Systems and methods for automated assessment of physical objects

• US 10,733,444 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2017
• Issued: 08/04/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Inventors: O'Brien, John Jeremiah, High, Donald, Antel, Nicholas, Natarajan, Chandrashekar
• Primary Examiner(s): Woldemariam, Aklilu K
• Application Number:
  US15/632,946
• Publication Number:
  US 20180018519A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,135 Days
• Field of Search: 382100, 382124, 382141, 705 37, 705 28, 705330, 705338, 705600
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/434 using image data, e.g. images, photos, pictures taken by a user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/117 Tagging; Marking up details of markup languages G06F40/143; Designating a block; Setting of attributes style sheets, e.g. eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation [XSLT], G06F40/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10861 sensing of data fields affixed to objects or articles, e.g. coded labels postal sorting B07C3/14, conveying articles B65G47/48
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/10 Terrestrial scenes scenes under surveillance with static cameras G06V20/52; scenes perceived from the exterior of a vehicle G06V20/56; scenes perceived from the interior of a vehicle G06V20/59

Abstract

Described in detail herein are methods and systems for performing a physical object assessment. The system entails an automated system to receive, unpack and assess a physical object based on automated determined attributes. The system can determine an element based on the assessment and generate a webpage including the attributes of the physical object and the determined element.

Claims

1. An autonomous distributed computing system comprising:

a conveyer belt configured to receive, support, and transport a physical object, wherein the physical object is associated with a machine-readable element encoded with an identifier corresponding to the physical object;

a scanner disposed with respect to the conveyer belt and configured to scan the machine-readable element of the physical object and decode the machine-readable element to extract the identifier;

an image capturing device disposed with respect to the conveyer belt and configured to capture an image of the physical object;

a scale operatively coupled to the conveyer belt and configured to determine a weight of the physical object;

a computing system including a server and a database operatively coupled to the scanner, the image capturing device, and the scale, the computing system being programmed to (i) query the database using the identifier extracted from the machine-readable element by the scanner to retrieve information regarding the physical object from one or more tables in the database, (ii) extract a set of attributes associated with the physical object from the image of the physical object, (iii) identify an element associated with the physical object based on the retrieved information regarding the physical object, the set of attributes associated with the physical object and the weight of the physical object, and (iv) automatically create a webpage associated with the physical object which was transported by the conveyer belt system, the webpage including the retrieved information, the set of attributes extracted from the image of the physical object, and the element, and

an autonomous robot picker configured to remove the physical object from packaging enclosing the physical object, subsequent to the scanner scanning the machine-readable element and prior to triggering the image capturing device to capture the image of the physical object,

wherein the set of attributes includes at least one of;

estimated dimensions of the physical object, a condition of the physical object, or an age of the physical object.

2. The system in claim 1, wherein the information associated with the physical object includes at least one:

a name of the physical object, a type of the physical object, a stored weight of the physical object, or stored dimensions of the physical object.

3. The system in claim 1, wherein the autonomous robot picker is operable to place the physical object on to the conveyer belt or remove the physical object from the conveyor belt.

4. The system in claim 3, wherein the machine-readable element is affixed to the packaging.

5. The system in claim 1, wherein the computing system inserts the image of the physical object captured by the image capturing device into the webpage.

6. The system in claim 1, wherein in response to identifying the element associated with the physical object based on the retrieved information regarding the physical object, the set of attributes associated with the physical object and the weight of the physical object, the element is stored in the database.

7. The system in claim 6, wherein the element stored in the database dynamically changes based on an input received by the computing system.

8. The system in claim 7, wherein in response to the element stored in the database dynamically changing based on an input received by the computing system, the webpage is updated to reflect the change in the element.

9. An autonomous distributed computing method comprising:

receiving, a physical object by a conveyor belt, the physical object being associated with a machine-readable element encoded with an identifier corresponding to the physical object;

transporting the physical object via the conveyer belt;

scanning, via a scanner disposed with respect to the conveyer belt, the machine-readable element of the physical object,

decoding, via the scanner, the machine-readable element to extract the identifier;

capturing, via an image capturing device disposed with respect to the conveyer belt, an image of the physical object;

determining, via a scale operatively coupled to the conveyer belt, a weight of the physical object;

querying, via a computing system including a server and a database operatively coupled to the scanner, the image capturing device, and the scale, the database using the identifier extracted from the machine-readable element by the scanner to retrieve information regarding the physical object from one or more tables in the database;

extracting, via the computing system, a set of attributes associated with the physical object from the image of the physical object;

identifying, via the computing system, an element associated with the physical object based on the retrieved information regarding the physical object, the set of attributes associated with the physical object and the weight of the physical object;

automatically creating, via the computing system, a webpage associated with the physical object which was transported by the conveyer belt system, the webpage including the retrieved information, the set of attributes extracted from the image of the physical object, and the element; and

removing, via an autonomous robot picker, the physical object from packaging enclosing the physical object, subsequent to the scanner scanning the machine-readable element and prior to triggering the image capturing device to capture the image of the physical object,

wherein the set of attributes includes at least one of;

estimated dimensions of the physical object, a condition of the physical object, or an age of the physical object.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the information associated with the physical object includes at least one:

a name of the physical object, a type of the physical object, a stored weight of the physical object, or a stored dimensions of the physical object.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising at least one of placing the physical object on to the conveyer belt by the autonomous robot picker or removing the physical object from the conveyor belt by the autonomous robot picker.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the machine-readable element is affixed to the packaging.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising inserting the image of the physical object captured by the image capturing device into the webpage.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein in response to identifying the element associated with the physical object based on the retrieved information regarding the physical object, the set of attributes associated with the physical object and the weight of the physical object, the method further comprises storing the element in the database by the computing system.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising dynamically changing the element stored in the database based on an input received by the computing system.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein in response to the element stored in the database dynamically changing based on an input received by the computing system, the method further comprises updating the webpage to reflect the change in the element.