Automated order fulfillment system and method

An automated order fulfillment system, comprising:

• a donor-handling system having at least two donor buffers;
• a recipient-handling system having at least one recipient buffer;
• an item-handling system comprising a vision system and an item manipulator;
• said vision system having a field of view encompassing said at least two donor receptacle buffers;
• a control causing said vision system to scan items in a donor receptacle at one of said donor buffers to obtain a pick list of location data of items in the scanned donor receptacle;
• said control causing said manipulator to pick an item from a donor receptacle at the other of said donor buffers under guidance of said vision system and place the picked item to a recipient receptacle at the at least one recipient buffer using the location data of items in that donor receptacle;
• and
• said control causing said vision system to scan items of the another donor receptacle at the another donor buffers from which the manipulator is picking items to provide a new pick list if there are items remaining in the donor receptacle after the original pick list is fully picked.

An automated method for fulfilling orders, comprising:

• a donor-handling system having at least two donor buffers;
• a recipient-handling system having at least one recipient buffer;
• an item-handling system comprising a vision system and an item manipulator;
• said vision system having a field of view encompassing said at least two donor buffers;
• scanning items in a donor receptacle at one of said donor buffers with said vision system to obtain a pick list of location data of items in the scanned donor receptacle;
• picking an item from a donor receptacle at the other of said donor buffers with said manipulator under guidance of said vision system and placing the picked item to a recipient receptacle at the at least one recipient buffer of the recipient-handling system using the location data of items in that donor receptacle;
• and
• scanning items with said vision system in a receptacle at one of said donor buffers overlapping in time with said picking items from another receptacle at another said of said donor buffers under guidance of said vision system.

An automated method for fulfilling orders, comprising:

• a donor-handling system having at least two donor buffers;
• a recipient-handling system having at least one recipient buffer;
• an item-handling system comprising a vision system and an item manipulator;
• said vision system having afield of view encompassing said at least two donor receptacle buffers;
• and
• scanning items in a donor receptacle at one of said donor buffers with said vision system to obtain a pick list of location data of items in the scanned donor receptacle;
• picking an item from a donor receptacle at the other of said donor buffers with said manipulator under guidance of said vision system and placing the picked item to a recipient receptacle at the at least one recipient buffer of the recipient-handling system using the location data of items in that donor receptacle;
• and
• scanning items with said vision system of the another donor receptacle at the another donor buffers from which the manipulator is picking items to provide a new pick list if there are items remaining in the donor receptacle after the original pick list is fully picked.