Random-access robotic inventory dispensary: variable bin height

• US 9,790,028 B2
• Filed: 05/04/2015
• Issued: 10/17/2017
• 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): COLLINS, MICHAEL
• Application Number:
  US14/702,827
• Publication Number:
  US 20160325933A1
• Time in Patent Office: 897 Days
• Field of Search: 700242-243
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/0457 with suspended load carriers
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/10 with relatively movable racks to facilitate insertion or removal of articles cabinets with means for moving compartments up and down A47B51/00; cabinet system, e.g. consisting of cabinets arranged in a row with means to open or close passages between adjacent cabinets A47B53/02

Abstract

The present invention is 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. Configuration of the rails facilitates bins of variable height.

Claims

1. A robotic inventory dispensary, comprising;

a storage unit to host a plurality of storage bins, the storage unit arranged into a plurality of storage columns, wherein the plurality of storage bins are adapted to store respective product items;

a plurality of storage drawers arranged in respective columns of the plurality of storage columns, the plurality of storage drawers in the respective columns defined by a plurality of rails extended along a depth of the storage unit, the plurality of rails arranged in horizontally-aligned pairs and vertically spaced along the respective columns, the horizontally-aligned pairs configured to hold respective storage bins when the respective storage bins are suspended from a respective horizontally-aligned pair of rails of the plurality of rails; and

robotics to receive commands from a computerized controller and to access storage locations in the storage unit for placement and removal of the respective storage bins among the plurality of storage drawers, wherein the robotics is configured to receive and place the plurality of storage bins having a plurality of heights among the plurality of storage drawers;

wherein the plurality of storage drawers are adapted to be height-adjustable based on movement of the plurality of rails within the respective columns in the storage unit; and

wherein the plurality of rails includes a first pair of rails in a first storage column of the plurality of storage columns, and wherein in response to a command from the computerized controller, the first pair of rails is moved vertically on tracks from a first position to a second position in the first storage column.

2. The robotic inventory dispensary of claim 1, the plurality of rails comprising:

the first pair of rails in the first storage column in the storage unit; and

a second pair of rails in the first storage column, located below the first pair of rails;

wherein the first pair of rails is adapted to host a particular storage bin that, when the particular storage bin is suspended from the first pair of rails, a bottom of the particular storage bin is located below the second pair of rails.

3. The robotic inventory dispensary of claim 2, wherein the first pair of rails and the second pair of rails in the first storage column are equally spaced vertically, separated by a distance D.

4. The robotic inventory dispensary of claim 3, wherein a maximum height of any storage bin to be suspended from a pair of rails in a region of the storage unit is limited to be less than mD for some integer m greater than 1, but may exceed D.

5. The robotic inventory dispensary of claim 4, wherein m is received by the computerized controller of the storage unit through an operator user interface.

6. The robotic inventory dispensary of claim 4, wherein m is selected by logic of the computerized controller of the storage unit to reduce space in the storage unit not usable by the plurality of storage bins.

7. The robotic inventory dispensary of claim 1, wherein the first pair of rails is moveable from the first position to the second position in the first storage column, based on an indication of a size of the respective storage bins to be stored in the first position on the first pair of rails.

8. The robotic inventory dispensary of claim 1, wherein the computerized controller determines vertical positions of the first pair of rails, to reduce space in the storage unit not usable by the plurality of storage bins.

9. The robotic inventory dispensary of claim 1, wherein a first set of storage bins in the plurality of storage bins each includes a pair of tabs, which extend laterally from respective bins of the first set of storage bins, from which the respective storage bins are suspended when the respective storage bins are placed upon the first pair of rails.

10. The robotic inventory dispensary of claim 9,

wherein respective rails in the first pair of rails include holes that are equally-spaced, at a separation D, along at least a portion of the respective rails,

wherein the first set of storage bins are suspended from the first pair of rails, and

wherein each tab of each storage bin in the first set of storage bins includes a downward-extending pin into a respective hole in a first rail in the first pair of rails.

11. The robotic inventory dispensary of claim 10, wherein the robotics uses a plurality of upward-extending pins on a particular storage bin of the first set of storage bins to couple to and lift the particular storage bin, wherein the plurality of upward-extending pins extend away from the first pair of rails.

12. The robotic inventory dispensary of claim 11, wherein the plurality of upward-extending pins of the particular storage bin include a ferromagnetic material or are magnetized, and wherein the robotics couples to the plurality of upward-extending pins using magnetism.

13. The robotic inventory dispensary of claim 11, wherein the plurality of upward-extending pins of the particular storage bin each extend upward from a respective tab from which the particular storage bin is suspended in the storage unit.

14. The robotic inventory dispensary of claim 10, wherein respective tabs of each storage bin in the first set of storage bins overlap a plurality of holes.

15. The robotic inventory dispensary of claim 9, wherein a depth of each storage bin in the first set of storage bins is less than mD and greater than or equal to mD 2 mm, for some positive integer m.