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US 2022/0080588 A1Published application
Distributed Autonomous Robot Interfacing Systems and Methods
AssigneeWalmart Apollo, LLC
InventorsDonald High, David Winkle, Brian Gerard McHale, Todd Davenport Mattingly
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Described in detail herein is an automated fulfilment system including a computing system programmed to receive requests from disparate sources for physical objects disposed at one or more locations in a facility. The computing system can combine the requests, and group the physical objects in the requests based on object types or expected object locations. Autonomous robot devices can receive instructions from the computing system to retrieve a group of the physical objects and deposit the physical objects in storage containers.
Claims20
An autonomous system comprising:
- a first computing system in selective communication with a plurality of robot devices each configured to navigate through a facility, wherein the first computing system being configured to assign tasks to each of the plurality of the robot devices in response to requests from one or more user devices, the first computing system configured to:
- receive the requests from disparate sources for physical objects disposed at one or more locations in the facility;
- group the physical objects in the requests based on at least one of object types and expected object locations providing multiple groups;
- query a database in response to receiving the requests and determine a first set of object locations of the physical objects in a first group of the multiple groups based on results from the query;
- assign at least one task to retrieve the first group of physical object to at least one of the plurality of robot devices;
- receive sensor data from a plurality of sensors disposed throughout the facility and remote to the plurality of robot devices, wherein the sensor data comprises sensor data corresponding to operations being performed by the plurality of robot devices including sensor data regarding detecting one or more of the robot devices that pass a respective one of the plurality of sensors;
- confirm a location and route of the at least one of the plurality of robot devices based on the sensor data received from one or more of the plurality of sensors as the at least one of the plurality of robot devices retrieves the physical objects in the first group and deposits the physical objects in the first group in one or more storage containers based on the requests to which the physical objects are associated;
- a second computing system in communication with the first computing system and the plurality of sensors, the second computing system programmed to:
- detect an error in at least one of the operations being performed by the at least one of the plurality of robot devices based on sensor data from one or more of the plurality of sensors and a current task being performed by the at least one of the plurality of robot devices;
- and
- establish an interface between the second computing system and the at least one of the plurality of robot devices in response to detection of the error, wherein the interface is configured to enable an operator to communicate with the at least one of the plurality of robot devices.
8 more elements
A method comprising:
- receiving requests from disparate sources for physical objects disposed at one or more locations in the facility;
- assigning, via a first computing system in selective communication with a plurality of robot devices each configured to navigate through a facility, tasks to each of the plurality of the robot devices in response to requests from one or more user devices, the tasks being assigned by the first computing system in response to receiving the requests from disparate sources ;
- grouping the physical objects in the requests based on at least one of object types and expected object locations providing multiple groups;
- querying a database in response to receiving the requests and determining a first set of object locations of the physical objects in a first group of the multiple groups based on results from the query;
- assigning at least one task to retrieve the first group of physical object to at least one of the plurality of robot devices;
- receiving sensor data from a plurality of sensors disposed throughout the facility and remote to the plurality of robot devices, wherein the sensor data comprises sensor data corresponding to operations being performed by the plurality of robot devices including sensor data regarding detecting one or more of the robot devices that pass a respective one of the plurality of sensors;
- confirming a location and route of the at least one of the plurality of robot devices based on the sensor data received from one or more of the plurality of sensors as the at least one of the plurality of robot devices retrieves the physical objects in the first group and deposits the physical objects in the first group in one or more storage containers based on the requests to which the physical objects are associated;
- detecting, via a second computing system in communication with the first computing system, and the plurality of sensors, an error in at least one of the operations being performed by at least one of the plurality of robot devices based on sensor data from one or more of the of the plurality of sensors and a current task being performed by the at least one of the plurality of robot devices;
- and
- establishing, via the second computing system, an interface between the second computing system and the at least one of the plurality of robot devices in response to detection of the error, wherein the interface is configured to enable an operator to communicate with the at least one of the plurality of robot devices.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.