Method and system for transporting inventory items

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10133267-B2
Application number	US-201615332771-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 24, 2016
Priority date	Jun 19, 2006
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

A method for transporting inventory items includes moving a mobile drive unit to a first point within a workspace. The first point is a location of an inventory holder. The method further includes docking the mobile drive unit with the inventory holder and moving the mobile drive unit and the inventory holder to a second point within the workspace. The second point is associated with conveyance equipment. The method further includes moving the inventory holder to a third point within the workspace using the conveyance equipment.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for navigation, comprising:
a plurality of fiducial marks arranged in a two-dimensional grid on a floor of a workspace;
a horizontal conveyor of inventory items within the workspace, the horizontal conveyor operable to convey inventory items towards an exit cell associated with the horizontal conveyor, the exit cell comprising a first fiducial mark within the two-dimensional grid;
a mobile drive unit comprising:
a position sensor operable to detect first information associated with the first fiducial mark of the exit cell;
an inventory holder configured to receive one or more of the inventory items from the horizontal conveyor at the exit cell;
a control module operable to utilize the first information to facilitate navigation within the workspace from the first fiducial mark to a second fiducial mark within the two-dimensional grid of the plurality of fiducial marks.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the mobile drive unit is configured to traverse a path from the first fiducial mark to the second fiducial mark by traversing a plurality of segments of the path, wherein the endpoints of each of the plurality of segments are associated with one of the plurality of fiducial marks within the two-dimensional grid.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second fiducial mark is associated with a portion of the workspace configured to allow transfer of one or more inventory items carried by the mobile drive unit from a first elevation of the workspace to a second elevation of the workspace.

4. The system of claim 3 , the mobile drive unit further operable to, in response to detecting second information associated with the second fiducial mark from the position sensor, actuate a docking actuator to cause movement of the inventory holder.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the position sensor is mounted on a lower surface of the mobile drive unit and the mobile drive unit is configured to detect a particular fiducial mark of the plurality of fiducial marks by moving the mobile drive unit over the particular fiducial mark.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system further comprises a plurality of mobile drive units and the mobile drive unit is configured to avoid collisions with other mobile drive units.

7. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a recharging station for the mobile drive unit, wherein the control module of the mobile drive unit is operable to cause the mobile drive unit to traverse a path to the recharging station.

8. An apparatus comprising:
a device housing for a drive module, a position sensor, and a control module; and wherein:
the drive module comprises at least two wheels and an actuator to drive the at least two wheels;
the position sensor is operable to detect a plurality of fiducial marks arranged in a two-dimensional grid in a workspace, wherein each of the plurality of fiducial marks comprises an identifier associated with a location in the workspace, wherein the identifier is configured to facilitate navigation within the workspace; and
the control module is configured to control the drive module to cause the device housing to traverse a segment of a path between a first fiducial mark and a second fiducial mark in the two-dimensional grid using location information derived from detections of the first fiducial mark and the second fiducial mark by the position sensor, wherein the second fiducial mark comprises a destination associated with a task selected by a remote management system responsible for coordinating task assignments among a plurality of robotic transport units.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising an obstacle sensor configured to detect an object in the path, wherein the control module is configured to cause the drive module to stop moving the device housing along the path in response to a detection of the object in the path.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of robotic transport units each comprise a free-moving, independent robot.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the control module is configured to plan the path between the first fiducial mark and the second fiducial mark in response to receiving the task from the remote management system, wherein the path comprises a plurality of segments between fiducial marks in the two-dimensional grid.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the path comprises at least one substantially right angle turn at a third fiducial mark and the control module is operable to cause the drive module to rotate the device housing in place at the third fiducial mark to execute the substantially right angle turn.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the first fiducial mark is located at a first location associated with a conveyance equipment and the second fiducial mark is located at a second location associated with a transfer of one or more inventory items from a first elevation of the workspace to a second elevation of the workspace.

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Wurman Peter R
• D'Andrea Raffaello
• Barbehenn Michael T
• Hoffman Andrew Edward
• Mountz Michael Cordell

Classifications

• G05B2219/31408

  Cost calculation of use of certain machine types · CPC title

• Y02P90/20

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• G05B19/4189

  characterised by the transport system · CPC title

• G05B19/41895 Primary

  using automatic guided vehicles [AGV] (control of position or course of AGV's G05D1/00) · CPC title

• G05B2219/32328

  Dynamic scheduling, resource allocation, multi agent negotiation · CPC title