Robotic arm for loading and unloading bins
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsKevin Hwang, Timothy Mark Feldkamp, Yifan Chen, Kurt Michael Lundeen, Sam Hoff, Smruti Panigrahi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vehicle for delivering a plurality of packages disposed in a plurality of bins is described. The vehicle includes a grid of a plurality of motorized tiles configured to enable movement of the plurality of bins within the vehicle. The vehicle further includes a robotic arm disposed at a vehicle rear portion. The robotic arm may be configured to load or unload a bin to or from the grid of the plurality of motorized tiles. The robotic arm may be attached to a linear actuator that is configured to move the robotic arm in a vehicle interior portion.
Claims20
A vehicle comprising:
- a grid of a plurality of motorized tiles configured to enable movement of a plurality of bins within the vehicle;
- and
- a robotic arm disposed at a vehicle rear portion, wherein the robotic arm is configured to load or unload a bin of the plurality of bins to or from the grid of the plurality of motorized tiles, and wherein the robotic arm is attached to a linear actuator that is configured to move the robotic arm in a vehicle interior portion.
A method comprising:
- obtaining, by a processor, a movement plan to move a bin from a source location to a destination location in a vehicle;
- generating, by the processor, first instructions for one or more motorized tiles of a plurality of motorized tiles based on the movement plan, wherein a grid of the plurality of motorized tiles is configured to enable movement of a plurality of bins within the vehicle based on the first instructions;
- and
- generating, by the processor, second instructions for a robotic arm based on the movement plan, wherein the robotic arm is disposed at a vehicle rear portion, wherein the robotic arm is configured to move the bin from the source location to the destination location on the grid of the plurality of motorized tiles based on the second instructions, and wherein the robotic arm is attached to a linear actuator that is configured to move the robotic arm in a vehicle interior portion;
- and
- transmitting, by the processor, the first instructions and the second instructions to the one or more motorized tiles and the robotic arm to move the bin from the source location to the destination location.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium in a distributed computing system, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
- obtain a movement plan to move a bin from a source location to a destination location in a vehicle;
- generate first instructions for one or more motorized tiles of a plurality of motorized tiles based on the movement plan based on the movement plan, wherein a grid of the plurality of motorized tiles is configured to enable movement of a plurality of bins within the vehicle based on the first instructions;
- and
- generate second instructions for a robotic arm based on the movement plan, wherein the robotic arm is disposed at a vehicle rear portion, wherein the robotic arm is configured to move the bin from the source location to the destination location on the grid of the plurality of the motorized tiles, and wherein the robotic arm is attached to a linear actuator that is configured to move the robotic arm in a vehicle interior portion;
- and
- transmit the first instructions and the second instructions to the one or more motorized tiles and the robotic arm to move the bin from the source location to the destination location.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.