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US 2014/0180479 A1Published application
Bagging With Robotic Arm
AssigneeWal-Mart Stores, Inc.
InventorsStuart Argue, Anthony Emile Marcar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods are disclosed for automatically or semi-automatically depositing retail items into a bag using a robotic arm. Embodiments of the present disclosure comprise a camera, an image processor, and a robotic arm control module to analyze and attempt to identify an item. Human intervention may be utilized to assist in item identification and/or robotic arm control. A human operator may visually identify the item and/or remotely control the robotic arm from a remote control station.
Claims12
A method of bagging retail items comprising:
- identifying a retail product at a retail checkout workstation;
- transmitting a first signal that directs a robotic arm to pick up the retail product;
- and
- transmitting a second signal that directs the robotic arm to deposit the retail product into a container.
1 more element
An apparatus for bagging items comprising:
- a robotic arm at a retail checkout station;
- at least one camera adapted to capture an image depicting a retail item;
- and
- an image processing module adapted to analyze the image and transmit an image analysis result to a control module;
- wherein the control module is adapted to transmit instructions to the robotic arm to pick up the retail item and deposit the retail item in a container.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.