Systems and methods for home position and cart acquisition with a materials handling vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10815059-B2
Application number	US-201816129946-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 13, 2018
Priority date	May 23, 2016
Publication date	Oct 27, 2020
Grant date	Oct 27, 2020

Abstract

A variety of vehicle-based and warehouse-based solutions are provided to increase the adaptability, utility, and efficiency of materials handling vehicles in the warehouse environment, such as a goods storage and retrieval system, comprising a multilevel warehouse racking system, a mobile storage cart, a cart home position, and a materials handling vehicle disposed on a vehicle transit surface and comprising a fork carriage assembly, a navigation subsystem, a cart engagement subsystem, and one or more vehicular controllers to use the navigation subsystem to navigate the materials handling vehicle along the vehicle transit surface to a localized engagement position where the cart home position is within a cart engagement field of view, and use the cart engagement subsystem to engage the mobile storage cart in the cart home position with the fork carriage assembly.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A goods storage and retrieval system, comprising
a multilevel warehouse racking system,
a mobile storage cart,
a cart home position, and
a materials handling vehicle disposed on a vehicle transit surface, wherein:
the materials handling vehicle comprises a fork carriage assembly, a cart engagement subsystem, a navigation subsystem, and one or more vehicular controllers in communication with the cart engagement subsystem and the navigation subsystem;
the cart engagement subsystem is characterized by a cart engagement field of view; and
the one or more vehicular controllers of the materials handling vehicle executes vehicle functions to
(i) use the navigation subsystem to navigate the materials handling vehicle along the vehicle transit surface to a localized engagement position where the cart home position is within the cart engagement field of view, and
(ii) use the cart engagement subsystem to engage the mobile storage cart in the cart home position with the fork carriage assembly.

2. The goods storage and retrieval system as claimed in claim 1 wherein:
the cart engagement subsystem is further characterized by a close approach field of view that is more restricted than the cart engagement field of view;
the cart engagement subsystem transitions from an initial approach mode in the cart engagement field of view to a close approach mode in the close approach field of view as the cart home position moves into the close approach field of view;
the cart engagement subsystem comprises a time-of-flight (TOF) system characterized by the close approach field of view;
the close approach mode relies primarily on the TOF system as the cart home position moves into the close approach field of view;
the cart engagement subsystem is configured to generate a target TOF depth map of the mobile storage cart; and
the one or more vehicular controllers of the materials handling vehicle executes vehicle functions to
(i) use the cart engagement subsystem to generate the target TOF depth map of the mobile storage cart in the cart home position, and
(ii) use the cart engagement subsystem to determine a range position of the mobile storage cart with respect to the cart engagement subsystem based on the target TOF depth map.

3. The goods storage and retrieval system as claimed in claim 1 wherein:
the cart engagement subsystem comprises a vision system and a time-of-flight (TOF) system;
the cart engagement subsystem is further characterized by a close approach field of view that is more restricted than the cart engagement field of view;
the cart engagement field of view is defined by the vision system;
the close approach field of view is defined by the TOF system; and
the cart engagement subsystem transitions from cart engagement operations that rely primarily on the vision system to cart engagement operations that rely primarily on the TOF system as the cart home position moves into the close approach field of view.

4. The goods storage and retrieval system as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least one of the cart engagement subsystem and the navigation subsystem is operatively coupled to at least one of a traction control unit, a braking system, a steering assembly, a mast assembly control unit, a carriage control unit, and a picking attachment of the materials handling vehicle, the picking attachment secured to the fork carriage assembly movably coupled to a mast assembly, to facilitate cart engagement.

5. The goods storage and retrieval system as claimed in claim 1 wherein:
the navigation subsystem comprises one or more environmental sensors and an environmental database;
the environmental sensors are configured to capture data indicative of a position of the materials handling vehicle relative to the multilevel warehouse racking system, the vehicle transit surface, or both;
the environmental database comprises stored data indicative of the multilevel warehouse racking system, the vehicle transit surface, or both; and
the navigation subsystem is configured to enable at least partially automated navigation of the materials handling vehicle along the vehicle transit surface utilizing the captured data and the stored data.

6. The goods storage and retrieval system as claimed in claim 1 wherein:
a warehouse map is stored in a memory communicatively coupled to the one or more vehicular controllers; and
the one or more vehicular controllers of the materials handling vehicle executes vehicle functions to
(i) use the navigation subsystem to determine a localized position of the materials handling vehicle with respect to the vehicle transit surface of a warehouse based on a position of the materials handling vehicle in the warehouse in comparison with the warehouse map, and
(ii) use the navigation system to track navigation of the materials handling vehicle along the vehicle transit surface based on the localized position, navigate the materials handling vehicle along the vehicle transit surface in at least a partially automated manner, or both.

7. The goods storage and retrieval system as claimed in claim 1 wherein:
the materials handling vehicle further comprises a picking attachment subsystem comprising a picking attachment and a time-of-flight (TOF) system;
the picking attachment is secured to the fork carriage assembly that is movably coupled to a mast assembly of the materials handling vehicle;
the picking attachment comprises an X-Y-Z-Ψ positioner;
the picking attachment subsystem is configured to generate a target TOF depth map of a target tote; and
the one or more vehicular controllers of the materials handling vehicle executes vehicle functions to use the X-Y-Z-Ψ positioner of the picking attachment subsystem to engage the target tote with the picking attachment based on the target TOF depth map.

8. The goods storage and retrieval system as claimed in claim 7 wherein the navigation subsystem is configured to position the materials handling vehicle such that the target tote is within a tote engagement field of view of the TOF system.

9. The goods storage and retrieval system as claimed in claim 7 wherein:
the navigation subsystem comprises a vision system;
the multilevel warehouse racking system comprises a target fiducial associated with the target tote;
the navigation subsystem is configured to position the materials handling vehicle such that the target fiducial is within a field of view of the vision system; and
the navigation subsystem is configured to utilize the target fiducial to position the materials handling vehicle such that the target tote is within a tote engagement field of view of the TOF system.

10. The goods storage and retrieval system as claimed in claim 7 wherein the X-Y-Z-Ψ positioner comprises an X-positioner configured to move the picking attachment in a first degree of freedom along a first lateral axis in a lateral plane, a Y-positioner configured to move the picking attachment in a second degree of freedom along a second lateral axis perpendicular to the first lateral axis in the lateral plane, a Z-positioner configured to move the picking attachment in a third degree of freedom along a Z-axis perpendicular to the first lateral axis and the second lateral axis, and a rotational Ψ-positioner configured to rotate the picking attachment in a fourth degree of freedom about the Z-axis.

11. A materials handling vehicle configured to navigate a vehicle transit surface, the materials handling vehicle comprising
a fork carriage assembly,
a cart engagement subsystem,
a navigation subsystem, and
one or more vehicular controllers in communication with the cart engagement subsystem and the navigation subsystem, where

Assignees

• Crown Equip Corp

Inventors

• Otto Matthew J
• Garmann Gregory S
• Addison Mark E

Classifications

• G05D1/2247

  providing the operator with simple or augmented images from one or more cameras · CPC title

• G05D2109/10

  Land vehicles · CPC title

• G05D2105/28

  of freight · CPC title

• G05D2107/70

  Industrial sites, e.g. warehouses or factories · CPC title

• B66F9/07581 Primary

  Remote controls · CPC title