A method of operating an order fulfillment system comprising:
- providing at least one database identifying inventoried items;
- providing at least one conveyor defining at least one conveyor path along which at least one item is configured to move, wherein the at least one conveyor is configured to control a movement speed of the at least one item through at least one conveyor path, wherein at least one destination location of the at least one conveyor comprises a workstation;
- providing at least one sensor system disposed in a handling area and configured to generate a sensor output indicating at least one of a presence, an identity, or a location of the at least one item along the at least one conveyor path and a corresponding time-stamp of the sensor output, wherein the at least one sensor system comprises a plurality of sensor units, and wherein the plurality of sensor units comprises at least one sensor unit disposed along an item transport route of the at least one conveyor path at locations selected to track the at least one item and to generate at least one confirmation event of the at least one item at the handling area, and wherein each of the at least one sensor unit selected from the group consisting of:
- (A) a weight sensor configured to output weight data of the at least one item,
- (B) at least one image or optical sensor configured to output image or optical data depicting the at least one item,
- (C) a dimension sensor configured to output one or more measured dimensions of the at least one item,
- (D) an optical recognition sensor configured to output optical recognition data corresponding to the at least one item,
- (E) an infrared sensor configured to output temperature data of the at least one item,
- (F) a proximity sensor configured to output proximity data indicative of a presence or position of the at least one item, and
- (G) a code reader configured to read a machine-readable identifier associated with the at least one item, the machine-readable identifier comprising at least one of a barcode, a two-dimensional code, or a radio-frequency identifier;
- providing at least one actuation device configured to adjust a position of the at least one item relative to the handling area, wherein the at least one actuation device comprises recognition technology configured to generate identifying information for the at least one item based on the sensor output and the corresponding time-stamp of the sensor output;
- receiving the generated sensor output and the corresponding time-stamp for the at least one item;
- generating or storing the sensor output and the corresponding time-stamp associated with the identifying information for the at least one item;
- determining an item identifier for the at least one item using the recognition technology and based on the at least one of the sensor output and the corresponding time-stamp of the sensor output, wherein determining the item identifier comprises at least one of:
- (A) determining the item identifier from the machine-readable identifier obtained by the code reader,
- (B) determining the item identifier from at least one of weight data, image data, dimension data, optical data, temperature data, or proximity data,
- (C) querying the at least one database to receive a selected item identifier, or
- (D) selecting item identifiers associated with movement of the at least one item based on the sensor output and the corresponding time-stamp of the sensor output;
- storing, in association with the item identifier, a timestamp corresponding to receipt of the identifying information for the at least one item;
- analyzing at least one characteristic of the identified at least one item in the sensor output to determine an association of the at least one item with the at least one inventoried item;
- mapping the item identifier to a record associated with the identified at least one item from the at least one database;
- determining a real-time position of the identified at least one item within the handling area using the timestamp corresponding to receipt of the identifying information or the corresponding time-stamp of the sensor output, and providing time-stamped position information for the identified item to at least one computing system or actuation device;
- signaling a corresponding actuation device of the at least one actuation device to retrieve a corresponding identified item of the identified at least one item;
- generating at least one actuation instruction for the corresponding actuation device;
- and
- transmitting the at least one actuation to the at least one computing system to cause the at least one actuation device to route the at least one item toward the destination location.