Shelving and kiosk system

摘要

Described herein are a robotic distribution apparatus, system and method. The robotic distribution system may include a Package Delivery Kiosk (PDK), associated front end and back end package delivery management systems, portals for the consumer and the retailer, portals for the common carrier, sender, and recipient, a package inventory management system, integrated retailer access, a real and automated retailer bidding system and a kiosk for distribution. The PDK includes a distribution kiosk and shelving system. The kiosk and shelving system includes configurable shelves and dividers to enable access to the packages. The shelving system handles packages from a robotic placement mechanism and includes shelves that have receiving apertures. The shelving system further includes dividers that fit into the receiving apertures. Each of the dividers has a receiving slot that allows a robotic gripper arm to grab or handle a package with respect to a slot between a pair of dividers.

主权项

1. A shelving system for receiving packages from a robotic placement mechanism, the system comprising:
a plurality of shelves, each of the plurality of shelves having a shelf length extending between a shelf front and shelf back and a shelf width extending between opposing shelf sides, the shelf width being longer than the shelf length, each of the plurality of shelves having a plurality of sets of receiving apertures disposed within a shelf top surface, each set of receiving apertures being spaced from each other; and a plurality of dividers configured to fit into corresponding sets of the plurality of receiving apertures, each pair of adjacent dividers defining one of a plurality of package storage slots having a package storage slot width extending between the pair of adjacent dividers, each divider of the plurality of dividers having:
a divider height extending between adjacent shelves;a divider width extending from a first side of a divider to a second side of the divider, the second side of the divider opposing the first side of the divider, the first and second sides of the divider extending continuously along the divider height of the divider;a divider length extending between a front of the divider and a back of the divider opposing the front of the divider; anda receiving slot defining a space within the divider extending a receiving slot length along the divider length from the front of the divider to an inner wall of the divider extending the divider width from the first side to the second side, the receiving slot length being less than half of the distance between the front of the divider and the back of the divider, a receiving slot width extending along the divider width from the first side of the divider to the second side of the divider and a receiving slot height extending along the divider height between a bottom of the divider and a top of the divider.