US Patent 10955860 Unmanned aerial vehicles

An unmanned aerial vehicle, UAV, is operable in an autonomous mode. The UAV comprises an upwards-configurable sensor an actuator and a controller. The upwards-configurable sensor is configurable in an upwards-facing configuration during an autonomous procedure such that a field of view of the upwards-configurable sensor includes airspace directly above the UAV during the autonomous procedure. The controller is operable to control the actuator during the autonomous procedure based on data captured by the upwards-configurable sensor to cause the UAV to make physical contact with an object in the airspace directly above the UAV during the autonomous procedure.