Order fulfillment system and computer implemented method of controlling the operation of an order fulfillment system

Abstract

The inventions pertains to an order fulfillment system (1) comprising a central control system (17), at least one picking station (3) with a first inlet (3.1) and a first outlet (3.2) for articles (A), to which articles (A) are sourced according to orders, at least one packing station (4) with a first inlet (4.1) for the articles (A), at which the articles are grouped into orders, a monitoring device (5), at least one unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle (6) and at least one unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle (7), both vehicles (6, 7) being designed for transporting articles (A) from the picking station (3) via the first outlet (3.2) and for delivering the transported articles (A) to the first inlet (4.1) of the packing station (4), whereby the monitoring device (5) is connected to the central control system (17) and configured in such a manner that the articles (A) arriving via the first inlet (3.1) of the picking station are characterized by the monitoring device and the central control system (17) is implemented to assign the characterized articles (A) to be transported by either the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle (6) or unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle (7) based on their characteristics, and the first outlet (3.2) is controlled by the central control system to transfer articles (A) to the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle (6) or the unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle (7) depending on the article's assignment; and a respective computer implemented method of control.

Description

[0001] Order fulfillment system and computer implemented method of controlling the operation of an order fulfillment system

[0002] The present invention relates to an order fulfillment system for picking and storing articles according to claim 1 and to a computer implemented method of controlling the operation of an order fulfillment system according to claim 12.

[0003] Order fulfillment systems usually include at least one picking station and one packing station. The picking stations are supplied with articles for order fulfillment from a storage and in turn are connected to the packing stations via sortation systems, for example, via pouch sorters or conveyors. To transport the articles unloaded from the storage system via the picking station to the right packing station for finalizing the order by grouping the articles according to order and packaging the order, the sortation system forms a highly complex system requiring a large amount of area compared to the storage system. Proportionally, the claimed area for the order fulfillment system, consisting of a picking- and packing station and a sortation arrangement, can be up to 50% of the total area of the warehouse. In addition, sortation systems are complex, maintenance-intensive, and expensive. Furthermore, their installation and commissioning are time-consuming. Another disadvantage is that the sortation systems are rarely redundant, so the articles cannot be sorted and as such the whole fulfillment system is down in the event of a failure. Another disadvantage is that once a sortation system has been set up, it is not flexible or scalable. Therefore, it is usual to over-dimension such sortation systems.

[0004] WO 2017 / 152202 A1 discloses a method and system for picking products in intralogistics, in which products of an order are picked into at least one order container assigned to the order. The product is picked up by an airborne drone controlled by a control system at a delivery point and, after a flight phase of the drone within a building, is delivered or dropped by the drone into the order container.

[0005] WO 2017 / 106721 A1 describes a multi-stage fulfillment center configured to support the distribution of articles by unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs. The multi-stage fulfillment center comprises an outer building shell presenting UAV platforms configured for landing and take-off of the UAVs. The UAV platforms are movable along the outer shell by passing through a grid in a horizontal direction and in a vertical direction.

[0006] The objective of the present invention is to provide an order fulfilment system that is more flexible in terms of sortation than those of the prior art but still redundant while being scalable and allowing high throughput in an optimized space.

[0007] The objective is solved with the features of the independent claims 1 and 12. Further advantageous embodiments of the invention are shown in the dependent claims and description.

[0008] The order fulfillment system, according to the invention, comprises a central control system, at least one picking station with a first inlet and a first outlet for articles, to which articles are sourced according to orders, at least one packing station with a first inlet for the articles, at which the articles are grouped into orders, a monitoring device, at least one unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle and at least one unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle, both vehicles being designed for transporting articles from the picking station via the first outlet and for delivering the transported articles to the first inlet of the packing station, whereby the monitoring device is connected to the central control system and configured in such a manner that the articles arriving via the first inlet of the picking station are characterized by the monitoring device and the central control system is implemented to assign the characterized articles to be transported by either the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle or unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle based on their characteristics, and the first outlet is controlled by the central control system to transfer articles to the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle or the unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle depending on the article’s assignment.

