An autonomous transport vehicle includes a frame forming a transport payload area of the vehicle. The payload area includes a payload contact support surface that defines a payload support plane that supports the payload. The pay load area further Includes an articulated underpick end effector that engages and underpicks the payload with respect to the support plane, and extends and retracts with respect to the payload area effecting payload transfer. Payload registration facets are mounted to the frame to engage the payload. The registration facets are disposed to provide, upon engagement with the payload, at least two degrees of registration capturing and securing the payload in a predetermined position in the pay load area, and are configured to effect payload, engagement with the at leas t two degrees of registration registering the payload substantially coincident with seating of the payload on the payload support plane of the payload area.
B65G 47/06 - Devices for feeding articles or materials to conveyors for feeding articles from a single group of articles arranged in orderly pattern, e.g. workpieces in magazines
An autonomous guided vehicle includes a frame, a drive section, a payload handler, a sensor system, and a supplemental sensor system. The sensor system has electro-magnetic sensors, each responsive to interaction or interface of a sensor emitted or generated electro- magnetic beam or field with a physical characteristic, the electro- magnetic beam or field being disturbed by interaction or interface with the physical characteristic, and which disturbance is detected by and effects sensing of the physical characteristic. The sensor system generates sensor data embodying at least one of a vehicle navigation pose or location information and payload pose or location information. The supplemental sensor system supplements the sensor system, and is, at least in part, a vision system with cameras disposed to capture image data informing the at least one of a vehicle navigation pose or location and payload pose or location supplement to the information of the sensor system.
B65G 61/00 - Use of pick-up or transfer devices or of manipulators for stacking or de-stacking articles not otherwise provided for
B66F 9/06 - Devices for lifting or lowering bulky or heavy goods for loading or unloading purposes movable, with their loads, on wheels or the like, e.g. fork-lift trucks
An autonomous transport vehicle, for transporting items in a storage and retrieval system, includes a frame, a controller, at least two independently driven drive wheels mounted to the frame, and at least one caster wheel mounted to the frame and having a castering assistance motor that engages the at least one caster wheel so as to impart castering assistance torque to the at least one caster wheel assisting castering of the at least one caster wheel. The controller is communicably connected to the castering assistance motor and configured to effect via a combination of vehicle yaw, generated by differential torque from the at least two independently driven drive wheels, and castering assistance torque from the castering assistance motor, castering of the at least one caster wheel with the autonomous transport vehicle in motion with a predetermined kinematic state.
B65G 1/06 - Storage devices mechanical with means for presenting articles for removal at predetermined position or level
B66F 9/06 - Devices for lifting or lowering bulky or heavy goods for loading or unloading purposes movable, with their loads, on wheels or the like, e.g. fork-lift trucks
B66F 9/12 - Platforms; Forks; Other load-supporting or load-gripping members
4.
WAREHOUSING SYSTEM FOR STORING AND RETRIEVING GOODS IN CONTAINERS
A warehousing system includes a multilevel container storage array each level of which has a transport area and a storage area, a container transport vehicle located on each level to transport containers to and from container storage locations on each storage shelf on each level of the multilevel storage array to a breakpack operation station, a putwall of more than one levels of breakpack goods container stations distributed along each level with a corresponding breakpack goods transfer deck at each level of the putwall, a breakpack goods transport vehicle that transports breakpack goods along the corresponding breakpack goods transfer deck, and between corresponding breakpack goods transfer decks at different levels of the putwall, to each breakpack goods container station, and a controller effecting operation of the container transport vehicle between the container storage locations, the breakpack operation station, and a breakpack goods container located at a breakpack goods container station.
A product order fulfillment system of mixed product units, the system includes a storage array, an automated transport system, with at least one asynchronous transport system, for level transport, and a lift for between level transport, communicably connected to the storage array so as to automatically retrieve and output, from an output of the storage array, product units distributed in cases in a common part of the storage array. The at least one asynchronous transport system, and the lift are configured so as to form more than one transport echelon, each echelon being communicably connected with the common part and the output, and each effecting orthogonal sortation, corresponding to the transport echelon, of the product units distributed in the common part, so that sorted mixed output product units of the corresponding transport echelon are in predetermined sequence.
