Autonomous order fulfillment and inventory control robots

• US 9,540,171 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2015
• Issued: 01/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InVia Robotics Inc.
• Original Assignee: InVia Robotics Inc.
• Inventors: Elazary, Lior, Parks, Daniel Frank II, Voorhies, Randolph Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): CUMBESS, YOLANDA RENEE
• Application Number:
  US14/838,081
• Publication Number:
  US 20160304280A1
• Time in Patent Office: 502 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 15/0028 with movable, e.g. pivoting gripping jaw surfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 15/06 with vacuum or magnetic holding means
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 15/0608 with magnetic holding means
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 15/0616 with vacuum
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 19/022 using lasers
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 19/023 including video camera means
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 19/04 Viewing devices
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 5/007 mounted on wheels
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1697 Vision controlled systems
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/0492 with cars adapted to travel in storage aisles
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/1373 for fulfilling orders in warehouses
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 2209/10 Partial order forming
• CPC Class Codes: B66F 9/063 Automatically guided
• CPC Class Codes: B66F 9/065 non-masted mobile jacks of the garage type mounted on wheels or rollers B66F5/00
• CPC Class Codes: B66F 9/07 Floor-to-roof stacking devices, e.g. "stacker cranes", "retrievers"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/01 Mobile robot

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a system for fully autonomous order fulfillment and inventory management within a distribution site or warehouse. The system operates by autonomous robots directly pulling customer order items from distribution site shelves or pulling individual bins from distribution site shelves and dispensing appropriate quantities of items from the bins until all items of a customer order are retrieved without human involvement. The system further involves the robots autonomously monitoring item quantities within the distribution site, identifying and autonomously responding to shortages, and organizing the items within the distribution site for most efficient order fulfillment.

Claims

1. An autonomous order fulfillment system comprising:

a first robot comprising a motorized based and a container; and

a second robot comprising (i) a motorized base, (ii) a lift coupled to the base rising to any of a plurality of heights above said base, and (iii) a retriever comprising a platform atop said lift and a retrieval arm,

wherein the first and second robots cooperatively fulfill a customer order for a particular item with the first and second robots navigating about a plurality of shelves containing a plurality of items to a particular shelf containing the particular item, with the second robot raising said lift to align said platform to a height of the particular item about the particular shelf, retrieving the particular item from the particular shelf using the retrieval arm, and dispensing the particular item to the first robot container, and with the first robot delivering the particular item in the container to a packaging site.

2. The autonomous order fulfillment system of claim 1, wherein the second robot platform comprises a scale verifying retrieval of a correct item from the particular shelf by measuring a weight of the particular item and comparing said weight to a defined weight for the correct item.

3. The autonomous order fulfillment system of claim 2, wherein the second robot rejects the particular item and retrieves another item from the particular shelf when the weight of the particular item does not match to the defined weight for the correct item.

4. The autonomous order fulfillment system of claim 2, wherein the second robot determines a quantity of a particular good contained within the particular item by measuring the weight of the particular item relative to a weight of the particular good contained within the particular item.

5. The autonomous order fulfillment system of claim 4, wherein determining the quantity of the particular good comprises dividing the particular item weight by the per unit weight of the particular good.

6. The autonomous order fulfillment system of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of radio frequency beacons transmitting radio signals, and wherein the first and second robots navigate about the plurality of shelves to the particular shelf based on phase or time of flight signals transmitted from the plurality of radio frequency beacons.

7. The autonomous order fulfillment system of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of unique identifiers with a different unique identifier of the plurality of unique identifiers attached to a different shelf of the plurality of shelves, wherein the first and second robots navigate about the plurality of shelves to the particular shelf based on the plurality of unique identifies.

8. A method comprising:

monitoring at a warehouse control center, a rate at which customers order a particular item;

retrieving a container containing a plurality of the particular item from a storage shelf using a robot operating within said warehouse;

determining a remaining quantity of the particular item contained within said container using sensors of said robot;

reporting said remaining quantity from the robot to the control center; and

generating at the control center, an order for an additional quantity of the particular item according to said remaining quantity and the rate at which customers order the particular item.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the remaining quantity comprises weighing the container using a weight scale of the robot and dividing the container weight by a per unit weight of the particular item.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein generating the order comprises increasing said order quantity of the particular item when the remaining quantity and the rate at which customers order the particular item reaches a defined threshold.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising increasing the quantity of the particular item purchased as part of said order when the rate at which customers order the particular item is greater than a threshold and decreasing the quantity of the particular item purchased as part of said order when the rate at which customers order the particular item is less than the threshold.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising classifying the particular item as a popular item based on said rate and ordering said robot to relocate the container from said shelf to a different shelf containing popular items.

13. An autonomous order fulfillment system comprising:

a first robot comprising a motorized base and a container, the first robot collecting items of a customer order in said container and delivering said items to one of a plurality of packaging stations in a distribution center;

a second robot comprising (i) a base with wheels, at least a first motor driving the wheels, and batteries powering said first motor, (ii) an extendible lift coupled to the base, the extendible lift rising to any of a plurality of heights above said base, and (iii) a robotic arm with a picker atop said extendible lift, wherein the robotic arm moves the picker about a three dimensional space to a position of a particular item of the customer order about a storage shelf with the picker grasping the particular item and the robotic arm repositioning the picker for dispensing of the particular item in the first robot container.

14. The autonomous order fulfillment system of claim 13 further comprising at least a third robot comprising a base with wheels, an extendible lift, and a robotic arm with a picker, wherein the robotic arm of the third robot moves the picker about a three dimensional space to a position of a different second item of the customer order about a different second storage shelf with the picker grasping said second item and the robotic arm repositioning the picker for dispensing of said second item in the first robot container.

15. The autonomous order fulfillment system of claim 14, wherein the first robot is configured to collect the particular item of the customer order from the second robot by navigating to a position adjacent the second robot and is further configured to collect the second item of the customer order from the third robot by navigating to a position adjacent the third robot.

16. The autonomous order fulfillment system of claim 15 further comprising a control center instructing (i) the second robot in retrieving the particular item of the customer order from said shelf, (ii) the third robot in retrieving the second item of the customer order from said second shelf, and (iii) the first robot to the position adjacent the second robot in collecting the particular item and to the position adjacent the third robot in collecting the second item.

17. The autonomous order fulfillment system of claim 13 further comprising at least a third robot comprising a motorized base and a container, the third robot collecting different items of the same or different customer order from the second robot subsequent to the first robot receiving the particular item from the second robot.