Random-access robotic inventory dispensary: replenishment and purge operation prioritization

• US 10,414,049 B2
• Filed: 10/24/2017
• Issued: 09/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BBY Solutions Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BBY Solutions Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Stiernagle, Chad, Kraetsch, Glendon T., LaValle, Dean R., Sheikholeslami, Cameron P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cumbess, Yolanda R
• Application Number:
  US15/792,630
• Publication Number:
  US 20180043535A1
• Time in Patent Office: 693 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1679 characterised by the tasks executed
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/0407 using stacker cranes constructional features of stacker cranes B66F9/06
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/1371 with data records
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31036 Load component into corresponding compartment, bin, storage before assembly
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31043 Bin, storage identifier and workstation identifier
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/165 using xyz-picker or multi-dimensional article picking arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/02 Arm motion controller
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/30 End effector

Abstract

The present application is directed to a robotic system for maintaining product inventory and dispensing products upon request from a customer or other user. Product items are stored in an inventory storage unit (ISU), one item per bin. Controller logic allows items to be stored in, and retrieved from, arbitrarily-assigned storage locations. The bins hang on rails within drawers. Upon a request from a consumer (or other user) in a fulfillment operation, the robot retrieves a bin holding the first item from the ISU. Upon a request from an operator in a replenishment operation, the robot transfers an empty bin to an operator station (such as a replenishing unit). Upon a request from an operator in a purge operation, the robot transfers bins containing the affected items to the operator station. The controller logic further allows certain operations to be prioritized and performed for the replenishment and purge operations.

Claims

1. A method, comprising electronic replenishment operations performed by a robotic control system operating on a robotic inventory dispensary, the robotic inventory dispensary comprising a storage unit and robotics, the storage unit adapted to host storage bins at respective storage locations, with the electronic replenishment operations of the method comprising:

receiving a first communication that indicates a first plurality of storage bins are filled with respective product items, the first plurality of storage bins located at an operator-access mechanism accessible to the robotics;

transmitting a second communication that causes the robotics to execute a set of actions to perform stocking of the first plurality of storage bins, the set of actions including removing a respective storage bin from the operator-access mechanism and placing the respective storage bin into a respective bin location in the storage unit; and

recording the respective bin location and an identifier corresponding to the respective bin location in a database, in response to successfully performing the stocking of the first plurality of storage bins into the robotic inventory dispensary.

2. The method of claim 1, the set of actions executed by the robotics including, for the respective storage bin of the first plurality of storage bins, scanning a respective product item within the respective storage bin by a scanning system and obtaining a product item identifier for a product corresponding to the respective product item, wherein the identifier corresponding to the respective bin location includes the product item identifier.

3. The method of claim 2, the set of actions executed by the robotics including, for the respective storage bin of the first plurality of storage bins, scanning the respective storage bin by the scanning system and obtaining a bin identifier of the respective storage bin, wherein identifier corresponding to the respective bin location includes the bin identifier.

4. The method of claim 2, the electronic operations of the method further comprising:

receiving a third communication to retrieve an instance of a requested product using the product item identifier; and

retrieving the instance of the requested product using a retrieval prioritization scheme, wherein the retrieval prioritization scheme is first-in, first-out (FIFO) to dispense the requested product from a storage location, the requested product included in a most recently added storage bin for the requested product.

5. The method of claim 2, the electronic operations of the method further comprising:

receiving a third communication to retrieve an instance of a requested product using the product item identifier; and

retrieving the instance of the requested product using a retrieval prioritization scheme, wherein the retrieval prioritization scheme is last-in, last-out (LIFO) to dispense the requested product from a storage location, the requested product included in an oldest added storage bin for the requested product.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a storage prioritization scheme is used by the robotic control system to select the respective bin location for storage, with the electronic operations of the method further comprising:

displaying, through an operator user interface, a plurality of storage prioritization schemes for the robotic inventory dispensary;

