Material handling system with stacking replanning function

Abstract

A material handling system for handling, placing parcels onto pallets noted for ordered storage, the material handling system comprising: a storage array having a storage space for holding the parcels therein; an automated parcel transport system communicatively coupled to the storage array for storing the parcels within the storage space of the storage array and retrieving the parcels from the storage space of the storage array; an automated palletizer for placing the mixed parcels onto the pallets to form a pallet load of the mixed parcels, the automated palletizer communicatively coupled to an automated parcel transport system that provides individual parcels from the storage array to the automated palletizer, a pallet load for forming the hybrid parcel, the pallet load of the hybrid parcel comprising more than one composite layer of the hybrid parcel; and a controller operably connected to the automated stacker crane, the controller programmed with a pallet load generator having an initial pallet load.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a non-provisional application of and claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 368,710, filed on July 18, 2022, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Technical Field

[0002] The present disclosure relates generally to material handling systems, such as automated storage and retrieval systems, and more particularly, to automated palletizing. Background Art

[0003] Warehousing and logistics operations are adopting an increasing amount of automation for storage and retrieval operations. Generally, storage and retrieval operations produce pallet loads built according to one or more customer orders, wherein the pallet loads are delivered to a retail store, a corporate customer, or another warehouse. Pallet loads generally include parcel boxes having a generally cubic shape, which are collected together (e.g., via a retrieval operation) and arranged on (multiple) pallets for transportation from a staging area of ​​a warehouse or logistics center to a truck (or other vehicle) to be received by a retail store, a corporate customer, or another warehouse. As can be appreciated, building pallets is still a labor-intensive and time-consuming operation, and the goal of the automation mentioned above is to automate the process of palletizing boxes retrieved from storage using robots and other warehouse machinery.

[0004] In general, a pallet load plan (e.g., a list of the locations and orientations of boxes on a pallet that produces a stable and transportable arrangement of boxes) is generated so that a palletizing robot can build a pallet load. The boxes transported to the palletizing robot for building a pallet load according to the pallet load plan are transported to the palletizing robot in a strict order defined by the pallet load plan, wherein the transportation of the boxes occurs using different types of transport machinery (e.g., a mini load crane, shuttle, or mobile robot that picks up inventory from storage; a vertical lift or conveyor; and a horizontal conveyor, picker, or consolidator that delivers the boxes to the palletizing area), between which the boxes are transferred for delivery to the palletizing robot. At each step of the transport process, the boxes will arrive at their destination in a strict order within a relatively small time window.

[0005] As can be understood, the high cost of automation generally commands the throughput of the warehouse / logistics facility and the palletizing of the box (e.g., the box placed on the pallet per unit time) to be maximized. Delayed delivery of the box to the palletizer can disrupt the operation of the warehouse storage and retrieval system (e.g., lower throughput), where the palletizer must wait for the special box in sequence. In some cases (e.g., such as mechanical or electrical problems in the warehouse / logistics facility causing mechanical failure; closure of parts of the warehouse / logistics facility for maintenance; inventory accounting errors, computer failures, etc.), the box can be hindered from being delivered in sequence and within the desired time window, which destroys the palletizing process. In the case of failure of one or more boxes to be delivered to the palletizer in the order of the box, the order of the boxes placed on the pallet (e.g., defined by the pallet load planning) cannot be arbitrarily changed, and other boxes generally cannot be placed on the missing box, because the absence of the box implies a hole or gap in the pallet that cannot stably support other boxes.

