Autonomous product picking system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12287637-B2
Application number	US-202017037879-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 30, 2020
Priority date	Sep 30, 2020
Publication date	Apr 29, 2025
Grant date	Apr 29, 2025

Abstract

An autonomous product picking system includes product pick up stations at different locations within a facility having call stations with activation buttons at a user interface activated by an operator to transmit call requests when the products are needed to be picked up and to transmit completion signals when the products have been picked up. An automatic guided vehicle is movable within the facility between the product pick up stations and a product drop off station. A system control module guides the AGV within the facility and includes a system communication module communicatively coupled to the AGV and the call stations. The system communication module receives the call requests and the completion signals from the call stations when the activation buttons are activated.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An autonomous product picking system for picking products from within a logistic facility comprising:
product pick up stations fixed at different locations within the facility;
call stations within the facility associated with the product pick up stations, each of the call stations including at least one activation button at a user interface configured to be activated by an operator to transmit call requests when the products are needed to be picked up from the product pick up stations and to transmit completion signals when the products have been picked up from the product pick up stations;
at least one product drop off station at a fixed location within the facility;
a docking station within the facility;
an automatic guided vehicle automatically controlled and guided around the facility, the automatic guided vehicle being movable within the facility between the product pick up stations, the at least one product drop off station, and the docking station within the facility; and
a system control module within the facility, the system control module having a system controller, the system controller configured to automatically guide the automatic guided vehicle within the facility between the product pick up stations, the at least one product drop off station and the docking station, the system control module further includes a system communication module having a wireless communicator, the wireless communicator communicatively coupled to the automatic guided vehicle and the call stations, the wireless communicator receiving the call requests from the call stations when the at least one activation button at the user interface is activated, the wireless communicator further receiving the completion signals from the call stations when the at least one activation button at the user interface is activated,
wherein, when the call requests are transmitted by the call stations and received by the wireless communicator, the system controller is configured to automatically navigate the automatic guided vehicle to a product pick up station of the product pick up stations that a call request of the call requests is from and that has a shortest travel time for the automatic guided vehicle,
wherein, when at least one new call request is transmitted by at least one of the call stations and received by the wireless communicator, the system controller is configured to automatically redirect the automatic guided vehicle traveling to the product pick up station and automatically navigate the automatic guided vehicle to a different product pick up station of the product pick up stations that one of the at least one new call request is from if navigating the automated guided vehicle to the different product pick up station has a shorter travel time than the travel time to the product pick up station to which the automated guided vehicle is being automatically navigated, and
wherein the system controller automatically navigates the automatic guided vehicle to the at least one product drop off station to drop off the products for further processing after the products have been picked up from the product pick up stations.

2. The autonomous product picking system of claim 1 , wherein the system controller determines travel times of the automatic guided vehicle to the product pick up stations each time the call requests are received, the system controller controlling navigation of the automatic guided vehicle to the product pick up stations based on the travel times.

3. The autonomous product picking system of claim 1 , wherein the automatic guided vehicle is a first automatic guided vehicle, the autonomous product picking system further comprising a second automatic guided vehicle, the system controller sending the first automatic guided vehicle and the second automatic guided vehicle to the product pick up stations based on travel times between the product pick up stations and the first automatic guided vehicle and the second automatic guided vehicle.

4. The autonomous product picking system of claim 1 , wherein the call requests include a first call request from a first product pick up station of the product pick up stations and a second call request from a second product pick up station of the product pick up stations, the system controller sending the automatic guided vehicle to the first product pick up station prior to the second product pick up station in a first control scheme, the system controller sending the automatic guided vehicle to the second product pick up station prior to the first product pick up station in a second control scheme.

5. The autonomous product picking system of claim 4 , wherein the first control scheme is utilized when a travel time to the first product pick up station is less than a travel time to the second product pick up station, and wherein the second control scheme is utilized when the travel time to the second product pick up station is less than the travel time to the first product pick up station.

6. The autonomous product picking system of claim 1 , wherein the automatic guided vehicle receives the call requests from the wireless communicator on the fly to revise navigation of the automatic guided vehicle when the call requests are received.

7. The autonomous product picking system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one activation button is manually activated.

8. The autonomous product picking system of claim 1 , wherein the completion signals are transmitted after the products are loaded onto a cart of the automatic guided vehicle.

9. The autonomous product picking system of claim 1 , wherein the call stations communicate wirelessly with the wireless communicator of the system control module.

10. An autonomous product picking system for picking products from within a logistic facility comprising:
product pick up stations fixed at different locations within the facility;
call stations within the facility associated with the product pick up stations, each of the call stations including at least one activation button at a user interface configured to be activated by an operator to transmit call requests when the products are needed to be picked up from the product pick up stations and to transmit completion signals when the products have been picked up from the product pick up stations;
a docking station at a fixed location within the facility;
automatic guided vehicles automatically controlled and guided around the facility, the automatic guided vehicles being movable within the facility between the product pick up stations and the docking station; and
a system control module within the facility, the system control module having a system controller, the system controller comprising:
one or more processors configured to determine travel times of all of the automatic guided vehicles to the product pick up stations;
one or more processors configured to send a first pick up request to a first automatic guided vehicle of the automatic guided vehicles in response to a first call request of the call requests from a first product pick up station of the product pickup stations, the first automatic guided vehicle having a first travel time of the travel times, the first travel time being a shortest travel time of the travel times to the first product pick up station;
one or more processors configured to automatically navigate the first automatic guided vehicle toward the first product pick up station;
one or more processors configured to send a second pick up request to a corresponding one of the automatic guided vehicles in response to a second call request of the call requests from a second product pick up station of the product pickup stations, wherein the second pick up request is

Assignees

• TE Connectivity Services Gmbh
• Te Connectivity Solutions Gmbh

Inventors

• Solanki Swapnilsinh
• Deng Xinping
• Zhou Jiankun
• Lu Roberto Francisco-Yi
• Massaro Fabio E

Classifications

• G05D1/695

  for maintaining a fixed relative position of the vehicles, e.g. for convoy travelling or formation flight · CPC title

• G05D1/226

  Communication links with the remote-control arrangements · CPC title

• G05D1/644

  Optimisation of travel parameters, e.g. of energy consumption, journey time or distance · CPC title

• G05D1/223

  Command input arrangements on the remote controller, e.g. joysticks or touch screens · CPC title

• G05D1/661 Primary

  Docking at a base station (delivering or retrieving payloads G05D1/667) · CPC title