Automated system for transporting payloads

• US 10,040,632 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2017
• Issued: 08/07/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Alert Innovation Inc. (WalMart Inc.)
• Inventors: Lert, Jr., John
• Primary Examiner(s): Logan, Kyle O
• Application Number:
  US15/421,239
• Publication Number:
  US 20170137223A1
• Time in Patent Office: 553 Days
• Field of Search: 700216
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/0492 with cars adapted to travel in storage aisles
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/065 with self propelled cars
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/1373 for fulfilling orders in warehouses
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/1378 the orders being assembled on fixed commissioning areas remote from the storage areas

Abstract

An automated warehouse storage system including a multilevel storage array is provided. Each aisle has a set of storage levels and each level has storage locations distributed along the aisle. The guideway network extending through the multilevel storage array is configured for autonomous vehicles to move along the guideway network within the multilevel storage array. The guideway network including an inter-aisle guideway spanning at least two of the multiple aisles and a set of guideway levels extending in an aisle of the multiple aisles and disposed so that each guideway level is at a different one of the storage levels and the vehicles on the guideway level can access the storage locations distributed along the aisle. Each set of guideway levels is connected to the inter-aisle guideway forming a common guideway path so that a vehicle can move between inter-aisle guideway and each guideway level along the common guideway path.

Claims

1. An automated system, comprising:

at least one robotic vehicle;

a central control system (CCS) managing operation of the automated system, wherein the CCS controls movement of the at least one robotic vehicle;

a picking workstation to and from which the at least one robotic vehicle delivers and retrieves totes, as directed by the CCS; and

a machine vision subsystem in communication with the CCS, and oriented to view movements of a picker at the picking workstation;

wherein the machine vision subsystem monitors the movements of the picker interacting with totes at the picking workstation; and

wherein the machine vision subsystem communicates the movements of the picker to the CCS, and the CCS directs movement of the at least one robotic vehicle relative to the picker and the picking workstation based on the movements of the picker in such a way that the movements of the picker from interacting with totes result in control of the movement of the at least one robotic vehicle.

2. The automated system of claim 1, wherein the machine vision subsystem is mounted at an elevated position with a detection field of view that includes a position of a first of the at least one robotic vehicle and a second of the at least one robotic vehicle.

3. The automated system of claim 1, wherein a detection field of view of the machine vision subsystem includes a position of the at least one robotic vehicle and a position of the picker.

4. The automated system of claim 1, wherein the picking workstation further comprises a display screen which displays a number of caches remaining to be removed from a product tote located at the picking workstation.

5. The automated system of claim 1, wherein the picking workstation further comprises weight-sensors that measure changes in a weight of the at least one robotic vehicle located at the picking workstation to verify and/or validate a transfer of a pre-determined desired number of caches specified by an order.

6. The automated system of claim 1, further comprising a workstation control system (WCS) of the CCS in communication with the machine vision subsystem.

7. The automated system of claim 6, further comprising a communication mechanism wherein when the at least one robotic vehicle enters a queue at the picking workstation, as directed by the CCS, the at least one robotic vehicle establishes a communications link with the WCS and movements of the at least one robotic vehicle are then managed by the WCS and CCS until transfers of caches from a tote located in the robotic vehicle have been completed.

8. The automated system of claim 6, wherein the WCS communicates an input to the picker indicating a number of caches remaining to be picked from a product tote located at the picking workstation.

9. The automated system of claim 8, wherein the picking workstation further comprises a display screen displaying the number of caches remaining to be picked from the product tote located at the picking workstation.

10. The automated system of claim 8, wherein the input further comprises a voice input sent from the WCS to the picker through a headset or speaker indicating the number of caches remaining to be picked from the product tote located at the picking workstation.

11. The automated system of claim 6, wherein when the picker reaches into a product tote located at the picking workstation and removes one or more target eaches, the picker communicates to the WCS indicating a quantity of the one or more target eaches being transferred and places the one or more target eaches into a load-carrier tote.

12. The automated system of claim 6, wherein the picking workstation further comprises weight-sensors that measure changes in a weight of the at least one robotic vehicle located at the picking workstation to verify and/or validate a transfer of a pre-determined desired number of caches specified by an order and by reading an output of the weight-sensors, the WCS measures a weight reduction in a first of the at least one robotic vehicles and a weight increase in a second of the at least one robotic vehicles when a transfer is made.