[0009] By using the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle and unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle it becomes possible to use the space in three dimensions and not being limited by fixed installations nor by possible throughput etc., as the system can be scaled by adding more of the unmanned vehicles. Additionally, such a system is redundant in terms of the transportation from the picking stations to the packing stations as the unmanned vehicles are universally replaceable. As such the sortation automatically taking place during the transportation of articles from the picking stations to the packing stations benefits from this redundancy and scalability as well as flexibility.

[0010] In other words, the invention tries to maximize space usage by using both the floor and the air for the transportation vehicles.

[0011] Usually such an order fulfillment system will include many picking stations, many packing stations and both a plurality of unmanned automated aerial transport vehicles and unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicles.

[0012] The unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle and unmanned automated ground- based transport vehicle will be chosen such that they can a) carry a certain article spectrum and b) transport the respective article between the picking station and the packing station autonomously without the need for external or human interaction. The unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle will use the air as its travel medium whereas the unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle will travel on the ground or floor. Both are fitted with sensory capability to fly or drive, navigate and to avoid collision with other transport vehicles.

[0013] The unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle will therefore usually be an AGV or AMR.

[0014] The use of an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) and / or an automated guided vehicle (AGV) allows for flexible use of available space and change of routing when needed in contrast to structured technology (fixed infrastructure).

[0015] Automated guided vehicles (AGV) are defined as mobile self-driving transportation platforms that usually follow given routes e.g. along marked long lines or wires on the floor, or uses radio waves, vision cameras, magnets, or lasers for navigation and transport objects, usually - but not limited to - in the form of pallet loads. They have the ability to automatically move and pick objects in manufacturing facilities and distribution centers, warehouses based on predefined routes etc.

[0016] An autonomous mobile robot (AMR) is similar to an AGV. An AMR is usually more sophisticated than an AGV and is able to navigate dynamically as well as plan its own path. It is usually equipped with on board devices to understand & react to the operating environment. This gives it a high flexibility in multiple order fulfillment use applications. Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) recognize their environment and adapt accordingly. The AMR is a vehicle that travels, for example, by wheels on the ground. AMRs are industrial robots that can, for example, lift and transport materials within the warehouse. They safely navigate around people, equipment, and inventory by reading QR codes on the warehouse floor or using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) to sense the environment and obstacles. In general, other technical solutions for the orientation of each individual AMR are also possible.

[0017] The unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle will usually be an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that can be operated and navigated autonomously by a computer or from the ground via remote control without a crew on board. Multicopters or quadcopters, known as drones, are particularly suitable for this purpose.

[0018] The UAV may be a commercially available UAV capable of performing the functions described herein, including operation in an indoor environment and carrying an article. The UAV may be capable of autonomous flight, be aware of its surroundings, and be programmable. The UAV may be coupled to one or more sensors or devices that assist in performing the functions described herein. The sensors or devices may include, but are not limited to, an optical code reader, an image capture device, a motion sensor, a range sensor, an infrared sensor, a thermal sensor, a sonar sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, and the like. The UAV may also include a processing device or an on-board computing device and a memory for storing commands or data, and a communication capability for communicating with a separate computing device (e.g., the computer as a kind of command center) or other UAV.

[0019] Unlike the AMR, the drone is a vehicle restricted to the move in the airspace that is also designed to transport articles.

[0020] It is preferred that each unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle and unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle carries or transports a single article.

[0021] For reasons of legibility, the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle and unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle will from now on be referred to generally as Drone and AMR further on, without meaning a limitation thereto.

[0022] The term “article" is not to be considered restrictive but instead is to be understood as an example of a variety of possible products and goods to be moved or load units, such as trays, pallets, boxes, etc., which can be used to store and transport the goods.

[0023] In other words, it is possible to transport articles stored in trays, pallets, containers boxes, etc., through the drone and the AMR, although it is also possible to transport the articles directly, without trays, pallets, containers, boxes, etc., through the drone and the AMR.

