The invention is an automatic system for picking and placing boxes on shelves in a warehouse. The system comprises a set of autonomous mobile robots; a network of vertical and horizontal rails that are parallel to the vertical support posts and horizontal shelves of the shelving system in the wareho
The invention is an automatic system for picking and placing boxes on shelves in a warehouse. The system comprises a set of autonomous mobile robots; a network of vertical and horizontal rails that are parallel to the vertical support posts and horizontal shelves of the shelving system in the warehouse; and a Real Time Traffic Management (RTTM) server, which is a central processing server configured to communicate with the robots and other processors and servers in the warehouse. The system is characterized in that the robots comprise a set of on-board sensors, a processor, software, and other electronics configured to provide them with three-dimensional navigation and travel capabilities that enable them to navigate and travel autonomously both along the floor and up the vertical rails and along the horizontal rails of the network of rails to reach an exact location on the floor or shelving system of the warehouse.
대표청구항▼
1. An automatic system for picking and placing boxes on shelves in a warehouse, the system comprising: a. a set of autonomous mobile robots, each robot comprising two front driving wheels;b. a network of vertical and horizontal rails, wherein the network of vertical and horizontal rails form a shelv
1. An automatic system for picking and placing boxes on shelves in a warehouse, the system comprising: a. a set of autonomous mobile robots, each robot comprising two front driving wheels;b. a network of vertical and horizontal rails, wherein the network of vertical and horizontal rails form a shelving system; or the network of vertical and horizontal rails are parallel to vertical and horizontal supports of shelves in an existing shelving system in the warehouse; andc. a Real Time Traffic Management (RTTM) server, said RTTM server is a central processing server, configured to communicate with the robots and other processors and servers in the warehouse; wherein each robot comprises: components configured to engage and mechanically secure the two front driving wheels to the vertical and horizontal rails allowing the robot to travel on the network of rails; anda set of on-board sensors, a processor, software, and other electronics configured to provide the robot with three-dimensional navigation and travel capabilities, the three-dimensional navigation and travel capabilities enable the robot to navigate and travel autonomously along the floor, up and down the vertical-rails rails, and along the horizontal rails of the network of rails to reach an exact location on the floor or shelving system of the warehouse. 2. The automatic system of claim 1 comprising a modular architecture that is configured to be integrated with an already in-use facility thereby allowing a high level of implementation flexibility and ongoing scalability. 3. The automatic system of claim 1, comprising at least one picking station, the at least one picking station comprising: a processor, terminal screen and software dedicated to interface with other the processors in the automatic system in order to assist human workers with picking or putting away merchandise. 4. The automatic system of claim 1, wherein the robots have recoverable communication capability that enables the robots to carry on with their mission if communication with the RTTM server, picking stations, or other robots is temporarily lost. 5. The automatic system of claim 1, wherein the rails of the network of vertical and horizontal rails, or are configured to form a free standing structure that stands in parallel to the existing shelving. 6. The automatic system of claim 1, wherein the network or rails is configured to enable each robot to cross from one side of an aisle to the other side of the aisle without the need to go down to the floor. 7. The automatic system of claim 1 wherein the RTTM comprises software that generates tasks, prioritization, traffic control, and energy management instructions, which the RTTM sends to the individual robots. 8. The automatic system of claim 1, wherein real-time communication between all robots, picking stations, and RTTM is handled over industrial grade routers using secured wireless protocol. 9. The automatic system of claim 1, wherein each box stored in the warehouse has a micro-pallet made from corrugated fiberboard attached to a bottom of the box. 10. The automatic system of claim 1, wherein the processors in the robots, RTTM, and picking stations comprise software that is configured to provide at least one of the following advanced capabilities: a. realization of Internet of Things (IoT) scenarios;b. self-learning; andc. accumulating and analyzing big data sets. 11. The automatic system of claim 1, further comprising a junction between vertical and horizontal rails, the junction is comprised of an open circular area centered at an intersection of the vertical and horizontal rails and a short piece of rail, the short piece of rail is configured to pivot about the center of the circular area such that the short piece of rail is alternately lined up with one or two sections of the vertical rail, or one or two sections of the horizontal rail. 12. The automatic system of claim 11, wherein each robot is able to change its direction of travel on the network of vertical and horizontal rails from vertical to horizontal or vice versa, by the robot stopping with its front wheels on the short piece of rail in two adjacent junctions and then rotating the front wheels by ninety degrees. 13. The automatic system of claim 1, wherein the robots comprise: a. a frame;b. a gripper mechanism attached to the top side of the frame that is configured to pick up and place boxes;c. a fine positioning sensor used to aid in removing boxes from and placing boxes on the shelves;d. a battery case that houses rechargeable batteries to power the robot;e. at least one rear wheel attached to the bottom of the frame; andf. two drive and steering units, each unit comprising: one front driving wheel and components configured to rotate the front driving wheel at least 360 degrees about an axis vertical to the floor, the front driving wheel and components steer the robot and to rotate the front driving wheel about a horizontal axis causing the robot to move in the direction that the front driving wheel is pointing; andthe drive and steering units are attached to the robot by means of arm units configured to expand and contract, the arm units having multiple degrees of freedom that allow the robot to: engage a vertical rail, raise itself off the floor, and to move up, down, and along the network of vertical and horizontal rails. 14. The automatic system of claim 13, wherein the gripper mechanism comprises an array of micro-pallet lifters, wherein each micro-pallet lifter in the array can be operated independently thereby allowing the robot to handle different sized boxes in order to maximize the efficient use of shelf space. 15. The automatic system of claim 13, wherein the processor in each robot comprises dedicated software and algorithms that are configured to enable the robot to execute navigation, driving, and fine positioning procedures, to pick and put boxes, and to monitor the charge of the rechargeable batteries. 16. The automatic system of claim 15, wherein the processor of each robot is pre-loaded with dedicated software which includes the warehouse layout, routes, intersections, and designated areas. 17. The automatic system of claim 16, wherein the processor, software, and set of onboard sensors are configured to enable each robot to employ anchor point navigation method to carry out tasks assigned to it by the RTTM server. 18. A robot having three-dimensional navigation and travel capabilities that enable the robot to navigate and travel along the ground, and up and down vertical rails, and along horizontal rails of a network of rails, the robot comprising: a. a frame;b. a gripper mechanism attached to the top side of the frame that is configured to pick and place boxes;c. a fine positioning sensor used to aid in removing and placing boxes from or on the shelves;d. a battery case that houses rechargeable batteries to power the robot;e. a command module that houses a processor, software, and other electronics to guide the robot and enable it to carry out its assigned tasks;f. a set of on-board sensors that are located at various locations on the robot to aid the robot in navigation and to identify obstacles;g. at least one rear wheel attached to the bottom of the frame; andh. two drive and steering units each unit comprising: one front driving wheel and components configured to: rotate the front driving wheel at least 360 degrees about an axis vertical to the steer the robot, and to rotate the front driving wheel about a horizontal axis causing the robot to move in the direction that the front driving wheel is pointing,the drive and steering units are attached to the robot by means of arm units configured to expand and contract, the arm units having multiple degrees of freedom that allow the front driving wheels of the robot to: engage a vertical rail by means of the front driving wheels, raise itself off the floor, move up and down the vertical rails, and move along the horizontal rails.
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이 특허에 인용된 특허 (1)
Ostwald Timothy C. ; Smith Frank, Method and system for transferring energy between robotic mechanisms in an automated storage library.
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