Back to results
US 11,078,017 B2Granted
Automated bot with transfer arm
AssigneeSymbotic LLC
InventorsStephen C. Toebes, Robert Sullivan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An autonomous transport vehicle is provided. The autonomous transport vehicle includes a payload bed and a transfer arm configured to extend along a first axis to transfer a pickface to and from the payload bed, the transfer arm including fingers that are independently movable along a second axis, substantially perpendicular to the first axis for picking and placing the pickface.
Claims17
An autonomous guided transport vehicle comprising:
- an autonomous transport vehicle payload bed;
- and
- a transfer arm disposed in the autonomous transport vehicle payload bed and defining at least a portion of the autonomous transport vehicle payload bed so that a payload pickface is seated on and stably held in the autonomous transport vehicle payload bed by at least a portion of the transfer arm for autonomous guided transport vehicle travel, the transfer arm being configured to extend along a first axis to transfer the payload pickface to and from the autonomous transport vehicle payload bed, the transfer arm including fingers that define a payload bed support surface of the autonomous transport vehicle payload bed, the fingers facing and defining an engagement interface against the payload pickface so as to uphold weight generated by the payload pickface seated on over the payload bed support surface defined by the fingers and stably held in the autonomous transport vehicle payload bed, the fingers move independently relative to each other linearly along a second axis, substantially perpendicular to the first axis for picking and placing the payload pickface.
An autonomous guided transport vehicle comprising:
- a frame having a payload bed;
- a driven member connected to the frame;
- a movable member connected to the frame and defining at least a portion of the payload bed so that a payload pickface is seated on and stably held in the payload bed by at least a portion of the movable member for autonomous guided transport vehicle travel;
- and
- an automatic mechanical coupling connected to the frame and configured to selectively mechanically couple from an uncoupled condition and decouple from a coupled condition the movable member to the driven member, the automatic mechanical coupling having a first position being configured to mechanically couple and a second position configured to mechanically uncouple wherein when mechanically uncoupled the driven member moves along a first linear axis independent of the movable member and when mechanically coupled the driven member and the movable member move along the first linear axis as a unit, the automatic mechanical coupling being configured to automatically select between being in the first position and the second position automatically mechanically coupling and mechanically uncoupling the driven member and the movable member.
2 more elements
An autonomous guided transport vehicle comprising:
- an autonomous transport vehicle frame including a transport area;
- a drive system;
- and
- a transfer arm having fingers disposed in the transport area and defining at least a portion of the transport area so that a payload pickface is seated on and stably held in a payload bed of the transport area by at least a portion of the transfer arm for autonomous guided transport vehicle travel, the fingers define a payload bed support surface of the payload bed, the fingers facing and defining an engagement interface against the payload pickface so as to uphold weight generated by the payload pickface seated on over the payload bed surface defined by the fingers and stably held in the payload bed, the transfer arm being connected to the autonomous transport vehicle frame through the drive system, wherein the drive system is configured to move the fingers along a first axis as a unit and move each finger independently relative to other fingers of the transfer arm linearly along a second axis that is substantially perpendicular to the first axis.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.