Automated warehousing using robotic forklifts or other material handling vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11727349-B2
Application number	US-202017074320-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 19, 2020
Priority date	Sep 26, 2016
Publication date	Aug 15, 2023
Grant date	Aug 15, 2023

Abstract

Automated inventory management and material (or container) handling removes the requirement to operate fully automatically or all-manual using conventional task dedicated vertical storage and retrieval (S&R) machines. Inventory requests Automated vehicles plan their own movements to execute missions over a container yard, warehouse aisles or roadways, sharing this space with manually driven trucks. Automated units drive to planned speed limits, manage their loads (stability control), stop, go, and merge at intersections according human driving rules, use on-board sensors to identify static and dynamic obstacles, and human traffic, and either avoid them or stop until potential collision risk is removed. They identify, localize, and either pick-up loads (pallets, container, etc.) or drop them at the correctly demined locations. Systems without full automation can also implement partially automated operations (for instance load pick-up and drop), and can assure inherently safe manually operated vehicles (i.e., trucks that do not allow collisions).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A material handling system, comprising:
at least one mobile robotic lift unit configured to receive material handling requests based upon map data including the location of material storage areas;
wherein the mobile robotic lift unit includes a robotically controlled actuator operative to pickup and place loads;
wherein the mobile robotic lift unit includes video capture and processing apparatus facilitating unimpeded movement within the facility and material storage areas to execute the material handling requests;
wherein the mobile robotic lift unit includes on-board global positioning satellite (GPS) geolocation and inertial sensors operative to determine the location of the mobile robotic lift unit relative to the material storage areas; and
wherein, when the mobile robotic lift unit determines that its location is proximate to a location associated with executing one of the material handling requests based upon the map data, the mobile robotic lift unit is operative to perform the following functions:
a) use the video capture and processing apparatus to orient the robotically controlled actuator to acquire a load and pick it up at a pick-up location,
b) use the (GPS) or inertial sensors to transport the load to a drop-off location, and
c) use the video capture and processing apparatus to orient the robotically controlled actuator for correct placement of the load at the drop-off location.

2. The material handling system of claim 1 , wherein the global positioning satellite (GPS) geolocation is used primarily outside the facility and inertial sensing is used primarily within the facility.

3. The material handling system of claim 1 , wherein the video capture and processing apparatus are operative to detect and identify computer-readable codes.

4. The material handling system of claim 3 , wherein the computer-readable codes are barcodes.

5. The material handling system of claim 1 , wherein the video capture and processing apparatus are operative to detect and identify features at known locations within the facility.

6. The material handling system of claim 1 , wherein the mobile robotic lift unit is capable of autonomous, semi-autonomous and manual operation.

7. The material handling system of claim 1 , wherein the video capture and processing apparatus is operative to identify one or more of the following:
aisles, walls and shelving units.

8. The material handling system of claim 1 , the video capture and processing apparatus is operative to identify doors or other openings in walls or shelving units.

9. The material handling system of claim 1 , The material handling system of claim 3 , wherein the video capture and processing apparatus is operative to target pick-and-place locations by identifying and locating templates or models.

10. The material handling system of claim 1 , wherein the facility is a warehouse.

11. The material handling system of claim 1 wherein the mobile robotic lift unit is a forklift; and
the video capture and processing apparatus enables the forklift to locate, engage, and manipulate pallets for loading, unloading and stacking or destacking operations.

12. The material handling system of claim 11 , wherein the video capture and processing apparatus is operative to identify one or more of the following:
pallet locations, pallet types, lot identifiers, and key isle-way locations.

13. The material handling system of claim 11 , wherein the video capture and processing apparatus is operative to identify one or more of the following:
pallet openings, pallet edges and pallet top locations.

Assignees

• Cybernet Systems Corp

Inventors

• Jacobus Charles J
• Beach Glenn J
• Rowe Steve
• Cohen Charles J

Classifications

• G05D1/0234

  using optical markers or beacons (optical beacons per se G01S1/70) · CPC title

• G05D1/0274

  using mapping information stored in a memory device (navigation using map-matching G01C21/30) · CPC title

• G05D1/0246

  using a video camera in combination with image processing means · CPC title

• G05D1/249

  from positioning sensors located off-board the vehicle, e.g. from cameras · CPC title

• G05D1/247

  using signals provided by artificial sources external to the vehicle, e.g. navigation beacons · CPC title