioning drone comprising a drone fleet, operating one or more rescue drones to physically or virtually attach to the malfunctioning drone; reconfiguring sub-missions comprising a mission assigned to the drone fleet based on an absence of the malfunctioning drone and the one or more rescue drones; and transporting, by the one or more rescue drones, the malfunctioning drone to a safe landing location.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method for rescuing a malfunctioning drone comprising a drone fleet, the method comprising:
responsive to detecting a total failure comprising a navigation failure in the malfunctioning drone, operating one or more rescue drones of the drone fleet to physically or virtually attach to the malfunctioning drone;
responsive to detecting the total failure comprising a flight failure in the malfunctioning drone, operating the one or more rescue drones to physically attach to the malfunctioning drone; and
transporting, by the one or more rescue drones, the malfunctioning drone to a safe landing location.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more rescue drones are selected from a plurality of drones comprising the drone fleet based on a distance from the malfunctioning drone, whether the malfunctioning drone is suffering one of the flight failure or the navigation failure, a distance from the safe landing location, a speed, a lifting capacity, an attachment mechanism, and/or a power reserve.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
reconfiguring a plurality of sub-missions comprising a mission of the drone fleet to compensate for an absence of the malfunctioning drone and the one or more rescue drones.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
responsive to detecting the total failure in the malfunctioning drone, canceling a sub-mission assigned to the malfunctioning drone.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
responsive to delivering the malfunctioning drone to the safe landing location, assigning a sub-mission to the one or more rescue drones.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transporting further comprises:
transmitting a plurality of same instructions to both the one or more rescue drones and the malfunctioning drone, based on sensor data from the one or more rescue drones.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the detecting is based on identifying anomalous behavior based on sensor data from a plurality of sensors comprising one or more drones comprising the drone fleet.

8. A computer system for rescuing a malfunctioning drone comprising a drone fleet, the computer system comprising:
one or more processors, one or more computer readable memories, one or more computer readable tangible storage medium, and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more tangible storage medium for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, wherein the computer system is capable of performing a method comprising:
responsive to detecting a total failure comprising a navigation failure in the malfunctioning drone, operating one or more rescue drones of the drone fleet to physically or virtually attach to the malfunctioning drone;
responsive to detecting the total failure comprising a flight failure in the malfunctioning drone, operating the one or more rescue drones to physically attach to the malfunctioning drone; and
transporting, by the one or more rescue drones, the malfunctioning drone to a safe landing location.

9. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the one or more rescue drones are selected from a plurality of drones comprising the drone fleet based on a distance from the malfunctioning drone, whether the malfunctioning drone is suffering one of the flight failure or the navigation failure, a distance from the safe landing location, a speed, a lifting capacity, an attachment mechanism, and/or a power reserve.

10. The computer system of claim 8 , further comprising:
reconfiguring a plurality of sub-missions comprising a mission of the drone fleet to compensate for an absence of the malfunctioning drone and the one or more rescue drones.

11. The computer system of claim 8 , further comprising:
responsive to detecting the total failure in the malfunctioning drone, canceling a sub-mission assigned to the malfunctioning drone.

12. The computer system of claim 8 , further comprising:
responsive to delivering the malfunctioning drone to the safe landing location, assigning a sub-mission to the one or more rescue drones.

13. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the transporting further comprises:
transmitting a plurality of same instructions to both the one or more rescue drones and the malfunctioning drone, based on sensor data from the one or more rescue drones.

14. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the detecting is based on identifying anomalous behavior based on sensor data from a plurality of sensors comprising one or more drones comprising the drone fleet.

15. A computer program product for rescuing a malfunctioning drone comprising a drone fleet, the computer program product comprising:
one or more computer readable tangible storage medium and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more tangible storage medium, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
responsive to detecting a total failure comprising a navigation failure in the malfunctioning drone, operating one or more rescue drones of the drone fleet to physically or virtually attach to the malfunctioning drone;
responsive to detecting the total failure comprising a flight failure in the malfunctioning drone, operating the one or more rescue drones to physically attach to the malfunctioning drone; and
transporting, by the one or more rescue drones, the malfunctioning drone to a safe landing location.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the one or more rescue drones are selected from a plurality of drones comprising the drone fleet based on a distance from the malfunctioning drone, whether the malfunctioning drone is suffering one of the flight failure or the navigation failure, a distance from the safe landing location, a speed, a lifting capacity, an attachment mechanism, and/or a power reserve.

17. The computer program product of claim 15 , further comprising:
reconfiguring a plurality of sub-missions comprising a mission of the drone fleet to compensate for an absence of the malfunctioning drone and the one or more rescue drones.

18. The computer program product of claim 15 , further comprising:
responsive to detecting the total failure in the malfunctioning drone, canceling a sub-mission assigned to the malfunctioning drone.

19. The computer program product of claim 15 , further comprising:
responsive to delivering the malfunctioning drone to the safe landing location, assigning a sub-mission to the one or more rescue drones.

20. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the transporting further comprises:
transmitting a plurality of same instructions to both the one or more rescue drones and the malfunctioning drone, based on sensor data from the one or more rescue drones.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Sharon Gil
• Rozenbaum Nir

Classifications

• G05D1/696

  involving a plurality of vehicles coupled together · CPC title

• G05D1/85

  Fail-safe operations, e.g. limp home mode · CPC title

• B64U80/00 Primary

  Transport or storage specially adapted for UAVs · CPC title

• B64U2101/55

  for life-saving or rescue operations; for medical use · CPC title

• B64U10/13

  Flying platforms · CPC title