[0024] The articles for use in the order fulfillment will be replenished to the system as is known usually by bulk supply with pallets, which are either directly stored in a high- bay pallet storage and depalletized when need to replenish an intermediate storage, e. g. a container or tray storage having multi-level racks with storage spaces for containers, trays or article separated by aisles for the rack servicing machines, e. g. ASRS, miniload, shuttle etc. Preferred is the use of a shuttle storage wherein each aisle may be directly connected with a picking station.

[0025] The invention is especially useful with storages having storage spaces for load units double deep or multiple deep and optionally having transverse conveyance locations for exchange purposes. For this purpose, the load picking-up means of the storage apparatuses, e. g. telescopic rail arms, can have an extended reach.

[0026] It is particularly preferred if the storage apparatuses are racking serving units or single-level racking serving units. Shuttles or satellite vehicles are particularly suitable. It is also possible to use shuttles which have a lifting platform or a plurality of load picking-up means platforms, which are arranged one above the other, for serving a plurality of levels from one travel rail.

[0027] Therefore, it is possible to achieve a particularly high level of removal-from-storage efficiency whilst completely maintaining the desired sequence of the transport units in each aisle.

[0028] Such a storage will supply the picking stations with articles, i. e. to the first inlet.

[0029] The picking stations are to be understood as handling points for the articles. For this purpose, the articles are transferred to the drone or the AMR automatically or by a human picker. At the packing stations the reverse takes place as the drone or the AMR will discharge or be unloaded of the article at the first inlet.

[0030] Picking stations are human or robotic operated goods-to-person stations (GTP) allowing ergonomic high-performance picking. Such GTP can for example be embodied as described in WO 2021 / 223881 A1.

[0031] The picking station will however additionally include two handovers, one for suppling articles to the drones and one for suppling articles to the AMRs in dependence on the assignment.

[0032] In addition, the picking stations will include a monitoring device. The monitoring device is connected to the central control system and configured in such a manner that the articles arriving via the first inlet of the picking station are characterized by the monitoring device and the central control system is implemented to assign the characterized articles to be transported by either the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle or unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle based on their characteristics, and the first outlet is controlled by the central control system to transfer articles to the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle or the unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle depending on the article’s assignment.

[0033] In a preferred embodiment, the monitoring device comprises means for determining the weight of the article and the central control system is implemented to make the assignment of an article to be transported by either the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle or the unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle depending on the weight of the article; and / or the monitoring device comprises means for determining the dimensions of the article and the central control system is implemented to make the assignment of an article to be transported by either the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle or the unmanned automated ground- based transport vehicle depending on the dimensions of the article. The assignment may also take shape into account.

[0034] In other words, the categorization is determined depending on the weight of the article. Since the drone is limited in the weight it can carry compared to an AMR, the categorization is made based on the weight of the article. Alternatively or additionally, the categorization is determined depending on the dimensions or shape of the article. The categorization is not limited to these two criteria. For example, sensitive articles could also be transported only by drone or only with AM Rs. Furthermore, articles containing a liquid with a free surface would only be transported by AM Rs.

[0035] While the aerial transport vehicle will usually carry small light weight articles and the ground-based transport vehicle larger and heavier articles, the article assignment may additionally or alternatively be based on length of travel path and required speed or time of arrival.

[0036] Preferably, the monitoring device is arranged at the first inlet or the first outlet of the picking station. Depending on whether articles are supplied together in a load unit and are then forwarded as individual articles or are transported together with the load unit, this can be decisive for the choice of location for the monitoring device. Articles in a load unit can be recognized e. g. by a code on the load unit, which can be referenced as the storage of the articles in a load unit is stored in the central control system. It is then conceivable to install the monitoring device at the inlet of the first picking station. If the corresponding data is not stored, the articles must first be removed at the first picking station, whereby the monitoring device should then be positioned at the first outlet.

[0037] The first outlet of the picking station may comprise a first and a second handover, whereby the article is according to its assignment presented to the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle via the first handover area or to the unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle via the second handover area. These handovers may be located at different levels, e. g. one at the floor or ground zone for the AMR and one at the air zone located above the station for the drone.

