Profiling pallets and goods in a warehouse environment

A system for automatically profiling pallets, the system including:

• a pallet profiling frame defining an opening that is sized and shaped for a pallet to pass through;
• a plurality of cameras mounted to the pallet profiling frame at a plurality of different locations along the pallet profiling frame, the plurality of cameras being configured to capture images of a pallet as the pallet passes through the opening of the pallet profiling frame, the images providing multiple different views of the pallet from a plurality of different vantage points provided by the cameras being mounted to the pallet profiling frame at the plurality of different locations;
• a pallet profiling computer system that is configured to receive the images captured by the plurality of cameras and to automatically profile the pallet based, at least in part, on analysis of the images, wherein automatically profiling the pallet includes:
• generating a point cloud representing the pallet based on the images, the point cloud comprising a collection of points in three-dimensional space that identify physical contours of the pallet,
• determining a size of the pallet based on the point cloud generated from images of the pallet,
• identifying contents of the pallet based on the images, and
• providing pallet information identifying, at least, the size and contents of the pallet to a warehouse management system in association with the pallet;
• one or more conveyor belts that are configured to convey the pallet through the opening of the pallet profiling frame;
• one or more optical gateways that are positioned along the conveyor belts to detect presence of the pallet at particular locations relative to the pallet profiling frame;
• and
• a pallet profiling controller that is configured to selectively control different groups of the cameras to capture the images based on the position of the pallet along the conveyor belts as indicated by signals from the optical gateways.