[0006] Conventionally, missing boxes in the sequence of boxes delivered to the palletizer are mitigated in a manner that reduces palletizing efficiency (e.g., reduces throughput) and / or reduces the build quality of the pallet load. Examples of missing box mitigation include: delivering additional boxes to the palletizer, where the additional boxes may not be part of the customer order, but have dimensions similar to the missing boxes; stopping the automated palletizer to facilitate manual palletizing of the remainder of the pallet load; and stopping the automated palletizer for the pallet being built and creating a new pallet load plan for the remainder of the pallet, resulting in the building of an additional pallet. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] The foregoing aspects and other features of the present disclosure are set forth in the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0008] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a material handling system according to aspects of the present disclosure;

[0009] Figure 2 According to aspects of the present disclosure Figure 1 a schematic diagram of a portion of a material handling system;

[0010] Figure 3A According to the present disclosure, the Figure 1 Schematic diagram of pallet loads generated by a material handling system;

[0011] Figure 3B According to aspects of the present disclosure, Figure 3A Statistical graph of mixed box characteristics of pallet loads;

[0012] Figure 4 According to aspects of the present disclosure Figure 1 a schematic diagram of a portion of a material handling system;

[0013] Figure 5 According to aspects of the present disclosure Figure 1 a schematic diagram of a portion of a material handling system;

[0014] Fig. 6A and 6B According to the present disclosure, the Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the degree of stability of stacked boxes in a material handling system;

[0015] Figure 7 According to the present disclosure, the Figure 1 An exemplary flow chart of a pallet load re-planning process implemented by a material handling system;

[0016] Fig. 8A and 8B 1 and 2 show the initial pallet load planning and the utilization according to aspects of the present disclosure, respectively. Figure 7 The pallet load re-planning process is based on Figure 1 The corresponding pallet load re-planning is achieved by the material handling system;

[0017] Fig.9A and 9B 1 and 2 show the initial pallet load planning and the utilization according to aspects of the present disclosure, respectively. Figure 7 The pallet load re-planning process is based on Figure 1 The corresponding pallet load re-planning is achieved by the material handling system;

[0018] Fig. 10A shows the initial pallet load plan, and Fig. 10B and 10C Showing the use of aspects according to the present disclosure Figure 7 The pallet load re-planning process is based on Figure 1 The corresponding pallet load re-planning is achieved by the material handling system;

[0019] Fig.11A and 11B 1 and 2 show the initial pallet load planning and the utilization according to aspects of the present disclosure, respectively. Figure 7 The pallet load re-planning process is based on Figure 1 The corresponding pallet load re-planning is achieved by the material handling system;

[0020] Fig. 12A and 12B 1 and 2 show the initial pallet load planning and the utilization according to aspects of the present disclosure, respectively. Figure 7 The pallet load re-planning process is based on Figure 1 The corresponding pallet load re-planning is achieved by the material handling system;

[0021] Fig.13A and 13B1 and 2 show the initial pallet load planning and the utilization according to aspects of the present disclosure, respectively. Figure 7 The pallet load re-planning process is based on Figure 1 corresponding pallet load re-planning achieved by the material handling system; and

[0022] Fig.14 According to aspects of the present disclosure, Figure 1 An exemplary flow chart of a method for handling and placing packages onto pallets using a material handling system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] Figure 1 An exemplary automated storage and retrieval system (also referred to herein as a material handling system) 100 for handling and placing packages onto pallets destined for orderly storage (e.g., a retail store, a corporate customer, or another warehouse) according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown. Although aspects of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in many forms. In addition, any suitable size, shape, or type of element or material may be used.

