Entity monitoring for kiva robotic floors

A computer-implemented method, comprising:

• receiving, by a computer system, location information that indicates respective locations of a plurality of mobile drive units in an inventory management system;
• receiving, from a mobile location unit that is moving within a bounded area around a signal transmitter associated with an entity, tracking information that includes an approximate location of the signal transmitter relative to the mobile location unit, the mobile location unit configured to follow the entity as the entity moves within the inventory management system;
• generating, by the computer system and based at least in part on the tracking information, pathway information that instructs at least one of the plurality of mobile drive units within the inventory management system to avoid the bounded area around the signal transmitter;
• providing the pathway information to the plurality of mobile drive units;
• and
• instructing an associated propulsion component of the at least one mobile drive unit to alter a current path within the materials handling facility based at least in part on the pathway information.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed with a computer system, cause the computer system to perform operations comprising:

• maintaining zone information that identifies a plurality of zones of an inventory management system;
• receiving location information that includes respective locations of a plurality of mobile drive units in the inventory management system, the mobile drive units configured to communicate the zone information while moving within the inventory management system according to generated paths;
• receiving, from a first mobile location unit that is moving within a bounded area around a working entity and following the working entity as the working entity moves within the inventory management system, tracking information that includes an approximate location of the working entity relative to the first mobile location unit and the zone information, the zone information indicating a particular zone of the plurality of zones of the inventory management system in which the working entity is moving, the tracking information utilized to generate paths instructing the plurality of mobile drive units to avoid the bounded area;
• determining that the working entity is moving from the particular zone to another zone of the plurality of zones of the inventory management system based at least in part on the tracking information and the zone information;
• providing first instructions to the first mobile location unit to remain within the particular zone of the plurality of zones of the inventory management system by instructing an associated propulsion component of the first mobile location unit to decelerate;
• and
• providing second instructions to assign a second mobile location unit to move within the bounded area around the working entity based at least in part on the determination that the working entity is moving from the particular zone to the another zone of the plurality of zones of the inventory management system.