Unmanned robot for urban air mobility vehicle and urban air mobility vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12534223-B2
Application number	US-202318195785-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 10, 2023
Priority date	Dec 16, 2022
Publication date	Jan 27, 2026
Grant date	Jan 27, 2026

Abstract

A unmanned robot for an urban air mobility vehicle includes: a processor; a communication module; and at least one storage medium operatively connected to the processor, wherein a program configured to be executable by the processor is recorded in the at least one storage medium, wherein the program may include commands for a control module configured to control performance of an operation according to the received command according to one of a first mode and a second mode, wherein the first mode may be a mode in which one or more of the unmanned robots move in synchronization with the urban air mobility vehicle, and the second mode may be a mode in which one or more of the unmanned robots are arranged on a road surface between a take-off and landing area of the urban air mobility vehicle and a gate to provide a moving path.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An unmanned robot for an urban air mobility vehicle, the unmanned robot comprising:
a processor; a communication module operatively connected to the processor and configured to receive a command according to one of a first mode and a second mode; at least one storage medium operatively connected to the processor, wherein a program configured to be executable by the processor is recorded in the at least one storage medium; and a control module, wherein the program includes commands for the control module configured to control performance of an operation according to the received command according to the one of the first mode and the second mode, wherein the first mode is a mode in which two or more of unmanned robots move in synchronization with the urban air mobility vehicle while being arranged to surround the urban air mobility vehicle, and wherein the second mode is a mode in which two or more of the unmanned robots are arranged on a boundary line including a first boundary line and a second boundary line between a take-off and landing area of the urban air mobility vehicle and a gate to provide a moving path for passengers to enter therefrom and exit therethrough.

2 . The unmanned robot of claim 1 , further including an ultra-wideband (UWB) anchor, wherein the command according to the first mode includes information on a location of the urban air mobility vehicle, information on a shape and a size of the urban air mobility vehicle, ID of a UWB tag included in the urban air mobility vehicle, and ID of the unmanned robot provided with the UWB anchor corresponding to the UWB tag.

3 . The unmanned robot of claim 2 , further including a driving module, wherein the control module is configured to:
control the driving module to move the unmanned robot to a first waiting point spaced from the urban air mobility vehicle by a preset distance based on the information on the location of the urban air mobility vehicle, and control the driving module to move the unmanned robot from the first waiting point to a tag including a tag ID corresponding to the ID of the unmanned robot based on the information on the shape and the size of the urban air mobility vehicle, and the ID of the UWB tag and the ID of the unmanned robot provided with the UWB anchor corresponding to the UWB tag.

4 . The unmanned robot of claim 3 ,
wherein the control module is configured to rotate along a virtual path including the urban air mobility vehicle, the virtual path being formed to surround the urban air mobility vehicle based on the information on the shape and the size of the urban air mobility vehicle, and wherein after the control module stops at a point where an intensity of a wireless signal from a UWB tag including corresponding tag ID is greatest, the control module is configured to control the driving module to move the unmanned robot to the UWB tag including the corresponding tag ID based on information on a distance and a direction to the UWB tag including the corresponding tag ID.

5 . The unmanned robot of claim 3 ,
wherein the communication module further receives a moving path and speed of the urban air mobility vehicle for a ground operation, and wherein the control module is configured to control the driving module to move the unmanned robot synchronously with the urban air mobility vehicle according to the received moving path and speed.

6 . The unmanned robot of claim 5 , wherein the control module is configured to control the driving module to reduce a distance error from a UWB tag by increasing or decreasing a direction and speed according to information on a distance and a direction to the corresponding UWB tag including corresponding tag ID during movement.

7 . The unmanned robot of claim 2 , further including:
an obstacle detection module configured detect at least one obstacle disposed in a movement direction during movement of the unmanned robot; and an output module configured to output an alarm signal based on the at least one obstacle being detected.

8 . The unmanned robot of claim 7 , wherein the alarm signal is output acoustically or visually.

9 . The unmanned robot of claim 1 ,
wherein the command according to the second mode includes ID of the unmanned robot and information on a location on the boundary line of the unmanned robot.

10 . The unmanned robot of claim 9 , further including a driving module,
wherein the communication module is configured to receive a waiting command including location information of a second waiting point at which the unmanned robot waits, and wherein the control module is configured to control the driving module for the unmanned robot to move to the second waiting point and wait in advance based on the location information of the second waiting point.

11 . The unmanned robot of claim 10 , wherein the control module is configured to control the driving module to move the unmanned robot from the second waiting point to a predetermined location on the boundary line to form the moving path based on the information on the location on the boundary line based on the command according to the second mode being received.

12 . The unmanned robot of claim 11 , further including an output module configured to output guide information acoustically visually,
wherein the guidance information includes at least one of a movement direction, a flight number, a number of a baggage receiving stand, and a current time.

13 . An urban air mobility vehicle, comprising:
a processor; a communication module operatively connected to the processor and configured to transmit a command according to one of a first mode and a second mode; at least one storage medium operatively connected to the processor, wherein a program configured to be executable by the processor is recorded in the at least one storage medium; and a control module, wherein the program includes commands for the control module configured to control the communication module to transmit a command according to one of the first mode and the second mode to an unmanned robot, wherein the first mode is a mode in which two or more of unmanned robots move in synchronization with the urban air mobility vehicle while being arranged to surround the urban air mobility vehicle, and wherein the second mode is a mode in which two or more of the unmanned robots are arranged on a boundary line including a first boundary line and a second boundary line between a take-off and landing area of the urban air mobility vehicle and a gate to provide a moving path for passengers to enter therefrom and exit therethrough.

14 . The urban air mobility vehicle of claim 13 , further including an ultra-wideband (UWB) tag,
wherein the command according to the first mode includes information on a location of the urban air mobility vehicle, information on a shape and a size of the urban air mobility vehicle, ID of the UWB tag, and ID of the unmanned robot provided with an UWB anchor corresponding to the UWB tag.

15 . The urban air mobility vehicle of claim 14 , wherein an installation position of the UWB tag includes at least one of end portions of left and right wings of the urban air mobility vehicle, an end portion of a tail wing, and an end portion of a front portion of a cockpit thereof.

16 . The urban air mobility vehicle of claim 14 , wherein according to the command according to the first mode, after the unmanned robot moves to a first waiting point spaced from the urban air mobility vehicle by a preset distance based on the information on the location of the urban air mobility

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Corp

Inventors

• Kim Kye Yoon
• Lee Ji A

Classifications

• G08G5/80

  Anti-collision systems · CPC title

• G08G5/51

  for control when on the ground, e.g. taxiing or rolling · CPC title

• G05D1/656

  Interaction with payloads or external entities · CPC title

• B64F1/30 Primary

  for embarking or disembarking passengers · CPC title

• B64F1/002 Primary

  Taxiing aids · CPC title