[0024] According to aspects of the present disclosure, Figure 1The automated storage and retrieval system 100 in the embodiment of the present invention can be set in a retail distribution center or warehouse, for example, to meet orders received from retail stores for replenishing the goods transported in boxes, packages and / or parcels. The terms box, package and parcel are used interchangeably herein, and can be any container that can be used for transportation and can be filled with boxes or more product units by the manufacturer. As used herein, the box or multiple boxes means a box, package or parcel unit (e.g., not stored in a pallet, on a tote, etc.) that is not stored. Note that the box unit CU (also referred to as a mixed box, box, package, box and shipping unit herein) may include a box of items / units (e.g., a soup can box, a cereal box, etc.) or a separate item / unit suitable for being removed from a pallet or placed on a pallet. According to an exemplary embodiment, the box or box unit (e.g., a cardboard box, a barrel, a box, a crate, a pot, a shrink-wrapped pallet or a group or any other suitable device for holding a box unit) transported may have a variable size and can be used to hold the box unit in transportation, and can be configured so that they can be palletized for transportation. Note that, for example, when incoming bales or pallets (e.g., from a manufacturer or supplier of case units) arrive at the storage and retrieval system for replenishment of the automated storage and retrieval system 100, the contents of each pallet may be uniform (e.g., each pallet holds a predetermined number of the same items, one pallet holds soup, and another pallet holds cereal). As may be appreciated, the cases loaded on such pallets may be substantially similar or in other words homogeneous cases (e.g., similar size), and may have the same SKU (otherwise, as previously mentioned, the pallet may be a "rainbow" pallet with layers formed by homogeneous cases). When the pallet leaves the storage and retrieval system with the cases satisfying the replenishment order, the pallet may contain any suitable number and combination of different case units (e.g., each pallet may hold different types of case units, with the pallet holding a combination of soup cans, cereal, beverage packets, cosmetics, and household cleaners). The cases combined onto a single pallet may be of different sizes and / or different SKUs.

[0025] Also refer to Figure 3A and 3B , showing a schematic perspective view of an exemplary mixed case pallet load PAL constructed in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Note that, for example, when incoming bales or pallets (e.g., from a manufacturer or supplier of case units) arrive at the storage and retrieval system for replenishment of the automated storage and retrieval system 100, the contents of each pallet may be uniform (e.g., each pallet holds a predetermined quantity of the same item, one pallet holds soup, and another pallet holds cereal). As may be appreciated, the cases of such a pallet load may be substantially similar or otherwise homogeneous cases (e.g., similar size), and may have the same SKU (otherwise, as previously mentioned, the pallet may be a "rainbow" pallet with layers formed of homogeneous cases). Figure 3AThe pallet load PAL shown in FIG. 1 may be referred to as a layer-by-layer pallet, where the pallet is built by placing boxes one box layer L121-L125, L12T at a time (as mentioned above, boxes may be placed individually or partially or in full layers until a layer L121-L125, L12T is completed before continuing to the next layer L121-L125, L12T). The pallet load PAL has a highly heterogeneous box order, where the degree of heterogeneity that may be encountered when building a mixed box pallet can be seen from Figure 3B The curves shown in FIG. Figure 3B is a diagram illustrating the variation in case dimensions (e.g., length, height, and width) within a representative case population, such as may be found in a storage and retrieval system and used to generate mixed case pallets in response to customer replenishment orders. As may be appreciated, an order may result in a mixed case pallet including a plurality of cases having a plurality of cases from Figure 3B In one aspect, a pallet load PAL (or portion thereof) may be loaded with boxes that are columned or stacked in layers to a maximum allowable pallet height, such as, for example, 48 inches (including the height of the pallet base) for a standard short pallet or 96 inches (including the height of the pallet base) for a standard tall pallet (in other aspects, the pallets may be shorter or taller so as to have non-standard heights). The boxes within a layer rest on the supporting surface of an underlying (e.g., lower) layer of boxes within the pallet load PAL, and conversely, the underlying layer of boxes surfaces define the boxes that may be placed in the layer above (e.g., the upper / overlapping layer). Relaxing the constraints on the size of the underlying boxes has a deleterious and undesirable effect on pallet stability. As will be further described below, aspects of the present disclosure overcome pallet stability issues.