[0038] In principle, it is also conceivable that the drone and the AMR are fed through the same distribution zone. Separation makes sense if a spatial separation is to be created between the routes / paths of the AMR and the drone and also allows for parallel loading.

[0039] Both the drone and the AMR can be controlled to function cooperatively for the joint transportation of articles, i. e. two or more drones or AMRs would carry an article together in asynchronized fashion. This allows transport of larger articles that would normally be too large.

[0040] It is also possible that the drone and the AMR may carry more than one article and that such articles can be of same kind or mixed kind. They may have the same or different destinations. If the destinations are different, the drone or the AMR can be routed in a stepwise manner to the destinations subsequently.

[0041] It is preferred when a driving zone is arranged between the picking station and the packing station, in which the unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle can travel between the picking station and the packing station, and wherein a flight zone is arranged between the picking station and the packing station, in which the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle can fly between the picking station and the packing station. In other words, a transportation area is located between the picking stations and the packing stations that provides three-dimensional space for the travel of the vehicles.

[0042] The flight zone will usually be formed vertically above the driving zone.

[0043] The arrangement of the drone's flight zone above the driving area for the AMR leads to space savings with increased traffic of articles. Since there is theoretically no vertical limit for drones, traffic can be increased at least up to a certain throughput without taking up additional floor space.

[0044] For safety reasons and to prohibit an unwanted interaction, the driving zone and the flight zone may be separated from each other by an unpassable horizontal boundary, which is unpassable for the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle. The unpassable horizontal boundary may be a net or an intermediate floor. Should the drone fail, it is prevented from falling into the driving area. A fall onto the driving area could damage both vehicles if the AMR collides with the crashed drone.

[0045] It is also possible that the flight zone be vertically spaced from the driving zone in such a way that an accessible maintenance space is formed between the flight zone and the driving zone.

[0046] To improve maintainability, the flight zone is vertically spaced from the driving area in such a way that a walkable maintenance space is formed underneath the flight zone. Vertically spaced means that a gap between the driving area and the flight zone is provided for supplying the AMR, which allows a maintenance technician to enter the area safely and upright, in a healthy posture. In principle, entering the area or the walk-on-floor is only possible if the AMR or the drone is not operating. During operation, the danger for a maintenance technician entering the room would be too high.

[0047] To reduce the risk to human operators at the stations, the driving area for the AMR and the flight zone for the drone are separated from the picking stations and the packing stations by a barrier that cannot be passed by at least the AMR and the drone. However, the barrier has openings through which items can be handed over to the drone and the AMR or from the AMR and the drone to the picking station. The barrier ensures no errant vehicle can injure a ware-house worker near the driving area or flight zone. In addition, the barrier does not allow an operator to enter the driving area or the flight zone unhindered.

[0048] The central control system may comprise a decision tree to assign the respective article to either a drone or AMR based on the data provided by the monitoring device.

[0049] The central control system may comprise a heuristic controller to control the article assignment and the transport path of the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle or unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle based on the assignment between the at least one picking station and the at least one packing station based on throughput. In other word, a heuristic controller may be used that has been implemented to assign the respective article to either a drone or AMR taking into account not only the data provided by the monitoring device, but also the distance between the picking station and packing station with the reward for learning being a minimum travel time or maximum throughput. This will be further explained below.

[0050] The invention also pertains to a computer implemented method of controlling the operation of an order fulfillment system as described above, using the central control system to perform the steps comprised of:

[0051] • receiving an order containing at least on article;

[0052] • supplying the at least one article to the at least one picking station;

[0053] • characterizing the at least one article at the picking station; • assigning the at least one article to be transported by either the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle or the unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle based on its characteristics;

[0054] • presenting the at least one article to either the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle or unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle based on the assignment;

[0055] • transporting the at least one article with either the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle or unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle based on the assignment from the at least one picking station to the at least one packing station;

[0056] • grouping of the at least one article according to the order at the packing station.

