Distribution centers or other large facilities frequently contain multiple delivery bays to which a container or other storage receptacle may be transported for loading and unloading. The loading bays may each be equipped with a door. For example, a distribution center may contain multiple loading bays which received multi-model containers delivered by truck. Once delivered to the loading bay the storage receptacle is loaded or unloaded as required. Operation of the facility requires scheduling the transport of the storage receptacles and opening and shutting of the doors based on the progress of the loading and unloading operations.
Illustrative embodiments are shown by way of example in the accompanying drawings and should not be considered as a limitation of the present disclosure:
Described in detail herein are system and methods for automated storage receptacle processing in a facility. In one exemplary embodiment, motors connected to doors can open or close the doors. Sensors disposed with respect to storage receptacles can scan the storage volume of a storage container. The storage containers are movably disposed at one of the doors. The sensors can detect physical objects disposed in the storage volume of the storage receptacle and determine an amount of unoccupied space in the storage volume of the storage receptacle. The sensors can then transmit an indication of the determined unoccupied amount of space to a computing system that is configured to communicate with both the sensors and each motor of the doors. The computing system can receive the indication of the determined unoccupied amount of space and use the indication of unoccupied space to calculate a percentage of occupied storage volume in the storage receptacle. The computing system can then transmit a command to control the operation of the motor of the door at which the storage receptacle is disposed based on the calculated percentage so that a soon to be empty or full storage receptacle may then be quickly transported from the facility or the door may be shut while the storage receptacle is being loaded or unloaded.
Storage receptacles 108a, 108b, 108c can be disposed on a second side 105 of the loading area. The storage receptacles 108a, 108b, 108c are respectively docked at the loading docks 104a, 104b, 104c and can be aligned with the doors of the loading docks. The storage receptacles 108a, 108b, 108c have an interior storage volume 110a, 110b, 110c. The doors of the loading docks 104a, 104b, 104c can provide access to the interior storage volume 110a, 110b, 110c of the storage receptacles, when in an open position. For example, the interior storage volume 110a of a storage receptacle 108a can face the door of the loading dock 104a.
The physical objects 102 can be loaded into the interior storage volume 110 of the storage receptacles 108a, 108b, 108c docked at the loading docks 104a, 104b, 104c, through the door of the loading docks. In one example, the storage receptacles 108a, 108b, 108c may be directly coupled to the loading docks 104a, 104b, 104c. In another example, a ramp 114a, 114b, 114c can be respectively coupled to the storage receptacles 108a, 108b, 108c and the loading dock 104a, 104b, 104c, coupling the loading dock and the storage receptacle. One or more sensors 112a, 112b, 112c can be respectively disposed in the facility at one or more positions at which they may scan the interior storage volume 110a, 110b, 110c of the storage receptacles 108a, 108b, 108c. The sensors 112a, 112b, 112c may be located externally to the storage receptacles 108a, 108b, 108c in the facility. In one embodiment one or more of the sensors 112a, 112b, 112c may be located within the storage receptacles 108a, 108b, 108c. The storage receptacles 108a, 108b, 108c can be, but are not limited to, trailers, forklifts, storage containers and/or totes. The sensors 112a, 112b, 112c can be, but are not limited to, one or more of sonar sensors, laser sensors, video sensors, image sensors, LIDAR sensors and scales.
The sensors 112a, 112b, 112c can be configured to determine an amount of unoccupied space in the interior storage volume 110a, 110b, 110c of the storage receptacle 108a, 108b, 108c. The sensors 112a, 112b, 112c can respectively detect the physical objects within the interior storage volume 110a, 110b, 110c of the storage receptacles 108a, 108b, 108c. The sensors 112 can determine the unoccupied space based the detected physical objects 102. For example, the sensors 112a can scan the interior storage volume 110a of the storage receptacle 108a, which is docked at loading dock 104a. The sensors 112b can scan the interior storage volume 110b of the storage receptacle 108b, which is docked at loading dock 104b. The sensors 112c can scan the interior storage volume 110c of the storage receptacle 108c, which is docked at loading dock 104c. Different amounts of physical objects 102 and of various sizes can be disposed in the interior storage volumes 110a-c of the storage receptacles 108a-c.
