Method and system for transporting inventory items

• US 10,067,501 B2
• Filed: 03/09/2018
• Issued: 09/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wurman, Peter R., D'Andrea, Raffaello, Barbehenn, Michael T., Hoffman, Andrew Edward, Mountz, Michael Cordell
• Primary Examiner(s): Cumbess, Yolanda Renee
• Application Number:
  US15/916,817
• Publication Number:
  US 20180196413A1
• Time in Patent Office: 179 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: C07B 2200/13 Crystalline forms, e.g. polymorphs
• CPC Class Codes: C07C 253/34 Separation; Purification
• CPC Class Codes: C07C 255/43 the carbon skeleton being further substituted by singly-bound oxygen atoms
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4189 characterised by the transport system
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/41895 using automatic guided vehicles [AGV] control of position or course of AGV's G05D1/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31408 Cost calculation of use of certain machine types
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32328 Dynamic scheduling, resource allocation, multi agent negotiation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

A method for transporting inventory items includes moving a mobile drive unit to a first point within a workspace. The first point is a location of an inventory holder. The method further includes docking the mobile drive unit with the inventory holder and moving the mobile drive unit and the inventory holder to a second point within the workspace. The second point is associated with conveyance equipment. The method further includes moving the inventory holder to a third point within the workspace using the conveyance equipment.

Claims

1. A system for navigation, comprising:

a plurality of fiducial marks arranged in a two-dimensional grid on a floor of a workspace;

a plurality of inventory holders positioned in the two-dimensional grid of the plurality of fiducial marks, wherein a first inventory holder of the plurality of inventory holders comprises a plurality of device openings formed by a plurality of vertical support members; and

a mobile drive unit comprising;

a drive module operable to actuate a plurality of wheels;

a position sensor operable to detect first information associated with a first fiducial mark, the first fiducial mark arranged within the two-dimensional grid of the plurality of fiducial marks;

a control module operable to, in response to detecting the first fiducial mark, cause the drive module to actuate the plurality of wheels such that the mobile drive unit moves from the first fiducial mark through the plurality of device openings of the first inventory holder toward a second fiducial mark within the two-dimensional grid of the plurality of fiducial marks.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile drive unit further comprises a docking actuator that is operable to engage a docking head to lift a second inventory holder of the plurality of inventory holders in response to detecting the second fiducial mark.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile drive unit is operable to move towards a third fiducial mark while lifting the inventory holder, wherein after detecting the third fiducial mark, the mobile drive unit is further operable to stop translational movement of the mobile drive unit at the third fiducial mark and rotate the inventory holder around a vertical axis formed by a center of gravity of the mobile drive unit.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the control module of the mobile drive unit is further operable to utilize the detected first information to facilitate navigation within the two-dimensional grid of the plurality of fiducial marks to move towards the second fiducial mark.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the control module of the mobile drive unit is operable to cause the drive module to move the mobile drive unit along a path formed by a plurality of segments between each of the plurality of fiducial marks.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein a path from the first fiducial mark to the second fiducial mark is calculated to traverse between the plurality of device openings of the first inventory holder based at least in part on an undocked state of the mobile drive unit.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile drive unit further comprises an obstacle sensor operable to detect a presence of one or more obstacles in a path of the mobile drive unit as the mobile drive unit moves towards the second fiducial mark.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a device housing for a drive module, a position sensor, and an obstacle sensor, wherein;

the drive module comprises at least two motorized wheels;

the position sensor is operable to detect a first fiducial mark disposed on a floor of a workspace within a two-dimensional grid of fiducial marks; and

the obstacle sensor is operable to detect one or more objects located laterally to the device housing;

a control module operable to;

control operation of the drive module in response to wireless commands received from a remote management module;

receive information associated with the first fiducial mark from the position sensor;

transmit the information associated with the first fiducial mark to the remote management module;

receive one or more of the wireless commands from the remote management module, the one or more wireless commands instructing the control module to actuate the drive module to traverse a path from the first fiducial mark to a second fiducial mark in the two-dimensional grid of the fiducial marks; and

in response to a detection, by the obstacle sensor, of an object in the path, cause the device housing to slow or stop its movement toward the second fiducial mark.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the apparatus further comprises a docking head, wherein the docking head is operable to lift an inventory holder, the inventory holder comprising a plurality of shelves and a plurality of vertical support members.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the control module is further operable to actuate the drive module to traverse the path by tunneling beneath at least one inventory holder, wherein the tunneling comprises moving the device housing through a plurality of device openings formed by a plurality of vertical support members of the inventory holder.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the apparatus further comprises a power source, and wherein the control module is further operable to actuate the drive module to traverse the path in response to a determination that the power source is to be replenished, and wherein the second fiducial mark is associated with a power source replenishment station.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the control module is operable to wirelessly receive, from the remote management module, one or more tasks associated with the transport of an inventory holder to an inventory station.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the position sensor comprises a camera and the first fiducial mark comprises a unique identifier that is associated with a fixed position within the workspace.

14. A method for navigation performed by a mobile drive unit, comprising:

detecting, using a position sensor of a mobile drive unit, a first fiducial mark within a two-dimensional grid of a plurality of fiducial marks;

docking with an inventory holder at the first fiducial mark;

in response to detecting the first fiducial mark and docking with the inventory holder, determining, using a control module of the mobile drive unit, to traverse a segment of a path, the segment starting at the first fiducial mark and ending at a second fiducial mark;

determining, by the mobile drive unit, to perform a rotation maneuver at the second fiducial mark;

stopping, by the mobile drive unit, translational movement at the second fiducial mark; and

rotating, by the mobile drive unit, the inventory holder at the second fiducial mark.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the mobile drive unit rotates the inventory holder at the second fiducial mark by rotating at least two wheels in substantially opposite directions.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the rotation maneuver is calculated to present a selected face of a plurality of faces of the inventory holder to an inventory station.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

continuing, by the mobile drive unit, along the path by traversing one or more additional segments to reach a third fiducial mark associated with an inventory station.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the position sensor comprises a camera and one or more digital signal processors operable to process a plurality of images within a field of view of the camera to detect the first fiducial mark.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

detecting, by the mobile drive unit, that a battery of the mobile drive unit is to be charged;

undocking from the inventory holder;

traversing the two-dimensional grid of fiducial marks to a battery recharging station; and

docking with the battery recharging station.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

when undocked from the inventory holder, traversing to a selected destination by tunneling beneath a plurality of inventory holders.