Patent ID: 8511607

Claim:
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attachment assembly, for use with a UAV launch assembly of the type comprising a frame and a launch driver supported by the frame, the launch driver being capable of generating a launching force along a launch path relative to the frame, the UAV attachment assembly comprising: a base operably coupled to the launch driver; a vertically retractable UAV support mounted to the base and placeable in a vertically collapsed orientation towards the base and a vertically extended orientation extending away from the base; a biasing element coupled to the UAV support and biasing the UAV support towards the collapsed orientation; a coupler releasably coupling the UAV support to a UAV when the UAV support is in the extended orientation, the UAV support being free of the UAV when in the collapsed orientation; and a retainer operably coupled to at least one of the biasing element and the UAV support to maintain the UAV support in the vertically extended orientation prior to launch, and to release the UAV support at launch so that the biasing element can cause the UAV support to move towards the collapsed orientation and to disengage from the UAV.