Warehouse shuttle devices, and systems and methods incorporating the same

A method for moving pallets, the method comprising:

• engaging a shuttle engagement member disposed on an underside of a pallet with pallet engagement members of a shuttle device, wherein the pallet is in sliding engagement with a rectangular grid that demarcates a matrix of cells, and wherein the underside of the pallet faces the rectangular grid;
• moving the shuttle device beneath the rectangular grid and along a direction of motion;
• sliding the pallet along rectangular grid, while the shuttle engagement member of the pallet is engaged with the pallet engagement members of the shuttle device;
• identifying, automatically with one or more processors, a leading set of pallet engagement members and a trailing set of pallet engagement members from the pallet engagement members based at least in part upon the direction of motion, wherein the one or more processors is communicatively coupled to a distance sensor of the shuttle device and a motive assembly;
• providing a mapped location of a selected cell of the matrix of cells;
• moving, automatically with the one or more processors, the shuttle device to the mapped location with the motive assembly;
• detecting a detected position of the shuttle device with the distance sensor;
• and
• comparing, automatically with the one or more processors, the mapped location and the detected position.

A warehouse comprising one or more processors and multiple floors, wherein each of the floors of the warehouse comprises:

• a rectangular grid comprising lateral rails oriented along an x-axis and orthogonal rails oriented along a y-axis, wherein the lateral rails and the orthogonal rails intersect to demarcate a matrix of cells;
• pallets arranged upon the matrix of cells of the rectangular grid, wherein each of the pallets comprises an underside that faces the rectangular grid and a shuttle engagement member located on the underside, and wherein the shuttle engagement member comprises latching features that are each arranged at a corner of a rectangular pattern;
• a shuttle device communicatively coupled to the one or more processors and suspended beneath the pallets and the rectangular grid, wherein the shuttle device comprises a vertical actuator that urges a pallet engagement member vertically;
• a motive assembly communicatively coupled to the one or more processors and that moves the shuttle device, and wherein the one or more processors execute machine readable instructions to:
• activate the vertical actuator to urge the pallet engagement member of the shuttle device into engagement with the shuttle engagement member of a selected pallet of the pallets;
• and
• actuate the motive assembly to slide the selected pallet along the rectangular grid, while the pallet engagement member of the shuttle device and the shuttle engagement member of the selected pallet are engaged.