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US 11,693,403 B2Granted
Dynamic allocation and coordination of auto-navigating vehicles and selectors
AssigneeSeegrid Corporation
InventorBrennan Sellner
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Dynamic allocation and coordination of auto-navigating vehicles uses robotic vehicles and centrally dispatched roaming order selectors to create a significantly more efficient, yet flexible, approach to picking goods within a warehouse. Robotic vehicles are configured to be loaded with goods from pick faces to fill orders. Each robotic vehicle follows a route that includes appropriate pick face locations. The robotic vehicles navigate from pick face to pick face where particular goods are located. Order selectors are dynamically and independently dispatched to meet the robotic vehicles at their pick face locations to load goods. Movement of the order selectors is orchestrated to increase efficiency in the order filling process within the warehouse.
Claims33
An electronic travel management system, comprising:
- one or more processors, circuits, memory devices, and wireless communication devices cooperatively coupled together;
- and
- travel management logic embodied in the circuits and memory devices, wherein the travel management logic is executable under the control of the one or more processors to:
- track locations and movement of a plurality of autonomous vehicles navigating routes comprising pick locations;
- track a plurality of user-operated mobile selector units, each mobile selector unit including a user interface;
- and
- orchestrate deployment and redeployment of the plurality of mobile selector units in real or near-real time with travel of the of the plurality of autonomous vehicles, including:
- perform congestion avoidance analysis to direct and orchestrate travel of the plurality of mobile-selectors based on locations of the plurality of mobile selector units, locations of the plurality of autonomous vehicles, and next pick locations of the plurality of autonomous vehicles;
- determine navigation instructions to a next pick location of an autonomous vehicle for at least one mobile selector unit based on the congestion avoidance analysis;
- and
- send a communication to the at least one mobile selector unit including the navigation instructions and an identification of the good or goods to be picked,
- wherein the system is configured to estimate time of arrival to a next location by the mobile selector units to orchestrate travel among the mobile selector units and the plurality of autonomous vehicles.
9 more elements
An electronic travel management system, comprising:
- one or more processors, circuits, memory devices, and wireless communication devices cooperatively coupled together;
- and
- travel management logic embodied in the circuits and memory devices, wherein the travel management logic is executable under the control of the one or more processors to:
- wirelessly track locations and movement of a plurality of autonomous vehicles navigating routes comprising pick locations;
- wirelessly track a plurality of user-operated mobile selector units, each mobile selector unit including a user interface;
- and
- orchestrate deployment and redeployment of the plurality of mobile selector units in real time with travel of the of the plurality of autonomous vehicles, including:
- analyze locations of the plurality of mobile selectors, locations of the plurality of autonomous vehicles, and next pick locations of the plurality of autonomous vehicles;
- determine optimized routes for the mobile selector units that minimize travel times based on the analysis;
- and
- communicate navigation instructions to the plurality of mobile selector units representing the optimized routes,
- wherein the system is configured to estimate time of arrival to a next location by the mobile selector units to orchestrate travel among the mobile selector units and the plurality of autonomous vehicles.
9 more elements
An electronic travel management method, comprising:
- providing a management system in communication with a plurality of autonomous vehicles and a plurality of user-operated mobile selector units, wherein each autonomous vehicle and each mobile selector unit includes wireless communication device;
- and
- the management system:
- tracking locations and movement of a plurality of autonomous vehicles navigating routes comprising pick locations;
- tracking a plurality of user-operated mobile selector units, each mobile selector unit including a user interface;
- orchestrating the deployment and redeployment of the plurality of mobile selector units in real or near-real time with travel of the of the plurality of autonomous vehicles, including:
- performing congestion avoidance analysis to direct and orchestrate travel of the plurality of mobile selectors based on locations of the plurality of mobile selector units, locations of the plurality of autonomous vehicles, and next pick locations of the plurality of autonomous vehicles;
- determining navigation instructions to a next pick location of an autonomous vehicle for at least one mobile selector unit based on the congestion avoidance analysis;
- and
- transmitting a communication to the at least one mobile selector unit including the navigation instructions and an identification of the good or goods to be picked,
- wherein the system is configured to estimate time of arrival to a next location by the mobile selector units to orchestrate travel among the mobile selector units and the plurality of autonomous vehicles.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.