[0026] A highly heterogeneous pallet load PAL may be formed using a pallet planner arrangement (similar to the pallet planner arrangement described in U.S. Patent 8,965,559, issued on February 24, 2015 and entitled “Pallet Building System”, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) configured to plan the structure of a pallet load and the separate sequencing of box units for the pallet load. The pallet planner (also referred to as a pallet load generator 164, 164') generates a planned initial pallet structure (i.e., a mixed box layout plan) 184 that includes boundary conditions and constraints imposed by pallet size, box characteristics, stacking efficiency according to a planning system or process in a manner similar to that described in U.S. Patent 8,965,559 (previously incorporated herein by reference in its entirety). As can be appreciated, in an automated warehouse system, some case units (e.g., "missing cases / case units" also referred to herein as "strike-off cases / case units") in the initial pallet load plan 184 are not (or not at all) delivered to, for example, the palletizer 160PB in the desired sequence, leaving "empty space" in the pre-calculated pallet load PAL defined by the initial pallet load plan 184. It is expected that a significant portion of pallet builds will have more than one strike-off case, and it is possible that multiple strike-off cases may appear in a pallet build with at least one strike-off case. The distribution of pallets with strike-off cases is expected to follow a pattern similar to Figure 3B . In other words, it is expected that the presence of a crossed-out box will result in a failed pallet build without mitigation. Aspects of the present disclosure provide for providing mitigation for missing boxes using what may be referred to for purposes of description as minimal modifications to the pallet load plan / structure of a pallet being built in real time. These minimal modifications or changes allow for the stable construction of an at least partially replanned pallet load without undelivered boxes and substantially retaining the pallet shape of the original or initial pallet load plan. Note that the presence of voids / crossed-out boxes within the initial pallet build will cause a failure in the pallet build due to the instability presented by the voids. Therefore, while referred to as minimal modifications, successful pallet build strictly requires the mitigation achieved by the modifications. The minimal modifications to the initial pallet load plan 184 are determined prior to placing the affected box units (e.g., box units in the same stack or layer as the missing boxes) in an order for palletizing, as described herein. For example, with reference to Figure 4 and 5 Once a case unit CU is placed on the outgoing conveyor 160CB or on a pallet, and the position of the case unit in the pallet placement sequence cannot be changed, the case unit CU can be considered to be "in sequence for palletizing" (although the placement position of the cases can be changed as described herein, as long as the cases are placed in the pallet placement sequence).

[0027] As described herein, minimal modifications to the pallet load plan / structure of a pallet being built in real time enable stability of the pallet's box unit stack / layer and stability of the pallet load during building, transport, and depalletizing (even in the absence of undelivered boxes). The stability of the stack of box units refers to the ability of the stack of boxes in the pallet building to remain intact and upright, i.e., stable against expected forces, such as those generated by the palletizer or other boxes when the palletizer or other boxes contacts those already placed boxes (e.g., when the palletizer places a box on the pallet stack, withdraws the palletizer from under the placed boxes), and friction between the placed boxes and those boxes already in the stack. The stability of the pallet load refers to the ability of the pallet load to remain intact and upright, i.e., stable against forces such as acceleration and deceleration during transportation, forklift handling movements, depalletizing, etc. experienced during the distribution cycle.

[0028] Minimal modifications to the (initial) pallet load plan / structure of the pallet being built include, but are not limited to: moving and / or rearranging boxes adjacent to the space designated for the missing box (e.g., the designated space) in such a manner that they intrude into the designated space so as to reduce empty space (e.g., resulting from the missing box) within the pallet load PAL; replacing the missing box with other boxes of similar size but with higher sequence numbers (e.g., boxes intended to be placed on the pallet after the missing box); and swapping a pallet layer including the empty space corresponding to the missing box (e.g., the missing box layer) with another pallet layer intended to be placed on the pallet after the missing box layer so that the empty space appears later in the palletizing sequence. Here, according to aspects of the present disclosure, minimal modifications to the pallet load plan / structure of the pallet being built can provide maximization of storage and retrieval throughput, as well as uninterrupted operation of the palletizer 160PB with a reliability of less than 100% for supplying boxes to the palletizer. As can be appreciated, the value of minimizing modifications to the pallet load plan 184 can be understood to preserve the delivery sequence of the remaining case units to the palletizer 160PB, wherein the palletizing rate is maintained. As described herein, aspects of the present disclosure provide for pallet load replanning (s) 185 configured so as to substantially maintain the palletizing rate, pallet / layer / case stack stability, and unimpeded case unit placement on the pallet / in a pallet layer (e.g., not obstructed by case units already placed on the pallet).

