Storage-and-retrieval cell for a parcel-handling logistics platform

A storage-and-retrieval cell for a parcel-handling logistics platform for handling parcels with a view to delivering them, said storage-and-retrieval cell comprising:

• an upper floor and autonomously movable shuttle robots that move incoming parcels so as to position them in storage locations under the remote control of a monitoring and control unit, said monitoring and control unit configured to control said shuttle robots in such a manner that they retrieve said parcels from the locations in sequence, in which storage-and-retrieval cell said storage locations are distributed over said upper floor in such a manner as to form, firstly, two rows of storage locations that face each other and that extend in mutually parallel manner along a longitudinal direction, and, secondly, four half-rows of storage locations that are disposed back-to-back and in pairs, the two pairs of half-rows extending in alignment with each other in said longitudinal direction between said two rows of storage locations, said rows and half-rows of locations defining travel aisles between them on said upper floor for the shuttle robots to travel during storing and retrieval of parcels, and
• in which storage-and-retrieval cell a vertical travel hopper for parcels is open in the upper floor between one pair of back-to-back half-rows and the other pair of back-to-back half rows, said hopper being configured to allow said parcels to pass through it vertically while they are being unloaded in sequence into the hopper using said shuttle robots under the control of said unit during retrieval, and
• nesting trolleys each of which is suitable for being hitched to a shuttle robot and has a deck suitable for carrying a parcel, said nesting trolleys being of different heights and widths in such a manner as to be suitable for nesting together in the same storage location, and in that, at the edge of said hopper, said storage-and-retrieval cell further includes an automatic unloading device having at least one sweeper arm suitable for sweeping the deck of a nesting trolley carrying a parcel so as to cause said parcel to fall into the hopper under the effect of relative movement of the trolley and of the sweeper arm.