[0057] The central control system may be implemented to assign the at least one article to be transported by either the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle or the unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle based on weight and / or dimensions and the respective vehicle’s ability to transport a certain weight and / or dimensions. The central control system may be implemented to assign the article also based on length of travel path and required speed or time of arrival. Such an implementation may be based on the central control system being programmed to implement a decision tree taking the above parameters into account.

[0058] The central control system may use a heuristic controller to control the article assignment and the transport path of the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle or unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle based on the assignment between the at least one picking station and the at least one packing station using an optimum route between the at least one picking station and the at least one packing station and optionally includes in the optimization a choice of picking station and / or packing station.

[0059] The heuristic controller may be implemented by using data including data from the monitoring device representing weight and / or shape of the at least one article to be assigned to either the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle or unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle and includes scoring data based on the travel time (throughput) of the respective vehicle between the at least one picking station and the at least one packing station.

[0060] The invention and the technical environment are illustrated in more detail below regarding the figures. It should be noted that the invention is not intended to be limited by the embodiments shown. If not explicitly detailed otherwise, it is also possible to extract partial aspects of the facts explained in the figures and combine them with other components and findings from the present description and / or figures. It should be noted that the figures and especially the size relationships shown are only schematic. Identical reference signs designate identical objects, so that explanations from other figures can be used as a supplement, if necessary.

[0061] Further features and details of the invention are apparent from the description hereinafter of the drawing, in which

[0062] Fig. 1 shows a schematic perspective view of a warehouse according to the invention;

[0063] Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of a picking station of figure 1 with the transfer of articles to a drone and an AMR;

[0064] Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of a packing station of figure 1 ;

[0065] Fig. 4 shows a schematic side view of the travel levels for AMR and drones and the maintenance space between them;

[0066] Fig. 5 shows a diagram illustrating an exemplary heuristic controller which uses hand coded rule-based methods to central control system operation according to the invention.

[0067] Figure 1 depicts an order fulfillment system designated as a whole with 1, comprising a central control system 17, several picking stations 3 each with an inlet 3.1 and an outlet 3.2 for articles A, to which articles A are sourced according to orders, several packing stations 4 each with a first inlet 4.1 for the articles A, at which the articles are grouped into orders.

[0068] The picking stations 3 are sourced with articles A from a shuttle storage 2 having multiple multi-level racks 2A with double deep storage spaces for containers 2D holding the articles A. The racks 2A are separated by aisles 2B. In the aisles 2B shuttles 2C travel on each level as rack servicing machines to store and retrieve the containers 2D and offload or accept the containers from lifts 2E arranged at one end of each rack 2A facing the picking stations 3. Each picking station 3 corresponds to an aisle 2B with the racks 2A neighboring the aisle 2B. The lifts 2E are connected to the picking stations 3 by conveyors. One conveyor 2F will be an outbound conveyor transporting the containers 2D with the articles A from the lift 2E to the inlet 3.1 of the picking station 3. A Second conveyor will be an inbound conveyor 2G transporting the containers 2D with the articles A back to the lift 2E from the picking station 3 after the picking process. A third conveyor will be a cross-conveyor 2H transversing or bridging the font zone of storage 2 and the picking stations 3 and connection the conveyors 2F, G.

[0069] Between the picking stations 3 and the packing stations 4 a travel zone 5 is arranged in which drones 6 and AMR 7 travel between the picking stations 3 and the packing stations 4 to transport articles A based on the commands from the central control system 17 to fulfill orders.

[0070] The travel zone 5 comprises a floor-based driving zone 8 arranged between the picking stations 3 and the packing stations 4 in or on which the AMR 7 can travel between the picking and a flight zone 9 is arranged between the picking stations 3 and the packing stations 4, in which the drones 6 can fly.

[0071] The flight zone 9 is formed vertically above the driving zone 8 and the driving zone 8 and the flight zone 9 are separated from each other by an unpassable horizontal boundary 10 in the form of a net, which is unpassable for the drones 6.

