System and method for piece-picking or put-away with a mobile manipulation robot
First Claim
19-1. The system of claim 1, wherein the logistics facility is a warehouse, distribution center, manufacturing facility, or retail facility.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for piece-picking or piece put-away within a logistics facility. The system includes a central server and at least one mobile manipulation robot. The central server is configured to communicate with the robots to send and receive piece-picking data which includes a unique identification for each piece to be picked, a location within the logistics facility of the pieces to be picked, and a route for the robot to take within the logistics facility. The robots can then autonomously navigate and position themselves within the logistics facility by recognition of landmarks by at least one of a plurality of sensors. The sensors also provide signals related to detection, identification, and location of a piece to be picked or put-away, and processors on the robots analyze the sensor information to generate movements of a unique articulated arm and end effector on the robot to pick or put-away the piece.
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Citations
27 Claims
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19-1. The system of claim 1, wherein the logistics facility is a warehouse, distribution center, manufacturing facility, or retail facility.
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21. A method of piece-picking within a logistics facility, the method comprising:
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(a) providing a piece-picking or put-away system comprising; a central server including a server communication interface, one or more server processors, and a server memory; and at least one mobile manipulation robot including a mobile base, at least one articulated manipulator arm having an end effector, at least one piece containment area, a plurality of sensors, a remote communication interface, a robot memory configured to store robot specific information, and one or more robot processors coupled to the sensors, the memory, the mobile base, and the at least one articulated manipulation arm; (b) receiving at the central memory via the server communication interface at least one piece-picking order including at least one item to be picked; (c) generating at the one or more server processors a piece-picking itinerary based on the at least one piece-picking order, wherein the itinerary includes a unique identification for each item to be picked, a location within a logistics facility of the items to be picked, and a route for the at least one mobile manipulation robot to take within the logistics facility; (d) receiving at the robot memory the piece-picking itinerary; (e) moving the at least one mobile manipulation robot along the route to the location within the logistics facility of the items to be picked; (f) picking the at least one item to be picked from the location using the end effector of the at least one mobile manipulation arm; and (g) placing the at least one item to be picked in the at least one piece containment area. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification