Picking sequence optimization within a warehouse for an item list

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by one or more processors of an online concierge system, cause the processor to:

• receive, by the online concierge system, a delivery order from a device of a customer, the delivery order containing a list of items;
• generate, by the one or more processors, a suggested picking sequence for picking the delivery order in a warehouse, wherein generating the suggested picking sequence comprises applying a trained item sequence model to the delivery order, wherein the item sequence model is trained to generate the suggested picking sequence to minimize an amount of time a shopper would spend picking the list of items, and wherein training the item sequence model comprises:
• access data about a set of historical orders, wherein for each order in the set of historical orders, the data about the order comprises a duration between picking a first item in a first aisle and a second item in a second aisle in the order;
• determine a pairwise distance between each pair of aisles in the warehouse based on the data about the set of historical orders;
• and
• generate a distance graph based on the pairwise distance between each pair of aisles in the warehouse, wherein the distance graph comprises a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges, the plurality of nodes representing a plurality of aisles in the warehouse, and the plurality of edges representing pairwise distances between pairs of aisles;
• and
• train the item sequence model based in part on the distance graph;
• and
• transmit, by the one or more processors, the suggested picking sequence to a mobile device of the shopper, wherein the transmitting causes the mobile device of the shopper to display the list of items in the suggested picking sequence.

A computer system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
• receive, by an online concierge system, a delivery order from a device of a customer, the delivery order containing a list of items;
• generate, by the online concierge system, a suggested picking sequence for picking the delivery order in a warehouse, wherein generating the suggested picking sequence comprises applying a trained item sequence model to the delivery order, wherein the item sequence model is trained to generate the suggested picking sequence to minimize an amount of time a shopper would spend picking the list of items, and wherein training the item sequence model comprises:
• access data about a set of historical orders, wherein for each order in the set of historical orders, the data about the order comprises a duration between picking a first item in a first aisle and a second item in a second aisle in the order;
• determine a pairwise distance between each pair of aisles in the warehouse based on the data about the set of historical orders;
• and
• generate a distance graph based on the pairwise distance between each pair of aisles in the warehouse, wherein the distance graph comprises a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges, the plurality of nodes representing a plurality of aisles in the warehouse, and the plurality of edges representing pairwise distances between pairs of aisles;
• and
• train the item sequence model based in part on the distance graph;
• and
• transmit, by the online concierge system, the suggested picking sequence to a mobile device of the shopper, wherein the transmitting causes the mobile device of the shopper to display the list of items in the suggested picking sequence.