Robotic sortation system

An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one non-transitory memory comprising a computer program code, the at least one non-transitory memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

• receive imaging data associated with a first item at a first sorting location of a material handling system;
• determine a sorting destination for the first item based at least in part on the imaging data;
• determine a plurality of first-tier robotic devices and a plurality of second-tier robotic devices from one or more robotic devices based at least in part on the first sorting location and the sorting destination, wherein each of the plurality of first-tier robotic devices is located within a first pre-determined distance from the first sorting location, wherein each of the plurality of second-tier robotic devices is located within a second pre-determined distance from at least one of the plurality of first-tier robotic devices;
• generate a first sortation scheme for the first item, wherein the first sortation scheme comprises computer software programming instructions that, when transmitted to and executed by robotic devices identified in a first sortation path, cause the identified robotic devices to transport the first item from the first sorting location to the sorting destination via the first sortation path, the identified robotic devices comprising an identified first-tier robotic device of the plurality of first-tier robotic devices and an identified second-tier robotic device of the plurality of second-tier robotic devices of the material handling system;
• cause the identified first-tier robotic device to transport the first item to a second sorting location associated with the identified second-tier robotic device;
• determine, based on status data received from the identified second-tier robotic device, whether the identified second-tier robotic device is associated with a predefined indicator indicating that the identified second-tier robotic device is offline or indicating an error message associated with the identified second-tier robotic device;
• in response to determining that the identified second-tier robotic device is associated with the predefined indicator:
• calculate a plurality of processing times associated with the robotic devices of the material handling system;
• select a third robotic device associated with a least processing time among the calculated plurality of processing times;
• and
• cause the third robotic device to transport the first item from the second sorting location to the sorting destination.

A computer program product that, when executed by a computing apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one non-transitory memory, cause the computing apparatus to:

• receive imaging data associated with a first item at a first sorting location of a material handling system;
• determine a sorting destination for the first item based at least in part on the imaging data;
• determine a plurality of first-tier robotic devices and a plurality of second-tier robotic devices from one or more robotic devices based at least in part on the first sorting location and the sorting destination, wherein each of the plurality of first-tier robotic devices is located within a first pre-determined distance from the first sorting location, wherein each of the plurality of second-tier robotic devices is located within a second pre-determined distance from at least one of the plurality of first-tier robotic devices;
• generate a first sortation scheme for the first item, wherein the first sortation scheme comprises computer software programming instructions that, when transmitted to and executed by robotic devices identified in a first sortation path, cause the identified robotic devices to transport the first item from the first sorting location to the sorting destination via the first sortation path, the identified robotic devices comprising an identified first-tier robotic device of the plurality of first-tier robotic devices and an identified second-tier robotic device of the plurality of second-tier robotic devices of the material handling system, wherein the plurality of second-tier robotic devices is downstream of the plurality of first-tier robotic devices in the first sortation path;
• cause the identified first-tier robotic device to transport the first item to a second sorting location associated with the identified second-tier robotic device;
• determine, based on status data received from the identified second-tier robotic device, whether the identified second-tier robotic device is associated with a predefined indicator indicating that the identified second-tier robotic device is offline or indicating an error message associated with the identified second-tier robotic device;
• in response to determining that the identified second-tier robotic device is associated with the predefined indicator:
• calculate a plurality of processing times associated with the robotic devices of the material handling system;
• select a third robotic device associated with a least processing time among the calculated plurality of processing times;
• and
• cause the third robotic device to transport the first item from the second sorting location to the sorting destination.