[0029] like Figure 3AAs shown in , the pallet load PAL described herein and generated according to aspects of the present disclosure is a well-defined structure (e.g., defined by a corresponding pallet load plan) that includes layers of case units of similar height on top of other such layers, stacks of case units one on top of another, composite layers with stacks of mixed case units in each layer, wherein the entire stack has a substantially similar height, and / or stacks of sub-layers occupying a portion of the pallet footprint. At least one layer in the complete and stable mixed-case pallet structure has a substantially flat, deterministic top surface to form a placement surface for interchangeably placing other mixed cases in the mixed case CU thereon, extending above a predetermined area of ​​the pallet covered by multiple stacked mixed cases CU of the complete and stable mixed-case pallet structure; or has a free, non-deterministic surface that forms the topmost boundary surface of the complete and stable mixed-case pallet structure (see layer L12T). With respect to the planned pallet load PAL, the pallet can be stacked using an automated palletizer 160PB (see Figure 1 ) construction, wherein the planned boxes are arranged for pallet construction in a manner substantially similar to that described in U.S. Patent No. 11,305,430 issued on April 19, 2022 (the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) or in any other suitable manner.

[0030] It will be appreciated that generating a sequence that solves how to build a complete and stable mixed case pallet layout plan 184 is separate from generating the mixed case pallet layout plan 184 . Separating the generation of the sequencing from the generation of the mixed-case pallet load plan enables both optimization of the mixed-case pallet layout plan 184 (e.g., to solve for a layout of mixed cases that satisfies an efficiently stacked and stable pallet load PAL) using the substantially continuous case placement actions of the palletizer 160PB that builds the pallet load PAL, and the solution sequence of mixed cases for the palletizer 160PB that builds the pallet load PAL with respect to the mixed-case layout plan 184 (e.g., to provide an efficient (e.g., time-optimized or no-wait) layout); and robustness to compensate for sequencing anomalies in substantially real time that may occur in an extended series of retrieval transactions of a multi-level transport system 190 (also known as an automated package / case unit transport system) that outputs in a manner substantially similar to that described in U.S. Patent No. 11,305,430, issued April 19, 2022, the disclosure of which was previously incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0031] According to aspects of the present disclosure and with reference to Figure 1 and 2, the system 100 can be generally configured to include an infeed section, a storage and picking section (e.g., a multi-level transport system 190), and an outbound section. As will be described in more detail below, the system 100, for example, operating as a retail distribution center, can be used to receive consistent case pallet loads, decompose pallet goods or separate cases from the consistent pallet loads into independent case units CU that are handled separately by the system 100, retrieve and pick different cases for each order into corresponding groups, and transport and assemble the corresponding groups of cases into what can be called mixed case pallet loads (such as Figure 3A ). The infeed section may generally be capable of breaking down a consistent pallet load into individual boxes, and transporting the boxes via appropriate transport for input to the storage and picking section. The storage and picking section may then receive the individual boxes, store them in a storage area, and retrieve the desired boxes individually for transport to the output section in accordance with commands generated in accordance with orders input into the warehouse management system 2500. As will be further described below, the picking and grouping of boxes according to the order may be performed in whole or in part by the storage and retrieval section or the output section, or both, the boundary being one of the following: convenience of description, and the picking and grouping may be performed in any number of ways. The expected result is that the output section will assemble appropriate groups of ordered boxes, which may differ in stock keeping units (SKUs), sizes, etc., into a mixed box pallet load MPL ( Figure 3A In aspects of the present disclosure, the output section generates a pallet load in a structured structure that can be referred to as a mixed box stack. The structured structure of the pallet load can be characterized as having several flat box layers L121-L125 (see Figure 3A ), wherein at least one layer is formed by a non-staggered, self-supporting and stable stack of a plurality of mixing boxes. The stack of mixing boxes of a given layer L121-L125, L12T has substantially the same height (see Figure 3A ) to form substantially flat top and bottom surfaces of a given layer L121-L125, L12T as can be appreciated, and may be sufficient in number (and collectively, of length and width) to cover the pallet area of ​​a standard pallet (for example, where as many mixed box stacks as possible are placed on the pallet area without overhangs) or any desired (multiple) portions of the pallet area, the standard pallet having a standard size (in inches) of 40x48, 42x42, 48x48, 48x42, 40x40, 48x45, 44x44, 36x36, 48x36 or 48x20 (in other aspects, the pallets may have any suitable standard or non-standard size).