The sensors 112a-c can encode a detected amount of unoccupied space into electrical signals and transmit the electrical signals to a computing system. The computing system can use the detected amount of space to calculate a percentage of occupied storage volume based on the known size of the storage receptacle. The calculations can determine facility operations. For example, the computing system can determine the interior storage volume 110c of storage receptacle 108c has more unoccupied space than the interior storage volume 110b of storage receptacle 108b and schedule a transport for storage receptacle 108c before scheduling a transport for storage receptacle 108b. Similarly, the computing system can determine the interior storage volumes 110a-b of storage receptacles 108a-b have more unoccupied space than the interior storage volume of 110a of storage receptacle 108a. The computing system can further determine that the interior storage volume of 110a of storage receptacle 108a has less than a specified threshold of unoccupied space remaining. The computing system can also determine that the storage receptacle 102a has reached capacity and transmit instructions to the motor 106a controlling the operation of the door of the loading dock 104a, to close the door of the loading dock 104a. The computing system will be described further in detail with respect to
It should be appreciated that while
The remote device 200 can receive input with respect to the boxes. The input can be transmitted to the computing system. The input can be associated with the operation of a door of a loading dock. In a non-limiting example the indicator 210 can be a selectable button. The remote device 200 can receive input associated with actuating the indicator 210. In response to actuating the indicator 210, the door of the loading dock associated with the box, can be opened or closed.
The GPS receiver 334 can be a L-band radio processor capable of solving the navigation equations in order to determine a position of the autonomous robot device 320, determine a velocity and precise time (PVT) by processing the signal broadcasted by GPS satellites. The accelerometer 336 and gyroscope 338 can determine the direction, orientation, position, acceleration, velocity, tilt, pitch, yaw, and roll of the autonomous robot device 320. In exemplary embodiments, the controller can implement one or more algorithms, such as a Kalman filter, for determining a position of the autonomous robot device.
In one embodiment, the autonomous robot device 320 can receive instructions from the computing system to navigate to a loading dock in the facility and control the operation of a motor. The instructions can include a location of the loading dock within the facility. The autonomous robot device can navigate can navigate through the facility using the motive assemblies 324 to the loading dock. The autonomous robot device 320 can be programmed with a map of the facility and/or can generate a map of the facility using simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). The autonomous robot device 320 can navigate around the facility based on inputs from the GPS receiver 328, the accelerometer 330, and/or the gyroscope 332.
In response to reaching the loading dock, the autonomous robot device 320 can control the operation of the motor of the door of the loading dock. For example, a button can be disposed at or around the loading dock. The button can control the opening or closing motor which can open or close the door of the loading dock. The autonomous device 320 can actuate the button using the picking unit 326. Alternatively, the autonomous robot device 320 can manually open or close the door using the picking unit 326. In one embodiment, the autonomous robot device 320 can detect the loading dock, the door and the button, using video analytics and/or machine vision.
In an example embodiment, one or more portions of the communications network 415 can be an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless wide area network (WWAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a portion of the Internet, a portion of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a cellular telephone network, a wireless network, a WiFi network, a WiMax network, any other type of network, or a combination of two or more such networks.
The computing system 400 includes one or more computers or processors configured to communicate with the conveyer belt motors 106, sensors 112, remote devices 200, automated robot devices 320 and third party devices 460, via a communications network 415. The computing system 400 hosts one or more applications configured to interact with one or more local components computing system 400 and/or facilitates access to the content of the databases 405. In some embodiments, the server 410 can host the control engine 420 or portions thereof. The databases 405 may store information/data, as described herein. For example, the databases 405 can include a storage receptacle database 430, a physical objects database 435 and a loading docks database 440. The storage receptacle database 330 can store information associated with storage receptacles. The physical objects database 335 can store information associated with physical objects. The loading docks database 440 can store information associate with loading docks. The databases 405 and server 410 can be located at one or more geographically distributed locations from each other or from the computing system 400. Alternatively, the databases 405 can be included within server 410.
In one embodiment, storage receptacles can be docked at loading docks at a facility. Doors 150 of the loading docks can provide access to interior storage volumes of the storage receptacles. The operation of the doors 150 can be controlled by motors 106. The doors 150 can be rolling overhead doors, configured roll up vertically to be in an open position and roll down vertically to be in a closed position. Sensors 112 can be disposed within and with respect to the storage receptacles. In one embodiment, a ramp can be coupled to the loading dock and the storage receptacle.
