US 12,729,064 B1Granted

Robotic re-stowing of relocated inventory

AssigneeAmazon Technologies, Inc.

InventorsYvetta Pols Sandhu, Julie Mitchell, Yashoda Dadkar, Joseph Durham, Michael Andrew DeMalia

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Abstract

Systems and methods for robotic re-stowing of relocated inventory are described. In some examples, a determination may be made that a first tote located in a first zone of a processing facility includes a first item bound for a second zone of the processing facility. The first tote may be scanned by a first scanner of a first conveyance system to determine that the first tote is bound for the second zone. The first conveyance system may transport the first tote from the first zone to the second zone. The first tote may be robotically stowed on a first storage pod in the second zone. A first laden robotic drive unit may transport the first storage pod to a first pick station in the second zone.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

transporting, by a laden robotic drive unit, a first storage pod comprising a plurality of items to a first pick station, wherein the first pick station is associated with a first zone of a processing facility;
receiving a first item from the first storage pod at the first pick station;
determining that the first item is associated with a second zone of the processing facility located on a different level than the first zone;
placing the first item in a first tote associated with the second zone;
placing the first tote on a vertical conveyor system;
determining that the first tote is associated with the second zone by scanning a fiducial on the first tote using a barcode reader associated with the vertical conveyor system;
transporting, by the vertical conveyor system, the first tote to a first robotic stow station in the second zone;
placing, by a robotic arm of the first robotic stow station, the first tote on a human-accessible storage pod;
and
transporting, by a second laden robotic drive unit, the human-accessible storage pod to a second pick station in the second zone.

7 more elements

A method comprising:

determining, using first order data, that a first tote located in a first zone of a processing facility includes a first item bound for a second zone of the processing facility;
determining, based at least in part by scanning the first tote by a first scanner of a first conveyance system, that the first tote is bound for the second zone;
transporting, by the first conveyance system, the first tote from the first zone to the second zone;
robotically stowing the first tote on a first storage pod in the second zone;
and
transporting, by a first laden robotic drive unit, the first storage pod to a first pick station in the second zone.

3 more elements

A system comprising:

at least one processor;
and
non-transitory computer-readable memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, are effective to:
determine, using first order data, that a first tote located in a first zone of a processing facility includes a first item bound for a second zone of the processing facility;
determine, based at least in part by scanning the first tote by a first scanner of a first conveyance system, that the first tote is bound for the second zone;
control the first conveyance system to transport the first tote from the first zone to the second zone;
cause the first tote to be stowed on a first storage pod in the second zone;
and
control a first laden robotic drive unit to transport the first storage pod to a first pick station in the second zone.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.