Warehouse automation systems and methods
AssigneeOcado Innovation Limited
InventorsRylan Hamilton, Jerome Dubois, Christopher Cacioppo, Timothy Higgins
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A warehouse automation system adapted to improve warehouse operating productivity includes a plurality of carts for transporting products within a warehouse and a controller. The controller is adapted to associate a first one of the plurality of carts with a first person and to control the first cart to lead the first person around the warehouse. According to one advantage, the time the first person spends restocking, picking, counting, sorting, moving, and packing product into customer orders and shipments, for example, is reduced.
Claims20
A cart comprising:
- a plurality of receptacles for receiving products for transport, at least one of the receptacles of the plurality of receptacles being removable from the cart;
- and
- a plurality of lights associated with the plurality of receptacles, wherein the cart is structured to selectively illuminate one or more of the plurality of lights to provide an indication of at least one receptacle of the plurality of receptacles associated with a task.
A system comprising:
- a plurality of carts, each of the carts including a plurality of receptacles for receiving products for transport, at least one of the receptacles of the plurality of receptacles of each cart being removable from the respective cart, and a plurality of lights associated with the plurality of receptacles of the respective carts;
- machine-readable instructions;
- and
- at least one processor circuit to execute the machine-readable instructions to:
- associate at least one receptacle of the plurality of receptacles of a first cart of the plurality of carts with a task;
- and
- cause one or more of the plurality of lights of the first cart to be selectively illuminated to provide an indication of the at least one receptacle of the plurality of receptacles of the first cart associated with the task.
A method comprising:
- associating, by at least one processor circuit programmed by at least one instruction, at least one receptacle of a plurality of receptacles of a cart with a task;
- and
- causing, by one or more of the at least one processor circuit, one or more of a plurality of lights of the cart to be selectively illuminated to provide an indication of the at least one receptacle of the plurality of receptacles associated with the task.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.