Physical objects can be loaded into storage receptacles through the doors 150. The sensors 112 can scan the interior storage volume of the storage receptacles. The sensors 112 can detect physical objects disposed in the interior storage volume of the storage receptacles and based on the detection of the physical object, the sensors 112 can detect an unoccupied amount of space in the interior storage volume of the storage receptacles. The sensors 112 can encode the detected unoccupied amount of space into electrical signals and transmit the electrical signals to the computing system 400.
The computing system 400 can receive the electrical signals from the sensors 112. The computing system 400 can execute the control engine 420 in response to receiving the electrical signals. The control engine 420 can decode the electrical signals to extract the detected unoccupied amount of space in a storage receptacle. The control engine 420 can query the storage receptacle database 430 to determine the size of the storage receptacle. The control engine 420 can calculate a percentage of unoccupied space in the storage receptacle based on the received unoccupied amount of space and the size of the storage receptacle.
In one embodiment, the control engine 420 can determine the percentage is below a specified threshold amount and in this regard, additional physical objects should not be loaded into the storage receptacle. The control engine 420 can determine the location of the storage receptacle. In one embodiment, the control engine 420 can determine the location of the storage receptacle based on the location of the sensors 112. In another embodiment, the location of the storage receptacle can be embedded in the electrical signals received from the sensors 112. The control engine 420 can query the loading docks database 440 to identify the loading dock at which the storage receptacle is docked based on the location of the storage receptacle. The control engine 420 can also identify the motor 106 coupled to the door 150 of the identified loading dock. The control engine 420 can transmit instructions to the identified motor 106, to close the door 150 of the loading dock, in response to determining the percentage of unoccupied space in the storage receptacle is below a specified threshold amount. Further, the control engine may transmit a message to a transport vehicle to move the container at the loading dock.
In one embodiment, in response to decoding the electrical signals to extract the unoccupied amount of space and identifying the storage receptacle, the control engine 420 can query the physical objects database 435 to determine which physical objects are designated to be deposited in the storage receptacle. The control engine 420 can determine whether the unoccupied amount of space is adequate to receive the physical objects designated to be deposited in the storage receptacle and have not yet been deposited. In response to determining, the unoccupied amount of space is adequate to receive the remaining physical objects, the control engine 420 may instruct the motor 106 of the loading dock at which the storage receptacle is docked, to maintain an open position of the door 150, even if the percentage of unoccupied space is below a threshold amount. Alternatively, in response to determining the unoccupied amount of space is not adequate to receive the physical objects designated to be deposited in the storage receptacle and have not yet been deposited and the percentage of unoccupied space is below a threshold amount, the control engine 420 may reassign the remaining physical objects to different storage receptacles.
In one embodiment, the control engine 420 can render a map of the loading docks on the display 201 of remote devices 200. In a non-limiting example, remote devices 200 may be a tablet, smartphone or other mobile computing device equipped with a display that is being operated by a facility employee. As mentioned above (with reference to
In one embodiment, a ramp may be coupled to the storage receptacle and the loading dock. The ramp maybe used to load physical objects into the interior storage volume of the storage receptacle. The ramp may be operated by a motor 106. The motor 106 can be same motor which operates the door 150 of the loading dock. Alternatively, the motor 106 can be a different motor 106 coupled to the ramp. In response to the control engine 420 instructing the motor 106 to close the door 150 of a loading dock, the control engine 420 can also instruct the motor 106 to retract the ramp. The ramp can be retracted into the loading dock and/or into the storage receptacle. Alternatively, in response to instructing the motor 106 to open the door 150 of a loading dock, the control engine 420 can also instruct the motor 106 to extract the ramp, to couple with the loading dock and storage receptacle.
In one embodiment, the control engine 320 can instruct an autonomous robot device 320 to close the door 150 of a loading dock. The instructions can include a location of the loading dock. The location can be GPS coordinates. The autonomous robot device 320 can navigate to the loading dock and can operate the motor 106 of the door 150 to close the door. In some embodiments, the autonomous robot devices 320 can load the physical objects into the storage receptacles. Additionally, the control engine 320 can instruct the autonomous robot devices 320 to navigate to a loading dock, to control the motor 106 of a door 150 to open to door, in response to receiving a notification that a storage receptacle is about to be docked at the loading dock.