An automated palletizer for building a mixed case pallet, the automated palletizer including a case infeed that feeds mixed cases to provide an input queue feed sequence of mixed cases. At least one pallet building robot communicably connected to the case infeed and configured to receive the mixed cases in the input queue feed sequence of mixed cases, and place the mixed cases according to and dependent on the input queue feed sequence of mixed cases so as to effect building the mixed case pallet at a predetermined substantially steady placement rate. A controller communicably connected to the case infeed and at least one pallet building robot, and being configured so as to generate a complete and stable mixed case arrangement plan that completes at least a predetermined whole part of the mixed case pallet and that describes a predetermined planned location and pose for each case.
B65G 1/00 - Storing articles, individually or in orderly arrangement, in warehouses or magazines
B65G 1/137 - Storage devices mechanical with arrangements or automatic control means for selecting which articles are to be removed
B65G 47/71 - Devices for transferring articles or materials between conveyors, i.e. discharging or feeding devices adapted to receive articles arriving in one layer from one conveyor and to transfer them in individual layers to more than one conveyor, or vice versa, e.g. combining the flows of articles conveyed by more than one conveyor the articles being discharged to several conveyors
B65G 47/90 - Devices for picking-up and depositing articles or materials
B65G 57/03 - Stacking of articles by adding to the top of the stack from above
B65G 57/09 - Stacking of articles by adding to the top of the stack from alongside
B65G 61/00 - Use of pick-up or transfer devices or of manipulators for stacking or de-stacking articles not otherwise provided for
A product order fulfillment system including a multi-level transport system and a lifting transport system. Each level of the multi-level transport system having a corresponding independent asynchronous level transport system separate and distinct from the asynchronous level transport system corresponding to each other level of the multi-level transport system. Each independent lift axis of the lifting transport system being configured to independently hold at least one case and being communicably coupled to each asynchronous level transport system so as to provide for exchange of the at least one case between each asynchronous level transport system and each independent lift axis. Each independent lift axis is communicably coupled to each other independent lift axis of the more than one lift axis and forms a common output of mixed cases so as to create an ordered sequence of mixed cases in accordance to a predetermined case out ordered sequence.
B65G 1/137 - Storage devices mechanical with arrangements or automatic control means for selecting which articles are to be removed
B65G 47/06 - Devices for feeding articles or materials to conveyors for feeding articles from a single group of articles arranged in orderly pattern, e.g. workpieces in magazines
A storage array system including an open undeterministic transport surface, a navigation array disposed in connection with the transport surface, the navigation array includes a distributed feature, a first waypoint at a first position of the distributed feature, a second waypoint displaced from the first waypoint along the distributed feature and offset with respect to the first waypoint in a direction angled to the distributed feature, and a guided bot, arranged to traverse the transport surface, with a non-holonomic steering system, the guided bot having a bot pose determination system employing sensor data detecting the distributed feature, wherein the guided bot includes a controller configured to generate a substantially smooth curved bot traverse path on the transport surface connecting the first and second waypoints with a predetermined optimal trajectory of the guided bot along the traverse path determined based on a bot dynamic model.
9.
PALLETIZER-DEPALLETIZER SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTION FACILITIES
An automated storage and retrieval system includes a storage array of storage locations for case units. An in-out case conveyor is capable of bi-directionally transporting case units to and from the storage array, and an in-out loaded pallet conveyor is capable of bi-directionally transporting loaded pallets towards and away from the storage array. A palletizer-depalletizer cell includes a bi-directional pallet transport system with more than one independently driven pallet transports, each with a different pallet holder independently movable relative to a cell frame. Placement of case units commissioning a pallet layer loading a pallet, and removal of case units decommissioning a pallet layer unloading another pallet are both effected at the common pallet layer interface at a predetermined level of the cell frame. The pallet transports independently index a first and a second of the different pallet holders, each independently holding the pallet loading at the common pallet layer interface.
