Amazon’s talking drones

The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has awarded Amazon a patent for a talking delivery drone concept. The patent, which was filed by Amazon in February 2015 and published by the USPTO yesterday (29 August), describes an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) which detects “nearby people, animals, or other interactive objects” and then “produces speech” to warn or instruct the person/animal/object to move away from its desired landing area.

So far, so simple.

But the patent goes on to say that the UAV/drone could also have a microphone “to capture speech of the interactive object”, and then engage in “a speech dialog with the interactive object”.

So, the drone would not only advise people to keep a safe distance from the dropzone, but could also take instructions from the intended parcel receiver about alternative delivery destinations. The drone and the parcel receiver might also exchange “information regarding other existing orders, information regarding new orders, etc.”