Automatic transportation of pallets of goods

A warehouse comprising:

• a plurality of dedicated pallet working areas, the plurality of pallet working areas comprising:
• a staging area configured for staging pallets to be moved in and received out of trucks docked at the warehouse;
• a storage area comprising a plurality of storage racks configured to store the pallets;
• and
• a pick area configured to receive at least one pallet to which at least one case or layer picking operation is performed, wherein the pick area comprises a plurality of cells;
• a pool of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) each configured to automatically move the pallets among and within the staging area, the storage area, and the pick area of the warehouse, each of the AGVs including an indoor positioning system, a warehouse navigation system, a controller, motors, and a pallet retention component to retain the pallet as it is moved throughout the warehouse among and within the staging area, the storage area, and the pick area;
• and
• an AGV controller system that is configured to (i) dynamically determine a positioning of pallets within the plurality of cells such that at least one pathway of unoccupied cells is maintained through the pick area, wherein the at least one pathway provides an unobstructed route for the AGVs to directly access every pallet positioned in the pick area;
• (ii) assign and direct a first portion of the pool of AGVs to move pallets between or within a first subset of the plurality of dedicated pallet working areas, and (iii) assign and direct a second portion of the pool of AGVs to move pallets between or within a second subset of the plurality of dedicated pallet working areas, wherein the first portion and the second portion of the pool of AGVs are different from each other, and wherein the first subset and the second subset of the plurality of dedicated pallet working areas are different from each other.