13. The automated system of claim 6, further comprising an error message generator wherein the picker communicates to the WCS indicating a quantity of the one or more target caches being transferred and places each of one or more target eaches into a load-carrier tote, the WCS measures a weight reduction in a first of the at least one robotic vehicles and a weight increase in a second of the at least one robotic vehicles when a transfer is made, and when the WCS determines there is a discrepancy, an error message is generated by the error message generator and an exception-handling logic on the WCS is instantiated.

14. The automated system of claim 6, further comprising the WCS having a validation mechanism wherein when the picker communicates to the WCS indicating a quantity of one or more target caches being transferred and places each of one or more target eaches into a load-carrier tote, the WCS measures a weight reduction in a first of the at least one robotic vehicles and a weight increase in a second of the at least one robotic vehicles when a transfer is made, and when the WCS determines there is no discrepancy, the one or more target caches are considered successfully transferred and the WCS subtracts the quantity of eaches from a quantity of remaining caches to yield an updated number of units remaining to be picked.

15. The automated system of claim 6, further comprising the WCS having a management mechanism wherein when the picker has moved away from a product tote after removing a predetermined quantity of eaches to be picked from the product tote, the WCS commands one of the at least one robotic vehicles to move forward slightly and present a next onboard product tote.

16. The automated system of claim 6, further comprising the WCS having a management mechanism wherein when the picker has moved away from a product tote after removing a predetermined quantity of eaches to be picked from the product tote, the WCS commands one of the at least one robotic vehicles to leave the picking workstation and passes control of the one of the at least one robotic vehicles back to the CCS.

17. The automated system of claim 6, further comprising the WCS having a management mechanism wherein when the picker has moved away from a product tote after removing a predetermined quantity of eaches to be picked from the product tote, the WCS commands a next one of the at least one robotic vehicles in queue to move forward into pick-position.

18. The automated system of claim 6, further comprising the WCS having a management mechanism wherein when the picker has moved away from a product tote after removing a predetermined quantity of eaches to be picked from the product tote, the picker executes de-trashing move commanded by the WCS.

19. The automated system of claim 6, wherein a picking rate is determined by and correlated with the movements of the picker as detected by the machine vision subsystem and communicated to the WCS of the CCS in such a way that when the picker increases a rate of picking, the at least one robotic vehicle increases a rate of movement through the picking workstation as directed by the WCS of the CCS, and when the picker reduces the rate of picking, the at least one robotic vehicle decreases the rate of movement through the picking workstation as directed by the WCS of the CCS.

20. The automated system of claim 1, wherein a tilt track at the picking workstation is tilted toward the picker to present product totes to the picker.

21. The automated system of claim 1, wherein the picker is human.

22. The automated system of claim 1, wherein the picker is an automated robot.

23. The automated system of claim 1, wherein the machine vision subsystem further comprises a camera mounted at the picking workstation, the camera configured, positioned, and oriented to view movements of the picker at the picking workstation.

24. An automated system, comprising:

a storage array having multiple levels with storage distributed along multiple aisles, wherein each aisle has a set of storage levels and each level has storage locations distributed along the aisle;

at least one robotic vehicle configured to travel bi-directionally, and turn, enabling the at least one robotic vehicle to travel along the at least one inter-aisle floor and vertically from level to level of the multiple levels via a vertical transition;

a central control system (CCS) managing operation of the automated system, wherein the CCS controls movement of the at least one robotic vehicle;

a picking workstation to and from which the at least one robotic vehicle delivers and retrieves totes, as directed by the CCS;

a machine vision subsystem in communication with a workstation control system (WCS) and comprising a camera mounted at the picking workstation, the camera configured, positioned, and oriented to view movements of a picker at the picking workstation;

wherein the machine vision subsystem monitors movements of the picker interacting with totes at the picking workstation; and

wherein the machine vision subsystem communicates movements of the picker to the WCS, which communicates with the CCS, and the CCS directs movement of the at least one robotic vehicle relative to the picker and the picking workstation based on the movements of the picker in such a way that the movements of the picker from interacting with totes result in control of the movement of the at least one robotic vehicle.

25. An automated system method of operation, the method comprising:

a central control system (CCS) managing operation of the automated system, wherein the CCS controls movement of at least one robotic vehicle;

a machine vision subsystem, oriented to view movements of a picker at the picking workstation, monitoring movements of a picker interacting with totes at a picking workstation;

the machine vision subsystem communicating the movements of the picker to the WCS; and

the WCS communicating the CCS, and the CCS directing movement of the at least one robotic vehicle relative to the picker and the picking workstation, the step of directing being based on the movements of the picker in such a way that the movements of the picker from interacting with totes result in control of the movement of the at least one robotic vehicle.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising the machine vision subsystem monitoring using an image capture device mounted at an elevated position with a detection field of view that includes a position of a first of the at least one robotic vehicle and a second of the at least one robotic vehicle.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein a detection field of view of the machine vision subsystem includes a position of the at least one robotic vehicle and a position of the picker.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the picking workstation further comprises a display screen displaying a number of caches remaining to be removed from a product tote located at the picking workstation.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the picking workstation further comprises weight-sensors measuring changes in a weight of the at least one robotic vehicle located at the picking workstation to verify and/or validate a transfer of a pre-determined desired number of eaches specified by an order.

