System and method for automatically restocking items on shelves

A restocking system, comprising:

• a plurality of imaging sensors configured to capture imaging data of items on store shelves;
• a database having item-specific data stored, the item-specific data including dimensions, weight, and orientation information of the items;
• a processor;
• and
• a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
• storing the imaging data in the database;
• calculating a current quantity of a product on the store shelves based on the imaging data and the item-specific data;
• calculating a current depletion rate for the product based on the current quantity of the product, a previous quantity of the product, and a historical sales rate of the product;
• forecasting when an emptiness threshold for the product will be reached based on the current depletion rate and the current quantity of the product, to yield a forecasted replenishment time;
• at the forecasted replenishment time, generating an alert for restocking the product;
• and
• triggering restocking of the product based on the alert.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

• receiving, from a plurality of imaging sensors, real-time imaging data, the real-time imaging data including images of a plurality of products on a store shelf, the plurality of products having a plurality of product types, wherein the plurality of imaging sensors:
• (1) detect motion between an imaging sensor in the plurality of imaging sensors and the store shelf;
• (2) detect an end of the motion;
• and
• (3) wait a pre-determined amount of time after the end of the motion before recording the images;
• storing the real-time imaging data in a database, wherein the database contains item-specific data associated with each product in the plurality of products, the item-specific data including dimensions, weight, and orientation information of the each product;
• calculating, in real-time and for each product in the plurality of products, a current quantity of a product on the store shelf based on the real-time imaging data and the item-specific data;
• calculating a current depletion rate for each product in the plurality of products based on the current quantity of the each product, a previous quantity of the each product, and a historical sales rate of the each product;
• forecasting when an emptiness threshold for each product in the plurality of products will be reached based on the current depletion rate for the each product and the current quantity of the each product, to yield a plurality of forecasted replenishment times, each forecasted replenishment time in the plurality of forecasted replenishment times identifying when a respective product in the plurality of products will reach the emptiness threshold;
• and
• at each forecasted replenishment time in the plurality of forecasted replenishment times:
• generating an alert for restocking the respective product;
• and
• triggering restocking of the respective product based on the alert.