Back to results
US 10,947,045 B2Granted
Warehousing and order fulfillment systems and methods
AssigneeTarget Brands, Inc.
InventorsDavid Sellner, Kevin Vliet, Arthur Valdez
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Warehouse automation and methods of controlling material flow can be used to streamline order fulfillment. For example, according to some embodiments described herein, a method includes: causing a first mobile robot to engage with and transport a mobile storage unit to a robotic picking cell, causing a second mobile robot to engage with and transport an outbound container to the robotic picking cell, and causing the picking robot to transfer a sellable unit from the mobile storage unit to the outbound container.
Claims18
An order fulfillment system, comprising:
- a dense inventory storage system comprising:
- a plurality of mobile storage units consolidated in an area, each mobile storage unit defining one or more storage locations;
- and
- a plurality of differing types of sellable units, each mobile storage unit containing one or more of a single type of the sellable units;
- an automated order assemblage system comprising:
- one or more first mobile robots that each releasably engage and transport any individual mobile storage unit;
- a plurality of outbound containers;
- one or more second mobile robots that each releasably engage and transport any individual outbound container;
- and
- a robotic picking cell adapted to receive:
- (i) individual first mobile robots transporting an engaged mobile storage unit and (ii) individual second mobile robots transporting an engaged outbound container, the robotic picking cell comprising a picking robot configured to transfer one or more individual sellable units from a respective one of the mobile storage units in the robotic picking cell to a respective one of the outbound containers in the robotic picking cell;
- and
- a control system operable, in response to receiving an order for a particular sellable unit of the sellable units, to:
- cause a particular one of the first mobile robots to engage and transport a particular mobile storage unit to the robotic picking cell, the particular mobile storage unit storing the particular sellable unit;
- cause a particular one of the second mobile robots to engage and transport a particular outbound container to the robotic picking cell;
- and
- while:
- (i) the particular mobile storage unit remains engaged on the particular one of the first mobile robots and (ii) the particular outbound container remains engaged on the particular one of the second mobile robots, cause the picking robot to transfer the particular sellable unit from the particular mobile storage unit into the particular outbound container.
15 more elements
A method for preparing for a shipment of an order that includes a first sellable unit, the method executed by a control system in response to receiving the order, the method comprising:
- causing a first mobile robot to engage with a first mobile storage unit of a plurality of robotically-movable mobile storage units located in a dense storage area, each of the mobile storage units defining one or more storage locations that can each receive one or more sellable units, the first mobile storage unit storing a first sellable unit;
- causing the first mobile robot to transport the first mobile storage unit to a robotic picking cell comprising a picking robot;
- causing a second mobile robot to engage with and transport a particular outbound container to the robotic picking cell;
- and
- while:
- (i) the first mobile storage unit remains engaged on the first mobile robot and (ii) the particular outbound container remains engaged on the second mobile robot, causing the picking robot to transfer the first sellable unit from the first mobile storage unit to the particular outbound container.
3 more elements
An order fulfillment system, comprising:
- a plurality of sellable unit containers;
- a plurality of differing types of sellable units, each sellable unit container containing one or more of a single type of the sellable units;
- a plurality of outbound containers;
- one or more mobile container robots that each releasably engage and transport any individual sellable unit container or any individual outbound container;
- and
- a robotic picking cell comprising a picking robot configured to transfer one or more individual sellable units from a respective one of the sellable unit containers that is engaged on a first one of the mobile container robots while in the robotic picking cell to a respective one of the outbound containers that is engaged on a second one of the mobile container robots while in the robotic picking cell.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.