Robotic carton unloader

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10124967-B2
Application number	US-201615383110-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2016
Priority date	Aug 28, 2013
Publication date	Nov 13, 2018
Grant date	Nov 13, 2018

Abstract

A robotic carton unloader for automatic unloading of canons from a carton pile. In various embodiments, a robotic carton unloader may comprise a mobile body, a movable robotic arm attached to the mobile body and comprising an end effector configured to unload a row of cartons in a side-by-side orientation from the carton pile, and a conveyor system mounted on the mobile body and configured to receive the row of cartons from the end effector in the side-by-side orientation. In various embodiments the conveyor system may comprise a front-end descrambler and a central descrambler coupled to the front-end descrambler. In various embodiments, the robotic arm may be configured to straddle at least a portion of the mobile body and at least a portion of the conveyor system such that the conveyor system conveys cartons from the carton pile through the robotic arm.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A robotic carton unloader for unloading a carton pile resting on a floor within a truck, semi-trailer or a warehouse, comprising:
a control and visualization system configured to operate the robotic carton unloader, and to control and automate the unloading process by coordinating and controlling all of the functions of the systems of the robotic carton unloader;
a mobile body movable across the floor and carrying the control and visualization system and driven and steered thereby;
a conveyor system mounted on the mobile body and controlled by the control and visualization system to convey unloaded cartons thereon, the conveyor system fixed to the mobile body to extend from a front to a rear of the robotic carton unloader; and

a robotic arm controlled by the control and visualization system and movably attached to the mobile body with the conveyor system passing between movable portions of the robotic arm on sides thereof so that cartons may pass through pivotable sides thereof, wherein the robotic arm comprises a pair of pivoting arms straddling each side of the conveyor system with each lower arm portion having a first end pivotally attached to a side of the mobile body at a lower arm axis, a second end pivotally attached to an upper arm portion at an upper arm axis, the upper arm pivotally extending from the second end of the lower arm to rotate around the upper arm axis, and a vacuum manipulator pivotally attached to pivotable ends of each upper arm portion to pivot around a head pivot axis; and
wherein each of the lower arm portion, upper arm portion, and vacuum manipulator are configured to pivot independently to any angular position about a respective pivot axis, and each of the lower axis, the upper axis and the head pivot axis are configured to remain horizontal and parallel to each other during an unloading process with least one of said axes parallel to a front of the mobile body.

2. The robotic carton unloader of claim 1 , wherein the movable portions of the robotic arm straddle each side of the conveyor system.

3. The robotic carton unloader of claim 2 , wherein the conveyor system extends side-to-side between the carton retrieval robotic arm to maximize a width thereof.

4. The robotic carton unloader of claim 1 , wherein the lower arm portion pivotally attaches at each side of the mobile body and pivots about lower arm axis located below the conveyor.

5. The robotic carton unloader of claim 1 , wherein a portion of the robotic arm is configured to move side to side relative to the mobile body to access the carton pile.

6. The robotic carton unloader of claim 5 , wherein the robotic arm further comprises a linear actuator to move the portion of the carton retrieval robotic arm side to side.

7. The robotic carton unloader of claim 1 , wherein the conveyor system comprises: a front-end descrambler; and
a central descrambler coupled to the front-end descrambler.

8. The robotic carton unloader of claim 1 , wherein the robotic arm includes at least one drive motor controlled by the control and visualization system to angularly position the lower arm portion about the lower arm axis.

9. The robotic carton unloader of claim 1 , wherein the robotic arm includes at least one upper drive motor controlled by the control and visualization system to angularly position the upper arm portion about the upper axis.

10. The robotic carton unloader of claim 1 , wherein the robotic arm includes at least one head motor controlled by the control and visualization system to angularly position the vacuum manipulator about the head pivot axis.

11. The robotic carton unloader of claim 10 , wherein the at least one head motor is connected to the vacuum manipulator by at least one head belt.

12. The robotic carton unloader of claim 1 , wherein the vacuum manipulator is configured to unload a row of cartons in a side-by-side orientation.

13. The robotic carton unloader of claim 1 , wherein the vacuum manipulator further comprises a plurality of vacuum cups configured to unload a row of cartons in a side-by-side orientation.

14. The robotic carton unloader of claim 5 wherein the portion of the robotic arm is configured to move side to side on a lateral slide located between the lower arm axis and the head pivot axis.

15. The robotic carton unloader of claim 1 , wherein when the robotic carton unloader is positioned in front of the carton pile, the robotic arm is configured to reach any portion of the carton pile within the semi-trailer from floor to ceiling and from side to side within semi-trailer without moving the mobile body, wherein semi-trailer is one or more is selected from: a wide truck trailer, a normal-width truck trailer, and a narrow truck trailer.

16. The robotic carton unloader of claim 1 wherein each lower arm portion is pivotally movable in parallel around the lower arm axis.

17. The robotic carton unloader of claim 1 wherein each upper arm portion is pivotally movable in parallel around the upper arm axis.

18. The robotic carton unloader of claim 1 wherein the robotic arm can pivot around any axis selected from the lower arm axis, the upper arm axis, and the head pivot axis without pivoting around any other axis.

19. The robotic carton unloader of claim 1 wherein the robotic arm may be configured to pivot about at least one axis parallel to a front of the mobile body while moving towards and away from the carton pile.

Assignees

• Intelligrated Headquarters Llc
• Intelligrated Headquarters Llc

Inventors

• Girtman Michael L
• Wicks Matthew

Classifications

• B25J9/0093

  co-operating with conveyor means · CPC title

• Y10S901/01

  Mobile robot · CPC title

• Y10S901/02

  Arm motion controller · CPC title

• Y10S901/27

  Arm part · CPC title

• B25J15/08

  having finger members (B25J15/02, B25J15/04 take precedence) · CPC title