On several occasions we have mentioned how Automation and Blockchain technology are part of the 4th industrial revolution, this time we bring you an example of them working together. The retail giant Walmart has a plan to build an army of autonomous robots controlled and authenticated through a Blockchain network.
Documents published Thursday by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) show that Walmart has applied to patent a system that oversees " field authentication of autonomous robots ." The firm based in Bentonville, AR filed the patent application in January 2018.
Walmart says it plans to use its stand-alone robots to make deliveries, presumably in an attempt to compete more effectively with Amazon in a retail landscape that increasingly favors the creation of Bezos.
The documents detail a system in which several robots handle the delivery of a package through different parts of the supply chain, using wireless signals to communicate and authenticate the identity of others.
Such a system would be a high-value target for hackers, which is why Walmart believes that distributed accounting technology (DLT) could help protect it against possible misappropriation.
The authors explain ...
In some embodiments of those described above, the blockchain technology can be used to register authentication signals and identification information to facilitate or result from authentication in the field between autonomous electronic devices.
One or more of the stand-alone electronic devices described in this document may comprise a node in a distributed blockchain system that stores a copy of the blockchain record.
Blockchain updates may comprise authentication signals or identification information, and one or more nodes in the system may be configured to incorporate one or more updates in blocks to be added to the distributed database.
Background
This is not the first time that Walmart has applied for patents for systems that use Blockchain technology to make deliveries more efficient.
Last year, the firm applied for a patent for a system that DLT would use to manage packet delivery hubs (for example, lockers). The system will automatically reserve space in the box for packages, ensuring that orders are only delivered when there is sufficient capacity available.
At about the same time, Walmart applied for a patent application that uses Blockchain technology to track delivery drones as they transmit packages from physical stores to customers.