Amazon’s most current technology investment will enable drones to read hand gestures.  Amazon.com was recently granted a new patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to develop a drone which can be used for delivery and also respond to human gestures.

Amazon has shown its desire to produce a fleet of drones that can send packages to shoppers in half an hour or less. This week, the patent was issued and stated that the drones can change their behavior based on a person’s physical gestures.  This is a big leap for the drone industry. Amazon said that the drones can release packages from the air or change its flight plan to avoid accidents.

The patent design included several schematics. In one of these illustrations, there is a human figure standing outside a house, waving their hands.  The customer can communicate with the drone using human gestures to assist it along its route to the delivery point. The drone can also detect human voices and respond accordingly.  There’s another diagram that showed the steps that the drone will take when it interprets a person’s body language such as viewing and receiving human gestures, interpreting what the gestures mean from the database and more.

The drone’s communication system would likely include an assortment of sensors. One of these is a camera and depth sensor to detect infrared and ultraviolet light. It will also detect movement towards or away from it.

The patent states that if the drones are given permission to deliver, they could discharge a padded package from the air or land to deliver the parcel.  Amazon has applied for many patents since it announced its plans to use drones for delivery. These patents include a giant airship that can function as an airborne warehouse and drones that self-destruct in case of a crisis. Amazon has yet to state when or if the drone with the gesture recognition system will hit the market.

But Amazon isn’t the only company developing drones that can identify the human gesture. Several others are researching and developing drones that can recognize human gestures and voices.  For example, DJI’s Spark drone can be directed with arm motion and a new Samsung patent includes a drone that can monitor users’ heads, eyes, and hands. This drone can also be controlled via gestures and will be equipped to recognize the human voice.