Multiple camera system for inventory tracking

An inventory monitoring method, comprising the steps of:

• allowing an autonomous robot to move along a shelf lined aisle holding inventory, with the autonomous robot acting as a movable base for multiple cameras;
• directing the multiple cameras toward inventory and shelf labels on the shelf lined aisle;
• stitching together consecutive images from the multiple cameras into a panorama;
• segmenting the panorama to define a plurality of bounding boxes;
• classifying the plurality of bounding boxes into different categories comprising shelf labels, inventory labels, and inventory;
• associating bounding boxes among different categories based on geographic position of the plurality of bounding boxes;
• determining inventory-related information based on the associations of the bounding boxes;
• and
• transferring the inventory-related information to remote locations using a communication module.

An inventory monitoring method, comprising the steps of:

• allowing an autonomous robot to move along a shelf lined aisle holding inventory, with the autonomous robot acting as a movable base for multiple cameras;
• maintaining a substantially constant distance from the shelf lined aisle holding inventory while moving in a forward direction;
• directing the multiple cameras toward inventory on the shelf lined aisle;
• generating a panorama from images captured by the multiple cameras;
• segmenting the panorama to define a plurality of bounding boxes;
• classifying the plurality of bounding boxes into categories comprising shelf labels, inventory labels, and inventory;
• associating bounding boxes among different categories based on the geographic position of the bounding boxes;
• and
• determining inventory-related information based on the association of bounding boxes.

An inventory monitoring method, comprising the steps of:

• allowing an autonomous robot to move along a shelf lined aisle holding inventory, with the autonomous robot acting as a movable base for multiple cameras;
• directing the multiple cameras toward inventory on a shelf of the shelf lined aisle;
• detecting distance from at least one of the multiple cameras to the shelf using a distance ranging system;
• determining inventory related-information from camera images, including:
• generating a panorama of the shelf by stitching consecutive images captured by the multiple cameras;
• segmenting the panorama to define a plurality of bounding boxes;
• classifying the plurality of bounding boxes into categories comprising shelf labels, inventory labels, and inventory;
• associating bounding boxes among different categories based on the geographic location of the plurality of bounding boxes;
• and
• determining the inventory-related information based on the associated of the bounding boxes;
• and
• inferring real time inventory status of the shelf from the inventory-related information, including at least one of:
• integrity of a product location or on-shelf stock status of a product.