[0072] As shown in figure 3, the flight zone 9 is vertically spaced from the driving zone 8 in such a way that an accessible maintenance space 11 is formed between the flight zone 9 and the driving zone 8 to allow technical personnel to maintenance the travel zone 5, for example by retrieving crashed drones 6 from the net 10.

[0073] The picking stations 3 as shown in more detail in figure 2 are connected to the conveyors 2F, G with the inlet 3.1 and a return outlet 3.3. The conveyors form an operator space at which the operator can pick articles A from the containers 2D under the guidance of the central control system 17 and place the articles A to the outlet 3.2 for handover to either a drone 6 or AMR 7. The central control system 17 uses a monitoring device 15 located at the inlet 3.1 to characterize the articles for assignment to either a drone 6 or AMR 7.

[0074] The monitoring device determines the weight using a scale and the dimensions using a vision system of the article A and the central control system 17 is implemented to make the assignment of an article A to be transported by either the drone 6 or the AMR 7 depending on the weight and dimensions of the article A.

[0075] The central control system 17 then controls the outlet 3.2 of the picking station 3 such that the article A is transferred to a first or a second handover 3.2.1 , 3.2.2, whereby the article A is according to its assignment presented to the drone 6 via the first handover area 3.2.1 or to the AMR 7 via the second handover area 3.2.2.

[0076] The first handover area 3.2.1 is a platform and the second handover area 3.2.2 is a downward angled conveyor, so that the drone 6 may hover over the platform to pick up the article or the AMR 7 may position itself underneath the downward angled conveyor to receive the article onto it’s carrying surface.

[0077] To prevent unwanted interaction between the drone 6 or AMR 7 and the operator at the picking station, the driving zone 8 and the flight zone 9 are separated from the picking station 3 by a horizontal barrier 12 that is unpassable for drone 6 and the AMR 7.

[0078] After transfer of the article A to the respective drone 6 or AMR 7, the drone 6 or AMR 7 will then travel to the destination packing station 4 through either the flight zone 9 or the driving zone 8 autonomously navigating the area and evade collision with other drones 6 and AMR 7 that are also travelling through the travel zone 5 simultaneously.

[0079] Arriving at the packing station 4, the central control system 17 has instructed the drone 6 or AM R 7 to drop off the article A at the inlet 4.1 of the packing station 4 such that the article A is transferred to a first or a second handover 4.1.1, 4.1.2, whereby the article A is according to its assignment presented by the drone 6 via the first handover area 4.1.1 or to the AMR 7 via the second handover area 4.1.2. The first handover area 4.1.1 is a platform and the second handover area 4.1.2 is an upward angled conveyor, so that the drone 6 may hover over the platform to drop off the article or the AMR 7 may position itself besides the upward angled conveyor to handover the article onto the conveying surface.

[0080] In the present case the packing stations 4 are arranged in two levels. Both levels have put-walls for order grouping the articles before the orders are finalized (i.e. all articles have been received), packaged and transported away to shipping 20 via conveyors 13A, B.

[0081] This would make it possible to divide the packing stations such that the drones 6 use the upper level for drop off and the AMR 7 use the lower level for handing over the article.

[0082] The drone 6 is a quadcopter that has an attachment on the bottom designed to be controlled to pickup articles A as necessary and drop these off again as necessary, under the local control of the drone 6. The drone 6 has a local control to perform it’s autonomous functions including flight control, navigation, collision avoidance, pickup and drop off of the article.

[0083] The AMR 7 is a standard AMR with a transport surface on top and with a local control to perform it’s autonomous functions including drive control, navigation, collision avoidance, pickup and drop off the article.

