Autonomous order fulfillment and inventory control robots
AssigneeinVia Robotics, Inc.
InventorsLior Elazary, Daniel Frank Parks, II, Randolph Charles Voorhies
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Some embodiments provide a system for fully autonomous order fulfillment and inventory management within a distribution site or warehouse. The system operates by autonomous robots directly pulling customer order items from distribution site shelves or pulling individual bins from distribution site shelves and dispensing appropriate quantities of items from the bins until all items of a customer order are retrieved without human involvement. The system further involves the robots autonomously monitoring item quantities within the distribution site, identifying and autonomously responding to shortages, and organizing the items within the distribution site for most efficient order fulfillment.
Claims20
A robot comprising:
- a base comprising wheels, at least a first motor driving the wheels, and batteries powering said first motor;
- an extendible lift coupled to the base, the extendible lift comprising a folding framework rising to any of a plurality of heights above said base by expansion of the folding framework;
- and
- a retriever coupled to the extendible lift, the retriever comprising a platform and an electromagnet coupled to a second motor, wherein the second motor moves the electromagnet forwards about said platform towards a shelf, wherein the electromagnet magnetically couples to any of an item or bin when the electromagnet is activated, and wherein the second motor reverses direction moving the electromagnet backward about said platform and retrieving the item or bin from said shelf.
A robot comprising:
- a motorized base comprising at least a first camera, wheels, and at least a first motor driving the wheels, the motorized base directing the robot to a particular shelf from a plurality of shelves within a distribution site with each shelf of the plurality of shelves comprising a plurality of rows retaining a plurality of different items;
- an extendible lift coupled to the base, the extendible lift comprising a folding framework rising to any row from the plurality of rows of the particular shelf;
- a retriever coupled to the extendible lift, the retriever comprising a platform, at least a second camera and a suction assembly, wherein the second camera in conjunction with x-y spatial movement by the motorized base and z spatial movement by the extendible lift identifies a particular target item from a plurality of different items of the particular shelf, and wherein said suction assembly retrieves the particular target item from the particular shelf.
An autonomous order fulfillment system comprising:
- a plurality of shelves distributed across a distribution site storing a plurality of items, each shelf of the plurality of shelves storing a plurality of items with each shelf of the plurality of shelves identified by a unique identifier;
- a control center receiving customer orders for fulfillment, each customer order specifying different sets of the plurality of items;
- a plurality of robots comprising:
- at least one first robot of the plurality of robots generating a map of the distribution site by mapping each shelf unique identifier to a location within the distribution site, scanning each shelf of the plurality of shelves, and determining different sets of the plurality of items stored on each shelf based on said scanning, and
- at least one second robot fulfilling a particular customer order received from the control center by navigating using said map about an x-y spatial plane to a first shelf of the plurality of shelves containing a first item of the particular customer order, elevating about a z spatial plane to a particular height at which the first item is placed on the first shelf as identified by said map, retrieving the first item from the first shelf at the particular height to a container, navigating using said map about the x-y spatial plane to a second shelf of the plurality of shelves containing a second item of the particular customer order, elevating about the z spatial plane to a particular height at which the second item is placed on the second shelf as identified by said map, and retrieving the second item from the second shelf at the particular height to the container.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.