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US 11,511,417 B1Granted
Conveyance modulation based on fragility ratings
AssigneeAmazon Technologies, Inc.
InventorsKent Belden Meiswinkel, William Scott Kalm
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for moving items in a facility may be described herein. The system may instruct components of the system to move the items at different speeds or velocities based on an item's fragility rating. A fragility rating may indicate an amount of force that an item withstands prior to damaging the item. A fragility rating for an item may be determined based on known fragility ratings of items with similar item metrics.
Claims20
A system, comprising:
- an inventory conveyance system configured to move a plurality of items via one or more conveyance mechanisms;
- a sensor for interacting with a machine-readable code of an item of the plurality of items, the machine-readable code associated with a fragility rating that represents an amount of force that the item withstands prior to damaging the item;
- a robotic manipulator having at least two dimensions of freedom and configured to grasp at least a first item and a second item;
- and
- a computer system configured to:
- receive first information from the sensor including an interaction with the machine-readable code of the first item, the first information including the fragility rating for the first item;
- determine a first movement rate for moving the first item from the one or more conveyance mechanisms based at least in part on the fragility rating of the first item from the first information;
- instruct the robotic manipulator to move the first item from the one or more conveyance mechanisms at the first movement rate;
- receive second information from the sensor including the interaction with the machine-readable code of the second item, the second information including the fragility rating for the second item;
- determine a second movement rate for moving the second item from the one more conveyance mechanisms based at least in part on the fragility rating of the second item from the second information, the second movement rate being different than the first movement rate;
- and
- instruct the robotic manipulator to move the second item from the one or more conveyance mechanisms at the second movement rate.
9 more elements
A computer-implemented method, comprising:
- maintaining, by a computer system, first information about a plurality of items, each of the plurality of items having one of a plurality of fragility ratings associated therewith, a fragility rating of the plurality of fragility ratings representing an amount of force that a corresponding item of the plurality of items withstands prior to damaging the item;
- maintaining, by the computer system, second information about the plurality of items, the second information comprising item metrics for the corresponding item of the plurality of items;
- receiving, by the computer system, an indication of a new item, the new item not associated with one of the plurality of fragility ratings;
- obtaining, by the computer system, the item metrics for the new item based at least in part on the indication;
- and
- determining, by the computer system, the fragility rating for the new item based at least in part on the item metrics for the new item, the first information, and the second information.
3 more elements
An inventory system, comprising:
- an inventory conveyance system configured to move a plurality of items in a facility via one or more conveyance mechanisms;
- a sensor for interacting with a machine-readable code of an individual item of the plurality of items, the machine-readable code comprising a fragility rating that represents an amount of force that the individual item withstands prior to damaging the individual item;
- a sorting apparatus configured to:
- receive at least a first item of the plurality of items and a second item of the plurality of items;
- and
- transition at least the first item and the second item to one of a plurality of conveyance routes for moving the plurality of items in the facility;
- and
- a computer system configured to:
- maintain the plurality of conveyance routes for moving the plurality of items in the facility, a conveyance route of the plurality of conveyance routes comprising a subset of the one or more conveyance mechanisms, the subset of the one or more conveyance mechanisms operating at different speeds;
- receive first information from the sensor including an interaction with a first machine-readable code of the first item;
- determine a first conveyance route of the plurality of conveyance routes for moving the first item in the facility based at least in part on the first information and the plurality of conveyance routes;
- and
- instruct the sorting apparatus to transition the first item to the first conveyance route.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.