Autonomous transport vehicle with position determining system and method therefor

A method comprising:

• providing an autonomous transport vehicle having a frame and drive section for autonomous traverse of a storage structure, with storage shelves, of a storage and retrieval system;
• providing a vehicle position determining system connected to the frame to interface a redundant positioning system including positioning determining features having radio devices disposed at predetermined locations on supports of the storage structure and reference targets connected to each storage shelf that are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance;
• sensing each of the reference targets with at least one sensor of the vehicle position determining system that includes at least an antenna, for interrogating the radio devices and obtaining position information based on the predetermined location of an interrogated radio device, and outputting a signal indicating when the reference target is sensed;
• determining, with a controller, based on the position information from the interrogated radio device of the redundant positioning system, a location of the autonomous transport vehicle;
• and
• verifying, with the controller, the location of the autonomous transport vehicle within the storage structure based on at least the output signal.

A method comprising:

• providing an autonomous transport vehicle having a frame and drive section for autonomous traverse of at least one vertical lift having at least one shelf;
• providing a vehicle position determining system connected to the frame to interface a redundant positioning system including positioning determining features having radio devices disposed at predetermined locations on the at least one vertical lift and reference targets connected to at least one wall adjacent the at least one vertical lift, the reference targets being aligned with at least one predetermined storage position on the at least one shelf;
• sensing each of the reference targets with at least one sensor of the vehicle position determining system that includes at least an antenna, for interrogating the radio devices and obtaining position information based on the predetermined location of an interrogated radio device, and outputting a signal indicating when the reference target is sensed;
• aligning a payload of the autonomous transport vehicle with a predetermined storage position on a predetermined shelf of the at least one vertical lift based on a determined location of the autonomous transport vehicle;
• determining, with a controller, based on the position information from the interrogated radio device of the redundant positioning system, the determined location of the autonomous transport vehicle relative to the predetermined shelf;
• and
• verifying, with the controller, the location of the autonomous transport vehicle within a storage structure of a storage and retrieval system based on at least the output signal from the at least one sensor.

An autonomous transport vehicle for a storage and retrieval system having at least one vertical lift with at least one shelf, the autonomous transport vehicle comprising:

• a frame and a drive section for autonomous traverse of the at least one vertical lift;
• a vehicle position determining system connected to the frame so as to interface a redundant positioning system including positioning determining features having at least one of radio devices disposed at predetermined locations on the at least one vertical lift and reference targets connected to at least one wall adjacent the at least one vertical lift, the reference targets being substantially aligned with at least one storage position on the at least one shelf, wherein:
• the vehicle position determining system includes at least one sensor that includes at least an antenna, for interrogating the radio devices and obtaining position information based on the predetermined location of an interrogated radio device, and is configured to sense each of the reference targets and output a signal indicating when the reference target is sensed, where the autonomous transport vehicle is configured to align a payload of the autonomous transport vehicle with a predetermined storage position on a predetermined shelf of the at least one vertical lift based on a determined location of the autonomous transport vehicle;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• determine, based on the position information from the interrogated radio device of the redundant positioning system, the determined location of the autonomous transport vehicle relative to the predetermined storage position on the predetermined shelf, and
• verify the location of the autonomous transport vehicle within a structure of the storage and retrieval system based on at least the output signal.