Managing operations of a mobile drive unit within a workspace based on a fire-based policy

• US 10,591,931 B1
• Filed: 10/19/2017
• Issued: 03/17/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Aggarwal, Aayush, Clarke, Ryan, Mitlin, Anatoly, Plumley, James, Tierney, Gregory Edward, Wilson, Steven Augustine
• Primary Examiner(s): Figueroa, Jaime
• Application Number:
  US15/788,587
• Time in Patent Office: 880 Days
• Field of Search: 700245, 700250
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0027 involving a plurality of vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling fleet control of land vehicles from a control room G05D1/0297; traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00; for marine craft G08G3/00; for aircraft G08G5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0214 in accordance with safety or protection criteria, e.g. avoiding hazardous areas monitoring the location of vehicles within a certain area, e.g. forbidden or allowed areas, in traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/13
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0297 by controlling means in a control room

Abstract

Techniques for controlling movement of a mobile drive unit within a workspace are described. In an example, a system may access a map of the workspace. The map defines a policy for the movement of the mobile drive unit within the workspace based on a volume of the workspace associated with a fire shutter. The fire shutter is located within the workspace and is operable to manage a spread of a fire within the workspace. The system may generate at least a portion of a movement path for the mobile drive unit within the workspace based on the map and on an event for transporting material from a location in the workspace. The portion of the movement path is in compliance with the policy defined in the map. The system provides at least the portion of the movement path to the mobile drive unit over a data network.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a mobile drive unit configured for material transportation within a workspace;

a fire shutter located within the workspace and operable to manage a spread of a fire within the workspace; and

a computer system communicatively coupled with the mobile drive unit over a data network, the computer system comprising;

a processor; and

a memory storing computer-readable instructions that, upon execution by the processor, configure the computer system to;

access a map of the workspace, the map defining a policy for movement of the mobile drive unit within the workspace based at least in part on occupation of one or more volumes of the workspace by the fire shutter in an open position, a shut position, and a transition between the open position and the shut position;

generate a movement path for the mobile drive unit within the workspace based at least in part on the map and on an event for transporting material from a location in the workspace, the movement path being in compliance with the policy defined in the map; and

provide the movement path to the mobile drive unit over the data network.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the policy specifies that the movement of the mobile drive unit and storage of the material are prohibited within a particular volume of the workspace occupied by the fire shutter in the open position.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the policy specifies that the movement of the mobile drive unit is permitted and stoppage of the mobile drive unit is prohibited within a particular volume of the workspace occupied by the fire shutter in the shut position and in a transition between the open position and the shut position.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the policy further specifies a limit on a number of mobile drive units permitted to occupy an expanded volume of the workspace, wherein the expanded volume includes the particular volume and is based at least in part on a dimension of the mobile drive unit and a direction of movement of the mobile drive unit in the particular volume.

5. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

determining, by a mobile drive unit, information about a location of the mobile drive unit within a workspace, the mobile drive unit configured for material transportation within the workspace;

determining, by the mobile drive unit, at least a portion of a movement path within the workspace based at least in part on the information about the location and on a map, the map defining a policy for movement of the mobile drive unit within the workspace based at least in part on one or more volumes of the workspace associated with a fire shutter, the fire shutter located within the workspace and operable to manage a spread of a fire within the workspace; and

performing, by the mobile drive unit, movement along the portion of the movement path, the movement along the portion of the movement path being in compliance with the policy defined in the map.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein determining at least the portion of the movement path comprises:

receiving, from a computer system over a data network, instructions about the portion based at least in part on the map and the information about the location of the mobile drive unit within the workspace, and wherein performing the movement comprises executing the instructions.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the map represents the workspace with a visual representation that includes cells, wherein each cell corresponds to a particular volume of the workspace, wherein at least one of the cells is associated with the policy and a fiducial in the map and corresponds to a volume of the workspace that can be occupied by the fire shutter in an open position, a shut position, or a transition between the open position and the shut position, and wherein the location about the mobile drive unit is determined based at least in part on a read of the fiducial by the mobile drive unit.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the instructions received from the computer system specify the movement of the mobile drive unit at least on one or more of:

