AUTOMATED ORDER FULFILLMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD

摘要

An automated order fulfillment system and automated method for fulfilling orders includes a donor-handling system having at least two donor buffers and a recipient-handling system having at least one recipient buffer. An item-handling system includes a vision system and an item manipulator. The vision system has a field of view encompassing the at least two donor receptacle buffers. A control causes the vision system to scan items in a donor receptacle at one of the donor buffers to obtain a pick list of location data of items in the scanned donor receptacle. The control causes the manipulator to pick an item from a donor receptacle at the other of the donor buffers under guidance of the vision system and place the picked item to a recipient receptacle at the at least one recipient buffer using the location data of items in that donor receptacle.

主权项

1. An automated order fulfillment system, comprising:
a donor-handling system having at least two donor buffers; a recipient-handling system having at least one recipient buffer; an item-handling system comprising a vision system and an item manipulator; said vision system having a field of view encompassing said at least two donor receptacle buffers; and a control causing said vision system to scan items in a donor receptacle at one of said donor buffers to obtain a pick list of location data of items in the scanned donor receptacle; said control causing said manipulator to pick an item from a donor receptacle at the other of said donor buffers under guidance of said vision system and place the picked item to a recipient receptacle at the at least one recipient buffer using the location data of items in that donor receptacle; and said control causing said vision system to scan items in a receptacle at one of said donor buffers overlapping in time with said manipulator picking items from another receptacle at another of said donor buffers under guidance of said vision system.