Topometric Map Based Autonomous Navigation for Inventory Drone

A system for managing inventory in a storage site using an autonomous robot, the system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• memory configured to store code comprising instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a process comprising:
• receiving, at an inventory management system, inventory data including identifiers of pallets and associated coordinate information of the pallets within the storage site;
• generating a topometric map of the storage site based on layout information obtained from at least one of a computer-aided design drawing of the storage site or administrator-provided configuration data, the topometric map comprising vertices representing pallet locations and edges connecting the vertices;
• reconciling the topometric map with the inventory data by associating each vertex that represents a pallet location with a corresponding identifier of a pallet maintained in the inventory management system;
• receiving, at the inventory management system, an operational request specifying a target pallet;
• in response to the operational request, determining a path in the topometric map from a current location of the robot to a vertex associated with the target pallet, the path being based on costs assigned to edges of the topometric map;
• and
• directing the robot to autonomously navigate the storage site according to the path to perform an inventory management action associated with the operational request.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium for storing code comprising instructions for managing inventory in a storage site using an autonomous robot, wherein the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a process comprising:

• receiving, at an inventory management system, inventory data including identifiers of pallets and associated coordinate information of the pallets within the storage site;
• generating a topometric map of the storage site based on layout information obtained from at least one of a computer-aided design drawing of the storage site or administrator-provided configuration data, the topometric map comprising vertices representing pallet locations and edges connecting the vertices;
• reconciling the topometric map with the inventory data by associating each vertex that represents a pallet location with a corresponding identifier of a pallet maintained in the inventory management system;
• receiving, at the inventory management system, an operational request specifying a target pallet;
• in response to the operational request, determining a path in the topometric map from a current location of the robot to a vertex associated with the target pallet, the path being based on costs assigned to edges of the topometric map;
• and
• directing the robot to autonomously navigate the storage site according to the path to perform an inventory management action associated with the operational request.