[0032] The automated storage and retrieval system can be generally described as a multi-level transport system 190 coupled to a palletizer 160PB. The palletizer 160PB is an automated palletizer configured to place mixed package / case units CU onto a pallet for forming a mixed package pallet load PAL. As described herein, the palletizer 160PB is communicatively connected to the automated parcel transport system 190, which provides individual case units CU from the storage array of the material handling system 100 (as described herein) to the palletizer 160PB for forming a pallet load PAL.

[0033] Now in more detail, and still referring to Figure 1 and 2 The storage and retrieval system 100 may be configured, for example, for installation in an existing warehouse structure or adapted for a new warehouse structure. As previously mentioned, Figure 1 and 2 The system 100 shown in the figure is representative and may include, for example, an input station 160IN (which includes a depalletizer 160PA and / or a conveyor 160CA for transporting items to a lift module 150A for entry into storage) and an output station 160UT (which includes a palletizer 160PB, an operator station 160EP and / or a conveyor 160CB for transporting box units from a lift module 150B for removal from storage), an input vertical lift module 150A and an output vertical lift module 150B (generally referred to as lift modules 150, noting that although an in-lift module and an out-lift module are shown, a single lift module may be used for both input of box units to a storage structure and removal of box units from a storage structure), a storage structure 130, and a number of autonomous rovers / vehicles or transport vehicles 110 (referred to herein as "robots"). Note that the depalletizer 160PA may be configured to remove box units from a pallet so that the input station 160IN can transport items to the lift module 150 for input into the storage structure 130. As described herein, the palletizer 160PB may be configured to place items removed from the storage structure 130 on a pallet ( Figure 3A ) for transportation.

[0034] At least the storage structure 130 (including one or more of the picking corridors 130A, storage spaces 130S (also referred to herein as storage locations) and transfer decks 130B of each different storage structure layer 130L) and the robot 110 may be collectively referred to herein as a multi-level transportation system 190 (also referred to herein as an automated parcel transportation system), which is communicatively connected to a storage array (e.g., formed by a storage shelf module array RMA) for storing case units CU in the storage spaces 130S of the storage array and retrieving case units CU from the storage spaces 130S of the storage array. Each level 130L of the multi-level transportation system 190 has a corresponding asynchronous level transportation system 191 (see Figure 2, which includes, for example, the robot 110, picking corridor 130A, storage space 130S and transfer deck 130B of the corresponding level 130L, which is separate and different from the level transportation system 191 corresponding to each other level 130L of the multi-level transportation system 190.

