Storage material handling system

• US 9,694,977 B2
• Filed: 10/14/2015
• Issued: 07/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jasci Robotics LLC
• Original Assignee: Nexshift Robotics,Inc.
• Inventors: Vu, Clara, Aprea, Matthew, Toebes, Stephen C., Grinnell, Charles, Jones, Joe, Kawola, John, Sparrow, Mary Ellen
• Primary Examiner(s): CUMBESS, YOLANDA RENEE
• Application Number:
  US14/883,310
• Publication Number:
  US 20160101940A1
• Time in Patent Office: 629 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1679 characterised by the tasks executed
• 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: G05D 1/0289 with means for avoiding collisions between vehicles vehicle fittings for automatically controlling speed including means for detecting potential obstacles B60K31/0008; avoiding obstacles by action on the steering system B62D; radar, sonar, lidar systems designed for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0297 by controlling means in a control room
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/01 Mobile robot
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/49 Protective device

Abstract

A storage fill and retrieval system includes fixed storage locations distributed in a storage space and defining at least one human pick zone having at least one collection tote location, at least one autonomous mobile robot configured for holding and transporting a tote within the storage space and having an end effector arranged for autonomous transfer of the tote between the at least one robot and a tote holding station and a collection tote location, and a storage management system communicably connected to the at least one robot and configured to associate each robot with a human pick zone, wherein the at least one robot is configured to transport the tote to the collection tote location of each associated human pick zone, and wherein each collection tote location is arranged for human picker access and defines an interface between a human picker and the at least one robot.

Claims

1. A storage fill and retrieval system for a storage space, the system comprising:

a multiplicity of fixed storage locations distributed in the storage space in a predetermined ordered configuration and defining at least one human pick zone arranged for human picker access to the fixed storage locations arrayed in the at least one human pick zone so as to pick, or place, items from the fixed storage locations arrayed in the at least one human pick zone, each of the at least one human pick zones having at least one collection tote location;

at least one robot picker configured for holding and transporting a tote within the storage space and having an end effector arranged for autonomous transfer of the tote between the at least one robot picker and a tote holding station and between the at least one robot picker and the at least one collection tote location; and

a storage management system communicably connected to the at least one robot picker and configured to associate each robot picker of the at least one robot pickers with a human pick zone from the at least one human pick zones, each of the related human pick zones having at least one stored item in the fixed storage locations, of the related human pick zone, corresponding to a store or customer pick order of the storage management system;

wherein the at least one robot picker is configured to transport the tote to the collection tote location of each associated human pick zone, and wherein each collection tote location is arranged for human picker access and defines an interface between a human picker in the human pick zone and the at least one robot picker.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the storage management system includes a controller in communication with the human picker and the at least one robot picker, and configured so that the storage management system generates the interface between the human picker in the human pick zone and the at least one robot er and selectively determines if a state of the interface is a coupled interface or a decoupled interface.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein when the state of the interface is the coupled interface the human picker meets the at least one robot picker effecting a tote fill at the collection tote location.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein when the state of the interface is the decoupled interface, a tote fill at the collection tote location is effected without the human picker and the at least one robot picker meeting.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the collection tote location of each human pick zone is positioned proximate to a side of the human pick zone providing access for the human picker to pick from the storage locations of the human pick zone.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a tote holding location that defines an order fulfillment collection zone, the at least one robot picker being configured to transport one or more stored items within a tote to the order fulfillment collection zone.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the collection tote location is dynamically variable based on a predetermined order characteristic.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the storage management system is configured to change a status of the at least one human pick zone to at least one robotic pick zone, the system further comprising at least one robotic picker and the at least one robotic pick zone is arranged for robotic picker access to pick, or place, items from the fixed storage locations arrayed in the at least one robotic pick zone.

9. A storage fill and retrieval system for a storage space, the system comprising:

a multiplicity of fixed storage locations distributed in the storage space in a predetermined ordered configuration and defining at least one human pick zone arranged for human picker access to the fixed storage locations arrayed in the at least one human pick zone so as to pick, or place, items from the fixed storage locations arrayed in the at least one human pick zone, each of the at least one human pick zones having at least one collection tote location;

at least one robot picker configured for holding and transporting a tote within the storage space and having an end effector arranged for autonomous transfer of the tote between the at least one robot picker and a tote holding station and between the at least one robot picker and at least one collection tote location; and

a storage management system communicably connected to the at least one robot picker and configured to associate each robot picker of the at least one robot pickers with a human pick zone from the at least one human pick zones, each of the related human pick zones having at least one stored item in the fixed storage locations, of the related human pick zone, corresponding to a store or customer pick order of the storage management system;

wherein the at least one robot picker is configured to transport the tote to the collection tote location of each associated human pick zone, and wherein each collection tote location is arranged for human picker access and defines an interface between a human picker in the human pick zone and the at least one robot picker; and