identifying the fiducial to the mobile drive unit and prohibiting the mobile drive unit from stopping within the at least one of the cells corresponding to the fiducial, or

identifying a different fiducial in a different cell adjacent to the at least one of the cells and instructing the mobile drive unit to move to the different cell and detect the different fiducial.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein determining the information about the location of the mobile drive unit comprises reading, by the mobile drive unit, a fiducial associated with the location, wherein determining the portion of the movement comprises determining, by the mobile drive unit from the reading of the fiducial, that the mobile drive unit is prohibited from stopping at the location.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the fiducial encodes the policy specifying that the mobile drive unit is prohibited from stopping at the location based at least in part on the map specifying that the policy is applicable to the location.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the fiducial includes an identifier of the policy, and wherein determining that the mobile device is prohibited from stopping at the location comprises reading the identifier from the fiducial and accessing the policy from a data storage location based at least in part on the identifier.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein determining, at least a portion of the movement path within the workspace comprises:

accessing, by the mobile drive unit, the map;

determining, by the mobile drive unit, that the map specifies that the policy is applicable to the location; and

generating, by the mobile drive unit, the portion of the movement path in compliance with the policy.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the policy specifies at least one of:

movement of the mobile drive unit and storage of material are prohibited within a first volume of the workspace occupied by the fire shutter in an open position,

the movement of the mobile drive unit is permitted and stoppage of the mobile drive unit is prohibited within a second volume of the workspace occupied by the fire shutter in a transition between the open position and a shut position, or

a limit on a number of mobile drive units permitted to occupy a third volume of the workspace, wherein the third volume comprises the second volume and is defined based at least in part on a dimension of the mobile drive unit.

14. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-readable instructions that, upon execution on a computer system, configure the computer system to perform operations comprising:

accessing a map of a workspace, the map defining a policy for movement of a mobile drive unit within the workspace based at least in part on one or more volumes of the workspace associated with a fire shutter, the fire shutter located within the workspace and operable to manage a spread of a fire within the workspace;

generating at least a portion of a movement path for the mobile drive unit within the workspace based at least in part on the map and on an event for transporting material from a location in the workspace, the portion of the movement path being in compliance with the policy defined in the map; and

providing at least the portion of the movement path to the mobile drive unit over a data network.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the map indicates that the policy is applicable to a first volume and to a second volume of the workspace associated with at least one of the fire shutter, and wherein generating at least the portion of the movement path comprises generating instructions that specify a flow of the movement of the mobile drive unit through the first volume and the second volume based at least in part on the policy.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the map is updated based at least in part on an emergency, and wherein an update to the map comprises a change to a policy type applied to the one or more volumes.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the map represents the fire shutter as an object dimensioned based at least in part on dimensions of the fire shutter, wherein the map represents the one or more volumes as one or more cells in the map, and wherein the map specifies that the policy is applicable to a number of cells based at least in part on the dimensions of the fire shutter and respective dimensions of the cells.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

instructing a second mobile drive unit to tow the mobile drive unit at a priority higher than a priority of material transportation based at least in part on a determination of a stoppage of the mobile drive unit in the one or more volumes, and wherein towing the mobile drive unit overrides the policy for the movement of the mobile drive unit.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the map identifies that the policy is applicable to the one or more volumes, and wherein the policy specifies at least a speed of the movement of the mobile drive unit within the one or more volumes and a direction of the movement.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the map comprises multiple layers, represents a first volume subject to the policy as a first cell having predefined dimensions in a first layer of the map, and represents a second volume that contains the first volume as a second cell in a second layer of the map, and wherein the map indicates that the policy is applicable to the second cell in the second layer.