B65G 57/24 - Stacking of articles of particular shape three-dimensional, e.g. cubiform, cylindrical in layers, each of predetermined arrangement the layers being transferred as a whole, e.g. on pallets
B65G 25/06 - Conveyors comprising a cyclically-moving, e.g. reciprocating, carrier or impeller which is disengaged from the load during the return part of its movement the carrier or impeller having identical forward and return paths of movement, e.g. reciprocating conveyors having carriers, e.g. belts
B65G 57/03 - Stacking of articles by adding to the top of the stack from above
B65G 57/20 - Stacking of articles of particular shape three-dimensional, e.g. cubiform, cylindrical
B65G 61/00 - Use of pick-up or transfer devices or of manipulators for stacking or de-stacking articles not otherwise provided for
B66F 9/02 - Stationary loaders or unloaders, e.g. for sacks
An autonomous transport vehicle includes a transfer head (270) and a pusher (110PR) to separate the articles loaded on the head while the head is in a lower position within the payload bed of the vehicle. Thus an on-the-fly sortation of articles can be carried out.
An automated storage and retrieval system (100) including at least one autonomous transport vehicle (110), a transfer deck (130) that defines an undeterministic transport surface for the at least one autonomous transport vehicle, the transfer deck having multiple travel lanes, at least one reciprocating lift (150), and at least one pickface handoff station connected to the transfer deck and interfacing between the at least one autonomous transport vehicle on the transfer deck and the at least one reciprocating lift so that a pickface is transferred between the at least one reciprocating and the at least one autonomous transport vehicle.
A method comprises: placing, with an autonomous transport vehicle, a first pickface at a pickface handoff station; and picking, with a vertically reciprocating lift, a second pickface from the pickface handoff station, the second pickface being different than the first pickface. The pickface handoff station is common to the autonomous transport vehicle and the vertically reciprocating lift and at least one case unit is common between the first pickface and the second pickface.
An automated storage and retrieval system (100) including at least one autonomous transport vehicle (110), a transfer deck (130B) that defines a transport surface for the vehicle, at least one reciprocating lift (150), a first and second pickface interface station connected to the deck and spaced apart from each other, each station forming a pickface transfer interfacing between the vehicle on the deck and the lift at each station so that a pickface is transferred between the lift and the vehicle at each station, wherein the vehicle is configured to pick a first pickface at the first station, traverse the deck and buffer the first pickface, or at least a portion thereof, at the second station so that the second station has multiple pickfaces buffered on a common support in an order sequence of pickfaces according to a predetermined case out order sequence of mixed case pickfaces.
An automated storage and retrieval system comprises: a storage shelf; a pickface handoff station including a stationary shelf; an autonomous transport vehicle configured to pick a first pickface from the storage shelf, buffer the first pickface on the stationary shelf of the pickface handoff station, form a second pickface at the stationary shelf, the second pickface being different than the first pickface and comprising more than one case in ordered sequence corresponding to a predetermined case out order sequence of mixed cases where the first pickface and the second pickface have at least one case in common; and a reciprocating lift configured to pick the second pickface from the stationary shelf.
A storage array in an automated storage and retrieval system includes storage spaces arrayed on racks along picking aisles, multiple level decks, where at least one deck communicates with each aisle, where the decks and aisles are configured to define a rolling surface for an autonomous transport vehicle at each level of the decks, racks along at least one aisle at each level are at multiple rack levels that are accessed from a respective roiling surface that is common to the multiple rack levels, and a vertical pitch between rack levels varies for a portion of a respective aisle, the vertical pitch between at least two rack levels of the portion of the respective aisle is related to another vertical pitch between at least two other rack levels of another aisle portion of the respective aisle so the vehicle effects multiple picks in ordered sequence in a common aisle pass.
patents
