Amazon has received a patent that covers the systems required to build a pocket-sized unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that responds to voice commands.The patent application published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office says Amazon’s technologies are supposed to enable miniature drones that are “smaller, lighter, and less expensive than conventional UAVs.”
Amazon has no small ambitions for these UAVs. The company says in the patent filing that these itty-bitty drones could be used to support police during traffic stops; to help find a kid in a crowd; or to clear tunnels during a military maneuver. All of these activities would be enabled with a combination of advanced voice controls and more direct remote controls provided by a companion app for smartphones and tablets.
The mini drones could act as miniature ‘dash cams’ for the police, to chase criminals, to find missing children or to help people locate their vehicle in a busy car park.
‘The UAV may be used, for example, to record information from a perspective different than the user’s perspective, scout dangerous situations, or locate/retrieve items for the user, among other possible task,’ the patent said.
‘In some examples, the UAV can be small enough to carry on the user’s person (e.g., in a bag, in a pocket, on a jacket, etc.) and allow for ready deployment.’
Amazon wants these drones to be ‘smaller, lighter, and less expensive than conventional UAVs’.
This means the processors, which will need to be capable of voice recognition to obey commands, would have to be small.
During a routine traffic stop, for example, the officer can command the [drone] to “hover” or “follow me”,’ the patent says.
The drones could also be useful for non-policemen.
‘If a user is waiting in a long line to buy concert tickets, for example, the user may not be able to see over the crowd to see how many total people are in line,’ the patent says.
‘In this case, the user can simply say “hover” to the UAV and the UAV can take up a position at a predetermined distance above the user (e.g., 15 feet).’
Sources: Inverse, Daily Mail