Determining an exclusion zone in a workspace of transport devices

An assistance system to assist a control system for controlling transport device movement in a workspace, the assistance system comprising:

• an image sensor to capture an image representation of the workspace;
• an interface to obtain a target image portion of the image representation of the workspace;
• wherein the assistance system is configured to:
• map the target image portion to a target location in the workspace;
• determine, based on the mapping, an exclusion zone in the workspace, comprising the target location, in which one or more transport devices are prohibited from entering;
• and
• output to the control system exclusion zone data, representative of the exclusion zone, for implementing the exclusion zone in the workspace.

A storage system, comprising:

• a workspace;
• a control system for controlling transport device movement in the workspace;
• and
• an assistance system, comprising:
• an image sensor to capture an image representation of the workspace;
• an interface to obtain a target image portion of the image representation of the workspace;
• wherein the assistance system is configured to:
• map the target image portion to a target location in the workspace;
• determine, based on the mapping, an exclusion zone in the workspace,
• comprising the target location, in which one or more transport devices are prohibited from entering;
• and
• output to the control system exclusion zone data, representative of the exclusion zone, for implementing the exclusion zone in the workspace;
• wherein the workspace comprises a grid formed by a first set of parallel tracks extending in an X-direction, and a second set of parallel tracks extending in a Y-direction transverse to the first set in a substantially horizontal plane, the grid comprising a plurality of grid spaces,
• wherein the one or more transport devices are arranged to selectively move in at least one of the X-direction or Y-direction on the tracks and to handle a container stacked beneath the tracks within a footprint of a single grid space.