As a non-limiting example, the automated storage receptacle processing system 450 can be implemented in a retail store, warehouse and/or e-commerce distribution center. In one example, the storage receptacle can be a trailer configured to be coupled with a delivery vehicle. The physical objects can be products out for delivery to vendors and/or customers. In response to the control engine 420 instructing the motor 106 to close the door 150 of a loading dock, the control engine 420 can transmit a message to a remote device 200 alerting a delivery vehicle that a trailer is ready for delivery. The control engine 420 can also transmit an alert to a third party device 460 associated with a vendor and/or customer, at a delivery of the products is about to leave the warehouse/retail store.
In one embodiment, the storage receptacle can also be a pallet. The sensors 112 can be disposed with respect to the pallet. The sensors 112 can detect when the pallet is loaded and unloaded. When the pallet is unloaded the sensors 112 can transmit an electrical signal to the control engine 320. The unloaded pallet may indicate the completion of a loading or unloading process. The control engine 320 can decode the electrical signal and determine the completion of a loading or unloading process. The control engine 320 can identify the loading dock in proximity of the pallet. The control engine 320 can instruct the motor 106 of the door 150 of the identified loading dock to close the door 150.
Virtualization may be employed in the computing device 500 so that infrastructure and resources in the computing device 500 may be shared dynamically. A virtual machine 512 may be provided to handle a process running on multiple processors so that the process appears to be using only one computing resource rather than multiple computing resources. Multiple virtual machines may also be used with one processor.
Memory 506 may include a computer system memory or random access memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, and the like. Memory 506 may include other types of memory as well, or combinations thereof. The computing device 500 can receive data from input/output devices such as, a reader 534 and an image capturing device 532.
A user may interact with the computing device 500 through a visual display device 514, such as a computer monitor, which may display one or more graphical user interfaces 516, multi touch interface 520 and a pointing device 518.
The computing device 500 may also include one or more storage devices 526, such as a hard-drive, CD-ROM, or other computer readable media, for storing data and computer-readable instructions and/or software that implement exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure (e.g., applications 530 such as the control engine 420). For example, exemplary storage device 526 can include one or more databases 528 for storing information such as information associated with storage receptacles, loading docks and physical objects. The databases 528 may be updated manually or automatically at any suitable time to add, delete, and/or update one or more data items in the databases.
The computing device 500 can include a network interface 508 configured to interface via one or more network devices 524 with one or more networks, for example, Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN) or the Internet through a variety of connections including, but not limited to, standard telephone lines, LAN or WAN links (for example, 802.11, T1, T3, 56 kb, X.25), broadband connections (for example, ISDN, Frame Relay, ATM), wireless connections, controller area network (CAN), or some combination of any or all of the above. In exemplary embodiments, the computing system can include one or more antennas 522 to facilitate wireless communication (e.g., via the network interface) between the computing device 500 and a network and/or between the computing device 500 and other computing devices. The network interface 508 may include a built-in network adapter, network interface card, PCMCIA network card, card bus network adapter, wireless network adapter, USB network adapter, modem or any other device suitable for interfacing the computing device 500 to any type of network capable of communication and performing the operations described herein.
The computing device 500 may run any operating system 510, such as any of the versions of the Microsoft® Windows® operating systems, the different releases of the Unix and Linux operating systems, any version of the MacOS® for Macintosh computers, any embedded operating system, any real-time operating system, any open source operating system, any proprietary operating system, or any other operating system capable of running on the computing device 500 and performing the operations described herein. In exemplary embodiments, the operating system 510 may be run in native mode or emulated mode. In an exemplary embodiment, the operating system 510 may be run on one or more cloud machine instances.
In operation 608, the sensors can transmit an indication of the determined unoccupied amount of space to a computing system (e.g. computing system 300 as shown in
Exemplary flowcharts are provided herein for illustrative purposes and are non-limiting examples of methods. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that exemplary methods may include more or fewer steps than those illustrated in the exemplary flowcharts, and that the steps in the exemplary flowcharts may be performed in a different order than the order shown in the illustrative flowcharts.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application 62/580,668 filed on Nov. 2, 2017, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62580668 | Nov 2017 | US |