Efficient shuffling of mobile drive units for inventory holders
AssigneeAmazon Technologies, Inc.
InventorsPeter R. Wurman, Matthew David Verminski, Michael Cordell Mountz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mobile drive unit that freely and independently moves about a facility to transport inventory holders. The mobile drive unit may operate through communications with other drive units, or under a more centralized control of a management module. For various operating scenarios, the mobile drive unit is directed to shuffle the inventory holders in a manner that minimizes travel of the mobile drive unit, thereby improving overall system efficiency. One or more mobile drive units may be used to transport inventory holders to and from a region, and to sequentially reposition or slide each of the inventory holders within the region according to a priority ordering.
Claims20
A mobile drive unit comprising:
- a drive component;
- and
- a control unit configured to generate control instructions for the drive component based at least in part on a predefined shuffle process, the control instructions are configured to cause the drive component to:
- retrieve a new inventory holder from a storage location;
- temporarily place the new inventory holder in a temporary staging location of a region of a warehouse, the region including a pick station;
- reposition a first inventory holder from a first pick location within the region to the temporary staging location upon the first inventory holder attaining a completion status;
- subsequently position a second inventory holder from a second pick location into the first pick location vacated by repositioning the first inventory holder;
- transport the first inventory holder away from the temporary staging location;
- and
- reposition the new inventory holder from the temporary staging location to the second pick location or a third pick location.
A mobile drive unit comprising:
- a drive component;
- a communication unit configured to receive drive instructions based at least in part on a predefined shuffle process;
- and
- a control unit configured to operate the drive component based at least in part on the received drive instructions, the drive instructions configured to cause the drive component to:
- retrieve a new inventory holder from a storage location and temporarily place the new inventory holder in a temporary staging location of a region of a warehouse, the region including a pick station;
- reposition a first inventory holder from a first pick location within the region to the temporary staging location within the region upon the first inventory holder attaining a completion status;
- subsequently position a second inventory holder from a second pick location into the first pick location vacated by repositioning the first inventory holder;
- transport the first inventory holder away from the temporary staging location;
- and
- reposition the new inventory holder from the temporary staging location to the second pick location or a third pick location.
A mobile drive unit comprising:
- a drive component;
- and
- a control unit configured to instruct the drive component to shuffle a first inventory holder, a second inventory holder, and a third inventory holder within a warehouse according to a predefined shuffle process, wherein the first inventory holder is positioned at a first pick location of a pick station, the second inventory holder is positioned at a second pick location of the pick station, and the third inventory holder is positioned at a third pick location of the pick station, the control unit instructs the drive component to:
- retrieve a new inventory holder and deposit the new inventory holder in a first holding location;
- move the first inventory holder from the first pick location to a second holding location upon the first inventory holder attaining a complete status;
- subsequently move the second inventory holder from the second pick location into the first pick location vacated by the first inventory holder;
- subsequently move the third inventory holder from the third pick location into the second pick location vacated by the second inventory holder;
- and
- subsequently move the first inventory holder away from the second holding location to remove the first inventory holder from the pick station.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.