[0084] The central control system 17 controls the order fulfillment system and controls the overall order management and system control. It controls

[0085] • receiving an order containing at least one article A;

[0086] • supplying the at least one article to the picking station 3 which has been assigned to the article A by controlling the storage 2 and the shuttles, lifts and connecting conveyors;

[0087] • characterizing the article at the picking station 3 using the monitoring device to supply data on weight and dimensions;

[0088] • assigning the article to be transported by either the drone 6 or the AMR 7 based on its characteristics;

[0089] • presenting the article A to either the drone 6 or AMR 7 based on the assignment at the first or a second handover 3.2.1 , 3.2.2;

[0090] • controlling the drones and AMR by giving them instructions at which picking station to take over an article and at which packing station to drop it off;

[0091] • if necessary, the grouping of articles into orders for finalizing at the respective packing stations as well as the transport of the packaged orders to the shipping area.

[0092] The central control will obviously be computer implemented and can use known programming technology to achieve the above.

[0093] Figure 5 shows an embodiment of the central control system 17 implemented with a decision tree as a heuristic controller 17A, which uses rule-based methods (e. g. shortest path, collision avoidance algorithms such as Reciprocal Collision Avoidance for Real-Time Multi-Agent Simulation (RVO2), distance heuristics, etc.) to determine execution commands 17B to be passed on to a vehicle management and execution system and the operators. The heuristic controller 17A uses the monitoring data (weight, dimensions) and drone and AMR specifications (transportable weight and dimensions) as wells as start and destination (path between picking station and packing station) as input 17C to make the assignment to use either a drone 6 or AMR 7 and to optimize the throughput of the system by choosing a specific picking station 3 as a starting point and a specific packing station 4 as a destination in dependence of where in the storage the respective article A is located and the time estimation of retrieval and supply to the picking station 3 as well as the travel time of the drone 6 or AMR 7.

[0094] Further input 17C which the heuristic controller 17A may include are o whether the system is in operation, faulted, or under maintenance; o current system KPIs (e. g. throughput, energy usage), which the heuristic controller might use to make decisions; o picking station states; o packing station states; o inlet and outlet states;

[0095] Heuristic controller 17A may be implemented to create and reserve movement trajectories and / or paths for both the aerial and ground-based transport vehicles and these may be reserved until not needed.

[0096] The order data originates from an order management system, which is generated based on the order fulfillment requirements of the customer (e. g., a customer orders a plurality of items online which are stored in the warehouse). The order data is communicated to the System Controller, and the System Controller uses this information, together with other information available to it, to generate commands. The System Controller may transmit these commands to a vehicle management and execution system, which subsequently would use this information to control and direct the movements of exemplary vehicles (drones, AMR's and e. g., robotic pickers) and human pickers. The vehicle state data is communicated by the vehicles of the vehicle fleet to the vehicle management and execution system, which passes the vehicle state data to the System Controller.

[0097] Once the drones and AMR's have performed their tasks for the relevant orders, the order completion and status information are also transmitted by the vehicle management and execution system to the System Controller, as well as to the order management system to communicate the completion and other operational information about the status of the order.

[0098] Lastly, for human workers operating within the system and carrying out order tasks (such as picking and dropping items to / from shelves), the operator HMIs (humanmachine interfaces, e. g., a user interactive screen) send and receive order data from the order management system and sends order completion and status data to the System Controller. The operator state data is communicated by the respective operator HMIs to the System Controller. The operator commands are communicated by the System Controller to the operator HMIs (for execution by the operators of the respective operator HMIs).

Claims

Claims:

1. Order fulfillment system (1) comprising a central control system (17), at least one picking station (3) with a first inlet (3.1) and a first outlet (3.2) for articles (A), to which articles (A) are sourced according to orders, at least one packing station (4) with a first inlet (4.1) for the articles (A), at which the articles are grouped into orders, a monitoring device (15), at least one unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle (6) and at least one unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle (7), both vehicles (6, 7) being designed for transporting articles (A) from the picking station (3) via the first outlet (3.2) and for delivering the transported articles (A) to the first inlet (4.1) of the packing station (4), whereby the monitoring device (15) is connected to the central control system (2) and configured in such a manner that the articles (A) arriving via the first inlet (3.1) of the picking station are characterized by the monitoring device and the central control system (17) is implemented to assign the characterized articles (A) to be transported by either the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle (6) or unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle (7) based on their characteristics, and the first outlet (3.2) is controlled by the central control system to transfer articles (A) to the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle (6) or the unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle (7) depending on the article’s assignment.

