Autonomous robots performing concerted operation based on shared sensory access and holistic flow of information

A system comprising:

• a plurality of robots;
• an order fulfillment station;
• and
• one or more processors configured to:
• receive a plurality of orders in a particular sequence, each order of the plurality of orders involving a different set of items;
• determine that a first order has at least a particular item in common with a second order, wherein the second order is at least two or more orders removed from the first order in the particular sequence of the plurality of orders;
• determine a total quantity of the particular item ordered as part of the plurality of orders based on a first quantity of the particular item ordered as part of the first order and a second quantity of the particular item ordered as part of the second order;
• select a particular robot from the plurality of robots;
• control the particular robot in transferring an object containing at least the total quantity of the particular item from a storage location to the order fulfillment station;
• and
• perform an out-of-order fulfillment of the plurality of orders at the order fulfillment station by coordinating extraction of the total quantity of the particular item from the object upon transfer of the object by the particular robot to the order fulfillment station, wherein performing the out-of-order fulfillment comprises fulfilling the particular item for the first order and the second order before fulfilling an item of a third order that is received before at least one of the first order and the second order in the particular sequence.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program instructions that, when executed by one or more machines of a robot management system, cause the robot management system to perform operations comprising:

• receive a plurality of orders in a particular sequence, each order of the plurality of orders involving a different set of items;
• determine that a first order has at least a particular item in common with a second order, wherein the second order is at least two or more orders removed from the first order in the particular sequence of the plurality of orders;
• determine a total quantity of the particular item ordered as part of the plurality of orders based on a first quantity of the particular item ordered as part of the first order and a second quantity of the particular item ordered as part of the second order;
• select a particular robot from a plurality of robots;
• control the particular robot in transferring an object containing at least the total quantity of the particular item from a storage location to an order fulfillment station;
• and
• perform an out-of-order fulfillment of the plurality of orders at the order fulfillment station by coordinating extraction of the total quantity of the particular item from the object upon transfer of the object by the particular robot to the order fulfillment station, wherein performing the out-of-order fulfillment comprises fulfilling the particular item for the first order and the second order before fulfilling an item of a third order that is received before at least one of the first order and the second order in the particular sequence.