receiving, through the operator user interface, a selection of the storage prioritization scheme from the plurality of storage prioritization schemes; and

implementing the selection of the storage prioritization scheme by the robotic control system, to perform with the stocking of the first plurality of storage bins based on the storage prioritization scheme.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a storage prioritization scheme is used by the robotic control system to select the respective bin location for storage, with the electronic operations of the method further comprising:

displaying, through an operator user interface, a plurality of parameter variables constraining a current storage prioritization scheme for the robotic inventory dispensary;

receiving, through the operator user interface, a selection of one or more of the plurality of parameter variables; and

implementing a storage prioritization scheme by the robotic control system based on the selection of one or more of the plurality of parameter variables.

8. The method of claim 1, the electronic operations of the method further comprising:

receiving a third communication initiated from an operator user interface that triggers the stocking of the first plurality of storage bins;

accessing a database system to determine locations of a plurality of empty storage bins that are empty within the robotic inventory dispensary; and

transmitting a fourth communication that causes the robotics to execute a second set of actions to move the plurality of empty storage bins to the operator-access mechanism, the plurality of empty storage bins to receive additional inventory at the operator-access mechanism.

9. The method of claim 1, the electronic operations of the method further comprising:

maintaining, by the robotic control system, data in an electronic database, the data including;

a first data set containing a plurality of locations within the robotic inventory dispensary where storage bins can be stored;

a second data set for each storage bin in the first plurality of storage bins, the second data set containing;

an identifier of the storage bin,

a location of the storage bin within the robotic inventory dispensary,

an indication of whether the storage bin is empty or contains a product item, and

if the storage bin contains a product item, an identifier of the product item; and

a third data set for each product item in a plurality of product items, the third data set containing;

an identifier of the product item, and

an identifier corresponding to the respective bin location containing the product item;

wherein the robotics, under direction from the robotic control system, is capable of randomly accessing any location in the robotic inventory dispensary for extraction and placement of a particular storage bin.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the operator-access mechanism includes an operator access drawer providing access to the robotics for addition and removal of products in the robotic inventory dispensary.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the operator access drawer provides access for insertion and removal of products and storage bins when the operator access drawer is open, and provides access to the robotics for bin insertion and removal of products and storage bins when the operator access drawer is closed.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising electronic purging operations performed by the robotic control system operating on the robotic inventory dispensary, the electronic purging operations performed subsequent to the electronic replenishment operations, with the electronic purging operations of the method comprising:

receiving a third communication that includes a specification characterizing a plurality of product items to be removed from the storage unit;

accessing an electronic database to determine storage locations of the plurality of product items to be removed from the storage unit, wherein the plurality of product items correspond, one product item per storage bin, to a plurality of storage bins;

obtaining identifiers of the storage locations of the plurality of storage bins corresponding to the plurality of product items; and

transmitting a fourth communication including the identifiers of the storage locations of the plurality of storage bins to cause the robotics to transfer the plurality of storage bins to an operator-access mechanism for purging.

13. The method of claim 12, the electronic operations of the method further comprising:

receiving a fifth communication that indicates the plurality of storage bins to purge, located at the operator-access mechanism, are empty; and

causing the robotics to execute a set of actions to complete the electronic purging operations, including for each empty storage bin of the plurality of storage bins to purge;

removing the empty storage bin from the operator-access mechanism, and

placing the empty storage bin into a respective location in the storage unit.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the empty storage bin is placed into a section of the robotic inventory dispensary assigned to storage of empty storage bins.

15. The method of claim 12, the electronic operations of the method further comprising:

searching the electronic database to identify respective storage bins that store the plurality of product items to be removed from the storage unit.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the specification characterizes one or more of:

all product items of a particular type, all product items of a particular model, or all product items from a particular vendor or manufacturer, to be removed from the storage unit.

