US 10,589,932 B1Granted

System and method of providing delivery of items from one container to another container

AssigneeVecna Robotics, Inc.

InventorDaniel Theobald

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Abstract

A method is provided for delivering source containers, via a mobile robotic container delivery system, to a first shelf and a second shelf, and in a particular order. Each source container has a position on one of the first shelf or the second shelf. The method includes delivering recipient containers on a floor level below the first shelf, wherein each container of the recipient containers is configured on a respective mobile robot, providing instructions to a user to retrieve an item from a first respective source container on one of the first shelf or the second shelf, moving a respective first recipient container on its respective first mobile robot out from underneath the first shelf to receive the item retrieved from the respective first source container and receiving a confirmation that the item has been retrieved from the respective first source container and placed appropriately.

Claims15

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

delivering a first container on a first shelf in a rack of shelves at a first position via a mobile robotic container delivery system;
delivering a second container on the first shelf in the rack of shelves at a second position via the mobile robotic container delivery system, wherein the first position is adjacent to the second position on the first shelf;
delivering a third container via a first mobile robot to a third position on a floor level, where in the third position is underneath the first position;
delivering a fourth container via a second mobile robot to a fourth position on the floor level, where in the fourth position is underneath the second position;
providing a first instruction to a user to retrieve a first item from the first container for delivery to the third container;
moving the third container to a new position on the floor level from underneath the first position to receive the first item from the user;
providing a second instruction to the user to retrieve a second item from the second container for delivery to the fourth container;
and
moving the fourth container to a new position on the floor from underneath the second position to receive the second item from the user.

6 more elements

A system comprising:

a control center comprising a processor and a communication component;
a container swapping robot that is mobile and communicates with the control center via the communication component;
a first low profile mobile robot having a first recipient container configured thereon and that communicates with the control center via the communication component;
and
a second low profile mobile robot having a second recipient container configured thereon and that communicates with the control center via the communication component, wherein the control center provides instructions to the container swapping robot and the first low profile mobile robot and the second low profile mobile robot to perform operations comprising:
delivering a plurality of source containers, via the container swapping robot, to a first shelf and a second shelf, and in a particular order, wherein each respective source container has a respective position on one of the first shelf or the second shelf;
delivering the first recipient container on a floor level below the first shelf;
delivering the second recipient container on a floor level below the first shelf;
providing instructions to a user to retrieve an item from a first respective source container on one of the first shelf or the second shelf;
moving the first recipient container on its first low profile mobile robot out from underneath the first shelf to receive the item retrieved from the respective first source container;
and
receiving a confirmation that the item has been retrieved from the respective first source container and placed in the first recipient container by the user.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.