Dynamic truck route planning between automated facilities

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10787315-B2
Application number	US-201715843559-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 15, 2017
Priority date	Aug 28, 2017
Publication date	Sep 29, 2020
Grant date	Sep 29, 2020

Abstract

A method includes providing a first route for a delivery vehicle that is associated with a first deadline to reach a first location. The method also includes receiving a cargo delivery request. The method further includes determining a second route for the delivery vehicle that includes a stop at an automated warehouse. The method additionally includes determining, based on scheduling information for robots at the warehouse, a projected availability time for cargo that satisfies the cargo delivery request to be available for pickup at the warehouse. The method also includes determining that the delivery vehicle is expected to reach the first location by the first deadline after traveling on the second route and picking up the cargo from the warehouse. The method further includes providing the second route to the delivery vehicle and causing a robot at the warehouse to prepare the cargo for pickup at the warehouse.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
providing a first route for a delivery vehicle, wherein the first route is associated with a first deadline to reach a first location;
subsequently receiving a cargo delivery request;
determining a second route for the delivery vehicle, wherein the second route includes a stop at an automated warehouse before the first location;
running a software simulation of future performance of a plurality of scheduled tasks assigned to a plurality of robots at the automated warehouse, wherein the software simulation is based on a current state of the automated warehouse as indicated by real-time data communicated by the plurality of robots;
determining, based on running the software simulation, a projected availability time for cargo that satisfies the cargo delivery request to be available for pickup at the automated warehouse;
determining, based on the projected availability time for the cargo, that the delivery vehicle is expected to reach the first location by the first deadline after traveling on the second route and picking up the cargo from the automated warehouse;
subsequently providing the second route to the delivery vehicle; and
causing at least one robot at the automated warehouse to prepare the cargo for pickup at the automated warehouse.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining an arrival time by which the delivery vehicle is expected to reach the automated warehouse from a current location of the delivery vehicle on the first route; and
determining the projected availability time based on the arrival time.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein determining the arrival time comprises using mapping software that accounts for one or more constraints of the delivery vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of scheduled tasks assigned to the plurality of robots comprises ordered queues of tasks assigned to each of the plurality of robots.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the software simulation is based on positions of the plurality of robots in the automated warehouse and based on a position of the cargo in the automated warehouse.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the projected availability time for the cargo comprises a future time at which the at least one robot is expected to move the cargo to a loading dock of the automated warehouse.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, based on the plurality of scheduled tasks assigned to the plurality of robots at the automated warehouse, a projected load time by which one or more of the plurality of robots are expected to have loaded the cargo onto the delivery vehicle, wherein determining that the delivery vehicle is expected to reach the first location by the first deadline after traveling on the second route and picking up the cargo from the automated warehouse is further based on the projected load time.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising assigning a number of robots of the plurality of robots to load the cargo onto the delivery vehicle based on the plurality of scheduled tasks assigned to the plurality of robots, wherein the projected load time is based on the assigned number of robots.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the automated warehouse is a first automated warehouse, wherein the plurality of robots is a first plurality of robots and wherein the cargo delivery request is for a delivery from the first automated warehouse to a second automated warehouse having a second plurality of robots, the method further comprising:
determining, based on scheduling information for the second plurality of robots at the second automated warehouse, a projected unload time by which one or more of the second plurality of robots are expected to have unloaded the cargo from the delivery vehicle, wherein determining that the delivery vehicle is expected to reach the first location by the first deadline after traveling on the second route and picking up the cargo from the automated warehouse is further based on the projected unload time.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
determining one or more metrics of the cargo from at least one sensor on the at least one robot that prepares the cargo for pickup at the automated warehouse, wherein the projected unload time by which the one or more of the second plurality of robots are expected to have unloaded the cargo from the delivery vehicle is based on the one or more metrics of the cargo.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the automated warehouse is a first automated warehouse, wherein the plurality of robots is a first plurality of robots and wherein the cargo delivery request is for a delivery from the first automated warehouse to a second automated warehouse having a second plurality of robots, the method further comprising:
determining projected future workloads for each of the first automated warehouse and the second automated warehouse;
identifying, based on the projected future workloads, a robot of the first plurality of robots to relocate to the second automated warehouse using the delivery vehicle; and
loading the identified robot onto the delivery vehicle while the delivery vehicle is stopped at the first automated warehouse.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the identified robot has a fixed base, the method further comprising causing an autonomous fork truck at the first automated warehouse to load the identified robot on the delivery vehicle by lifting the fixed base of the identified robot with the autonomous fork truck.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining dimensions of the cargo based on sensor data from at least one sensor on one of the plurality of robots; and
determining that the delivery vehicle has a sufficient amount of free space to accommodate the dimensions of the cargo before providing the second route to the delivery vehicle.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cargo delivery request is received from a software application running on a computing device.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the second route to the delivery vehicle comprises causing the second route to be displayed on a user device in the delivery vehicle.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the delivery vehicle is an autonomous truck, wherein providing the second route to the autonomous truck comprises causing the autonomous truck to autonomously navigate to the automated warehouse by the projected availability time.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein instructions executable by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform functions comprising:
providing a first route for a delivery vehicle, wherein the first route is associated with a first deadline to reach a first location;
subsequently receiving a cargo delivery request;
determining a second route for the delivery vehicle, wherein the second route includes a stop at an automated warehouse before the first location;
running a software simulation of future performance of a plurality of scheduled tasks assigned to a plurality of robots at the automated warehouse, wherein the software simulation is based on a current state of the automated warehouse as indicated by real-time data communicated by the plurality of robots;
determining based on running the software simulation, a projected availability time for cargo that satisfies the cargo delivery request to be available for pickup at the automated warehouse;
determining, based on the projected availability time for the cargo, that the delivery vehicle is expected to reach

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Hance Chris
• Vrevin Thibault

Classifications

• G06Q10/087

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title

• B65G1/137

  with arrangements or automatic control means for selecting which articles are to be removed · CPC title

• G01C21/3407

  specially adapted for specific applications · CPC title

• G06Q10/083

  Shipping · CPC title

• G06Q10/08

  Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management · CPC title