30. The method of claim 25, further comprising when the at least one robotic vehicle enters a queue at the picking workstation, as directed by the CCS, the at least one robotic vehicle establishing a communications link using a communication mechanism with the WCS and the WCS and CCS managing movements of the at least one robotic vehicle until transfers of eaches from a tote located in the robotic vehicle have been completed.

31. The method of claim 25, further comprising the WCS communicating an input to the picker indicating a number of eaches remaining to be picked from a product tote located at the picking workstation.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising the picking workstation displaying, on a display screen, the number of eaches remaining to be picked from the product tote located at the picking workstation.

33. The method of claim 25, wherein the input further comprises the WCS sending a voice input to the picker through a headset or speaker indicating the number of caches remaining to be picked from the product tote located at the picking workstation.

34. The method of claim 25, wherein when the picker reaches into a product tote located at the picking workstation and removes one or more target caches, the picker communicating to the WCS indicating a quantity of the one or more target eaches being transferred and placing the one or more target eaches into a load-carrier tote.

35. The method of claim 25, wherein the picking workstation further comprises weight-sensors measuring changes in a weight of the at least one robotic vehicle located at the picking workstation to verify and/or validate a transfer of a pre-determined desired number of eaches specified by an order and by reading an output of the weight-sensors, the WCS measuring a weight reduction in a first of the at least one robotic vehicles and a weight increase in a second of the at least one robotic vehicles when a transfer is made.

36. The method of claim 25, further comprising the picker communicating to the WCS indicating a quantity of the one or more target eaches being transferred and places each of one or more target eaches into a load-carrier tote, the WCS measuring a weight reduction in a first of the at least one robotic vehicles and a weight increase in a second of the at least one robotic vehicles when a transfer is made, and when the WCS determines there is a discrepancy, an error message generator generating an error message and an exception-handling logic on the WCS is instantiated.

37. The method of claim 25, further comprising the picker communicating to the WCS indicating a quantity of one or more target caches being transferred and places each of one or more target eaches into a load-carrier tote, the WCS measuring a weight reduction in a first of the at least one robotic vehicles and a weight increase in a second of the at least one robotic vehicles when a transfer is made, and when the WCS determines there is no discrepancy, a validating mechanism indicating the one or more target caches are considered successfully transferred and the WCS subtracting the quantity of eaches from a quantity of remaining eaches to yield an updated number of units remaining to be picked.

38. The method of claim 25, further comprising the picker moving away from a product tote after removing a predetermined quantity of caches to be picked from the product tote, and a management mechanism of the WCS commanding one of the at least one robotic vehicles to move forward slightly and present a next onboard product tote.

39. The method of claim 25, further comprising the picker moving away from a product tote after removing a predetermined quantity of caches to be picked from the product tote, and a management mechanism of the WCS commanding one of the at least one robotic vehicles to leave the picking workstation and passing control of the one of the at least one robotic vehicles back to the CCS.

40. The method of claim 25, further comprising the WCS having a management mechanism wherein when the picker has moved away from a product tote after removing a predetermined quantity of eaches to be picked from the product tote, the WCS commands a next one of the at least one robotic vehicles in queue to move forward into pick-position.

41. The method of claim 25, further comprising the picker moving away from a product tote after removing a predetermined quantity of eaches to be picked from the product tote, and the picker executing a de-trashing move commanded by a management mechanism of the WCS.

42. The method of claim 25, further comprising correlating movements of a picker by commanding the at least one robotic vehicle to increase a rate of movement through the picking workstation when the machine vision subsystem detects the picker increasing a rate of picking and commanding the at least one robotic vehicle to decrease the rate of movement through the picking workstation when the machine vision subsystem detects the picker reducing the rate of picking.

43. The method of claim 25, wherein the picker is human.

44. The method of claim 25, wherein the picker is an automated robot.

45. The method of claim 25, wherein the machine vision subsystem further comprises a camera mounted at the picking workstation, the camera configured, positioned, and oriented for viewing movements of the picker at the picking workstation.