17. The method of claim 12, the electronic operations of the method further comprising:

rearranging, by the robotics under control of the robotics control system, remaining storage bins to compress a drawer in the storage unit, after purging the plurality of product items to be removed.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the robotics performs operations to compress the drawer by coupling to and lifting a first storage bin in the drawer and moving closer to a second storage bin in the drawer.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the robotics performs operations to compress the drawer by lifting a first storage bin in the drawer using a platform or frame under the first storage bin, and then translating the first storage bin forward or backward within the drawer.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the operator-access mechanism includes a drawer, the drawer adapted to provide access to an operator for bin insertion and removal when the operator-access mechanism is placed in an open position, and the drawer adapted to provide access to the robotics for bin insertion and removal when the operator-access mechanism is placed in a closed position.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein the operator-access mechanism includes a conveyor, with the electronic operations of the method further comprising:

moving filled storage bins to an operator-access area using the conveyor; and

moving empty storage bins from the operator-access area to the robotics using the conveyor.

22. A robotic inventory dispensary, comprising:

a storage unit including a plurality of storage locations, the storage unit to store a plurality of product items in respective storage bins among respective locations of the plurality of storage locations;

a replenishing unit to receive a plurality of additional product items;

robotics to operate upon the storage unit and the replenishing unit; and

a robotics control system to provide command to the robotics for a replenishment operation, the robotic control system configured to;

receive a communication initiated from an operator user interface that indicates that a plurality of storage bins are filled with respective product items, the plurality of storage bins located at the replenishing unit accessible to the robotics;

transmit commands to cause the robotics to execute a set of actions to perform stocking of the plurality of storage bins, including removing a respective storage bin from the replenishing unit and placing the respective storage bin into a respective bin location in the storage unit for the plurality of storage bins; and

record respective bin locations and respective identifiers corresponding to the respective bin locations in a database, in response to successfully performing the stocking of the plurality of storage bins into the storage unit.

23. The robotic inventory dispensary of claim 22, wherein the replenishing unit comprises an operator-access mechanism, wherein the operator-access mechanism includes a drawer, and wherein the operator-access mechanism provides access to an operator for bin insertion and removal when the operator-access mechanism is open and provides access to the robotics for bin insertion and removal when the operator-access mechanism is closed.

24. The robotic inventory dispensary of claim 22, the robotics configured to:

scan respective product items within respective storage bins of the plurality of storage bins by a scanning system and obtain a product item identifier or a bin identifier, wherein the respective identifier corresponding to the respective bin location is provided from the product item identifier or the bin identifier;

wherein a storage prioritization scheme maintained by the robotics control system is used to determine the respective bin location of a selected product using the product item identifier or the bin identifier; and

wherein the storage prioritization scheme is first-in, first-out (FIFO) or last-in, last-out (LIFO), wherein FIFO is used to dispense the selected product from a most recently added storage bin, and wherein LIFO is used to dispense the selected product from an oldest added storage bin.

25. The robotic inventory dispensary of claim 22, further comprising:

an operator-access mechanism; and

the robotic control system further configured to;

receive a third communication that includes a specification to characterize a plurality of product items for removal;

access a database system to determine locations, within the storage unit, of a plurality of storage bins that correspond, one product item per storage bin, to the plurality of product items for removal;

obtain identifiers of the locations of the storage bins within the storage unit;

generating a command that causes the robotics to transfer the plurality of storage bins from the storage unit to the operator-access mechanism for purging of the plurality of product items; and

receive a fourth communication that includes an indication that the storage bins at the operator-access mechanism have been emptied.

26. The robotic inventory dispensary of claim 25, comprising:

the operator-access mechanism, wherein the operator-access mechanism includes a drawer, wherein the operator-access mechanism provides access to an operator for storage bin insertion and removal when the drawer is in an open position, and provides access to the robotics for storage bin insertion and removal when the drawer is in a closed position.

27. The robotic inventory dispensary of claim 25, wherein the specification characterizes one or more of:

all product items of a particular type, all product items of a particular model, or all product items from a particular vendor or manufacturer, to be removed from the storage unit.