Dynamic robot control for sortation

A method comprising:

• determining, for a first cart-filling station, a subset of destinations of a first set of destinations;
• sending first control instructions to a robotic sortation device at the first cart-filling station, the first control instructions effective to allocate the subset of destinations to the robotic sortation device;
• controlling a first robot to move a first pod from a robot-controlled storage field to the first cart-filling station, the first pod containing a first item;
• determining, based at least in part on a first arrival time of the first robot at the first cart-filling station, a queue dwell time that is long enough to absorb a cart-to-station mission time;
• controlling a second robot to move a first cart associated with a first destination of the subset of destinations to the first cart-filling station based at least in part on a determination that the first arrival time of the first robot at the first cart-filling station corresponds to a second arrival time of the second robot at the first cart-filling station and that the second arrival time does not exceed the queue dwell time of the first robot;
• selecting, by the robotic sortation device at the first cart-filling station, the first item from the first pod;
• placing, by the robotic sortation device, the first item in the first cart;
• and
• controlling the second robot to remove the first cart from the first cart-filling station.

A system comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• non-transitory computer-readable memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor is effective to:
• determine, for a first cart-filling station, a subset of destinations of a first set of destinations;
• send first control instructions to a robotic sortation device at the first cart-filling station, the first control instructions effective to allocate the subset of destinations to the robotic sortation device;
• control a first robot to move a first pod from a robot-controlled storage field to the first cart-filling station, the first pod containing a first item;
• determining, based at least in part on a first arrival time of the first robot at the first cart-filling station, a queue dwell time that is long enough to absorb a cart-to-station mission time;
• control a second robot to move a first cart associated with a first destination of the subset of destinations to the first cart-filling station based at least in part on a determination that the first arrival time of the first robot at the first cart-filling station corresponds to a second arrival time of the second robot at the first cart-filling station and that the second arrival time does not exceed the queue dwell time of the first robot;
• select, by the robotic sortation device at the first cart-filling station, the first item from the first pod;
• place, by the robotic sortation device, the first item in the first cart;
• and
• control the second robot to remove the first cart from the first cart-filling station.