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US 12,076,864 B2Granted
Distributed autonomous robot interfacing systems and methods
AssigneeWalmart Apollo, LLC
InventorsDonald High, David Winkle, Brian Gerard McHale, Todd Davenport Mattingly
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Described in detail herein is an automated fulfillment system including a computing system programmed to receive requests from disparate sources for physical objects disposed at one or more locations in a facility. The computing system can combine the requests, and group the physical objects in the requests based on object types or expected object locations. Autonomous robot devices can receive instructions from the computing system to retrieve a group of the physical objects and deposit the physical objects in storage containers.
Claims19
An autonomous system comprising:
- a first computing system in selective communication with a plurality of robot devices each configured to navigate through a facility, wherein the first computing system being configured to assign tasks to each of the plurality of robot devices in response to requests from one or more user devices, the first computing system configured to:
- receive the requests from disparate sources for physical objects disposed at one or more locations in the facility;
- query a database in response to receiving the requests and determine a first set of object locations of the physical objects based on results from the query;
- assign respective tasks to two or more robot devices, of the plurality of robot devices, to each retrieve at least one of the physical objects;
- receive sensor data from one or more sensors, wherein the sensor data comprises data corresponding to operations being performed by at least a first robot device of the two or more robot devices including detection sensor data regarding detecting the first robot device has pass a respective location within the facility;
- and
- confirm a route of the first robot device based on the sensor data received from at least one of the one or more sensors as the first robot device retrieves a first physical object, of the at least one of the physical objects, assigned to the first robot device;
- and
- a second computing system in communication with the first computing system and the one or more sensors, the second computing system programmed to:
- confirm an error in at least one of the operations being performed by the first robot device of the plurality of robot devices based on the sensor data and a current task being performed by the first robot device;
- and
- establish an interface between the second computing system and the first robot device in response to the confirmation of the error, wherein the interface is configured to enable communication of a correction instruction to the first robot device.
9 more elements
A method comprising:
- receiving requests from disparate sources for physical objects disposed at one or more locations in a facility;
- assigning, via a first computing system in selective communication with a plurality of robot devices each configured to navigate through a facility, tasks to each of the plurality of robot devices in response to the requests from one or more user devices, the tasks being assigned by the first computing system in response to receiving the requests;
- querying a database in response to receiving the requests and determining a first set of object locations of the physical objects based on results from the query;
- assigning respective tasks to two or more robot devices, of the plurality of robot devices, to each retrieve at least one of the physical objects;
- receiving sensor data from one or more sensors, wherein the sensor data comprises data corresponding to operations being performed by at least a first robot device of the two or more robot devices including sensor data regarding detecting the first robot device has pass a respective detection location within the facility;
- confirming a route of the first robot device based on the sensor data received from at least one of the one or more sensors as the first robot device retrieves a first physical object assigned to the first robot device;
- confirming, via a second computing system in communication with the one or more sensors, an error in at least one of the operations being performed by the first robot device based on the sensor data and a current task being performed by the first robot device;
- and
- establishing, via the second computing system, an interface between the second computing system and the first robot device in response to the confirming of the error, wherein the interface is configured to enable communication of a correction instruction to the first robot device.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.