wherein the related human pick zones form a path in the store space connecting the collection tote locations that correspond to the store or customer pick order.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the robot is configured to transport the tote to each collection tote location along the path.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the robot transports a common tote to each collection tote location corresponding to the store and/or customer pick order.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein a common robot transports the common tote to each collection tote location corresponding to the store and/or customer pick order.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein more than one robot transports the common tote to each collection tote location corresponding to the store and/or customer pick order.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the storage management system associates the common tote with at least one corresponding order and a corresponding robot so that the common tote is transported to each collection tote location by a common robot.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the common tote is partitioned into more than one cell, the common tote being associated with more than one corresponding order and wherein the storage management system associates each cell with a different corresponding order from the more than one orders associated with the common tote.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the storage management system associates the common tote with at least one corresponding store and/or customer pick order and the common tote is transported to each collection tote location corresponding to the store and/or customer pick order by more than one robot.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the storage management system directs the human picker at each of the related human pick zone respectively to fill the common tote at the collection tote location of the related human pick zone with an ordered stored item.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the storage management system directs the human picker to the respective collection tote location based on a robot traverse status along the path.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the storage management system determines different traverse routes for the at least one robot picker to traverse the path, and wherein the management system selects a traverse route for the at least one robot picker based on a status of the human picker at one or more of the related human pick zones.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the storage management system determines different traverse routes for the at least one robot picker to traverse the path, and wherein the storage management system selects a traverse route for the at least one robot picker based on a status of the human picker at one or more of the related human pick zones.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the fixed storage locations are distributed along aisles and the at least one human pick zone is disposed in the aisles, the storage management system being configured to select aisles without human pickers located therein for the traverse routes.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the fixed storage locations are distributed along aisles and the at least one human pick zone is disposed in the aisles, and a controller of the storage management system is configured to determine states of the at least one human pick zone without human pickers located therein, and set an aisle state for unrestricted traverse routes of the at least one robot picker.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the fixed storage locations are distributed along aisles and the at least one human pick zone is disposed in the aisles, and the aisles have both human pick zones and bot traverse routes, the storage management system being configured to select a state of each aisle and change the state of the aisle from the at least one human pick zone to the bot traverse routes.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the storage management system is configured to stop the at least one robot picker at an edge or side of the at least one human pick zone located in the aisle, where the at least one robot picker proceeds when the state of the aisle changes to a traverse route state.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the storage management system is configured to stop the at least one robot picker at a collection tote location where the tote is located at an edge of the related human pick zone, where the at least one robot picker proceeds when the state of the aisle changes to a traverse route state.

26. The system of claim 20, wherein the fixed storage locations and the at least one human pick zone are disposed along aisles where the at least one human pick zone forms one side of a common aisle and the traverse route forms another side of the common aisle.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the at least one human pick zone and the traverse route contiguously co-exist within the common aisle and the storage management system is configured to selectively switch locations of the at least one human pick zone and the traverse route within the common aisle.

28. A material handling system for a distribution center space, the system comprising:

a multiplicity of fixed production or storage locations distributed in the distribution center space in a predetermined ordered configuration and defining at least one human pick zone arranged for human picker access to the fixed production or storage locations arrayed in the at least one human pick zone so as to pick, or place, items from the fixed production or storage locations arrayed in the at least one human pick zone, the fixed production and/or storage locations of each of the at least one human pick zone are integrally coupled to at least one collection tote location proximate each human pick zone;

at least one robot picker configured for holding and transporting a tote within the distribution center space and having an end effector arranged for autonomous transfer of the tote between the at least one robot picker and a tote holding station and between the at least one robot picker and the at least one collection tote location; and

an order management system communicably connected to the at least one robot picker and configured to associate each robot picker of the at least one robot picker with a human pick zone from more than one related human pick zones, of the at least one human pick zone, each of the related human pick zones has a stored item in the fixed production or storage locations, of the related human pick zone, corresponding to a pick order of the management system;

wherein the at least one robot picker is configured to transport the tote to the collection tote location of each associated human pick zone, and wherein each collection tote location is arranged for human picker access and defines an interface between a human picker in the human pick zone and the at least one robot picker.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the collection tote location is interposed between the at least one robot picker and the fixed production and/or storage locations of the associated human pick zone.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the collection tote location defines a tote interface between the at least one robot picker and fixed production and/or storage locations of the associated human pick zone.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein each collection tote location has a tote support arranged so that the tote on the support may be placed at an ergonomic height for the human picker.

32. The system of claim 28, wherein the collection tote location is coupled to fixed production and/or storage locations of the proximate human pick zone by a human picker.

33. The system of claim 28, wherein the related human pick zones form a path in the distribution center space connecting the collection tote locations that correspond to the store and/or customer pick order.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the path is disposed in aisles formed between human pick zones, and human pickers and robots traversing the aisles along the path are comingled in the aisles.

35. The system of claim 33, wherein the at least one robot picker is configured to transport the tote to each collection tote location along the path.

36. The system of claim 28, further comprising a tote holding location that defines an order fulfillment collection zone, the at least one robot picker being configured to transport one or more stored items within a tote to the order fulfillment collection zone.

37. The system of claim 33, wherein the order management system directs the human picker at each of the related human pick zone respectively to fill a common tote at the collection tote location of the related human pick zone with an ordered stored item.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the order management system directs the human picker to a respective collection tote location based on robot traverse status along the path.

39. A method for operating a distribution center, the method comprising:

providing storage locations arranged in human pick zones each of which has at least one collection tote location;

generating a schedule of human pickers in the human pick zones with a storage management system (MS), the schedule of human pickers corresponding to a pick order;

defining, with the storage management system, a path connecting the human pick zones corresponding to the pick order; and

routing, with the storage management system, at least one robot picker to traverse the path to the at least one collection tote location of each corresponding human pick zone based on the schedule of human pickers.

40. The method of claim 39, further comprising transporting a common tote with the at least one robot picker and associating, with the storage management system, the common tote with at least one corresponding order and a corresponding robot picker so that the common tote is transported to each collection tote location by the corresponding robot picker.

41. The method claim 40, further comprising directing, with the storage management system, a human picker at each of the corresponding human pick zones to fill the common tote at each of the collection tote location with an ordered stored item.

42. The method of claim 40, further comprising associating, with the storage management system, the common tote with more than one corresponding order so that at least one cell of the common tote is associated with a different corresponding order from the more than one orders associated with the common tote.

43. The method of claim 40, further comprising associating, with the storage management system, a common tote with at least one corresponding store and/or customer pick order and transporting the common tote, with more than one robot picker, to each collection tote location corresponding to the store and/or customer pick order.