2. Order fulfillment system (1) according to claim 1 , characterized in that the monitoring device comprises means for determining the weight of the article (A) and the central control system (17) is implemented to make the assignment of an article (A) to be transported by either the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle (6) or the unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle (7) depending on the weight of the article (A); and / or the monitoring device comprises means for determining the dimensions of the article (A) and the central control system (17) is implemented to make the assignment of an article (A) to be transported by either the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle (6) or the unmanned automated ground- based transport vehicle (7) depending on the dimensions of the article (A).

3. Order fulfillment system (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the monitoring device (15) is arranged at the first inlet (3.1) or the first outlet (3.2) of the picking station.

4. Order fulfillment system (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the first outlet (3.2) of the picking station (3) comprises a first and a second handover (3.2.1, 3.2.2), whereby the article (A) is according to its assignment presented to the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle (6) via the first handover area (3.2.1) or to the unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle (7) via the second handover area (3.2.2).

5. Order fulfillment system (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a driving zone (8) is arranged between the picking station (3) and the packing station (4), in which the unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle (7) can travel between the picking station (3) and the packing station (4), and wherein a flight zone (9) is arranged between the picking station (3) and the packing station (4), in which the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle (6) can fly between the picking station (3) and the packing station (4).

6. Order fulfillment system (1) according to claim 5, characterized in that the flight zone (9) is formed vertically above the driving zone (8).

7. Order fulfillment system (1) according to claim 6, characterized in that the driving zone (8) and the flight zone (9) are separated from each other by an unpassable horizontal boundary (10), which is unpassable for the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle (6).

8. Order fulfillment system (1) according to claim 7, characterized in that the unpassable horizontal boundary (10) is a net or an intermediate floor.

9. Order fulfillment system (1) according to any claim 5 - 8, characterized in that the flight zone (9) is vertically spaced from the driving zone (8) in such a way that an accessible maintenance space (11) is formed between the flight zone (9) and the driving zone (8).

10. Order fulfillment system (1) according to any claim 5 - 9, characterized in that the driving zone (8) and the flight zone (9) are separated from the picking station (3) and / or and the packing station (4) by a horizontal barrier (12) that is unpassable forthe unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle (6) and the unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle (7).

11. Order fulfillment system (1) according to any preceding claim, characterized in that the central control system (17) comprises a heuristic controller (17A) to control the article assignment and the transport path of the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle (6) or unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle (7) based on the assignment between the at least one picking station and the at least one packing station based on throughput.

12. Computer implemented method of controlling the operation of an order fulfillment system (1) according to any preceding claim, using the central control system (2) to perform the steps comprised of:• receiving an order containing at least one article (A);• supplying the at least one article (A) to the at least one picking station (3);• characterizing the at least one article (A) at the picking station (3);• assigning the at least one article to be transported by either the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle (6) or the unmanned automated ground- based transport vehicle (7) based on its characteristics;• presenting the at least one article (A) to either the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle (6) or unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle (7) based on the assignment;• transporting the at least one article (A) with either the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle (6) or unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle (7) based on the assignment from the at least one picking station to the at least one packing station (4);• grouping of the at least one article (A) according to the order at the packing station (4).

13. Computer implemented method according to claim 12, characterized in that the central control system (2) assigns the at least one article (A) to be transported by either the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle (6) or the unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle (7) based on weight and / or dimensions of the article (A) and the respective vehicle’s ability to transport a certain weight and / or dimensions.

14. Computer implemented method according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that the central control system (17) uses a heuristic controller (17A) to control the article assignment and the transport path of the unmanned automated aerial transport vehicle (6) or unmanned automated ground-based transport vehicle (7) based on the assignment between the at least one picking station (3) and the at least one packing station (4) using an optimum route between the at least one picking station (3) and the at least one packing station (4) and optionally includes in the optimization a choice of picking station (3) and / or packing station (4).

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