[0035] The lifting module 150 may be shown as a reciprocating lift in the figure; however, in other aspects, the lifting module 150 may be any suitable vertically configured (multiple) article handling devices, such as, for example, elevators (e.g., reciprocating lifts) 150A1, 150B1, escalators 150A2, 150B2, angled conveyor belts 150A3, 150B3, unmanned aerial vehicles (e.g., drones, quadcopters, multi-rotors, etc.) 150A4, 150B4 and / or cranes / hoists 150A5, 150B5. In some aspects, the lifting modules 150A, 150B may form a vertical sequencer in addition to the storage and retrieval engine 190 as described in U.S. Patent Application No. 16 / 444,592 filed on June 18, 2019, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0036] The storage structure 130 may include multiple levels (e.g., storage levels 130L) of storage shelf modules RMA (e.g., forming a storage array with (multiple) storage spaces 130S for holding case units CU therein), wherein each level 130L includes a corresponding picking corridor 130A, and a transfer deck 130B for transferring case units CU between any one of the storage areas 130S of the storage structure 130 and the shelves of (multiple) lifting modules 150A, 150B. The picking corridor 130A and the transfer deck 130B also allow the robot 110 to place the case units CU into the picking inventory and retrieve the ordered case units CU. In alternative aspects, each storage level 130L may also include a corresponding robot transfer station TS for indirectly transferring the case units between the robot 110 and the lifts 150A, 150B; while in other aspects, the transfer of the case units CU between the robot 110 and the lifts 150A, 150B may be a direct transfer.

[0037] The robot 110 may be configured to place case units (such as the retail merchandise described above) into the picking inventory of one or more levels 130L of the storage structure 130, and then selectively retrieve the ordered case units for transporting the ordered case units to, for example, a store or other suitable location. For example, each storage level 130L includes a picking surface storage / handover space 130S (referred to herein as storage space / location 130S) formed by shelf modules RM. The storage space 130S formed by the shelf modules RM includes, in one aspect, shelves arranged along a storage or picking corridor 130A (connected to a transfer deck 130B), for example extending linearly through the shelf module array RMA and providing the robot 110 with access to the storage space 130S and (multiple) transfer decks 130B. In other aspects, the storage space 130S formed by the shelf module RM may include a slot, a receptacle, a compartment, a cargo bed, a warning area, a hook, a shelf or other suitable location, which has a structure that allows the robot to pick and place the box unit to and from the storage space. In one aspect, the shelves of the shelf module RM are arranged as multi-layer shelves distributed along the picking corridor 130A. As can be appreciated, the robot 110 travels along the picking corridor 130A and the transfer deck 130B on the corresponding storage level 130L, for transferring the box unit between any one of the storage spaces 130S of the storage structure 130 (for example, on the level where the robot 110 is located) and any one of the lifting modules 150 (for example, each of the robots 110 has access to each storage space 130S on the corresponding level and each lifting module 150 on the corresponding storage level 130L). The transfer decks 130B are arranged at different levels (corresponding to each level 130L of the storage and retrieval system), which different levels can be stacked one on top of another or horizontally offset, such as having a transfer deck 130B at one end or side RMAE1 of the storage shelf array RMA or at several ends or sides RMAE1, RMAE2 of the storage shelf array RMA, as described in, for example, U.S. patent application No. 13 / 326,674 filed on December 15, 2011, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In other aspects, the storage structure may not have a transfer deck on one or more of the levels 130L, wherein the picking corridor may be extended so that the robot 110 has access to one or more elevators arranged on the side of the picking corridor in a manner similar to, for example, the manner described in U.S. Patent No. 8,974,168 issued on March 10, 2015, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0038] The system 100 may also include one or more split stations or modules 130BPK configured to remove individual items (e.g., split goods or seller packages) from supply containers CUS (e.g., stored in shelf modules RM by robots 110 and transported to split stations 130BPK) and group them together in split containers CUB, wherein a customer order includes at least one or more split containers CUB. Suitable examples of split stations are described in U.S. patent application No. 17 / 358,383 filed on February 14, 2022 and U.S. patent application No. 17 / 657,705 filed on April 1, 2022, both entitled “Warehouse System for Storing and Retrieving Goods in Containers,” the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

[0039] The inbound transfer station 170 and the outbound transfer station 160 may operate together using their respective lift modules 150A, 150B for bidirectional transfer of case units CU to and from one or more levels 130L of the storage structure 130. Note that while the lift modules 150A, 150B may be described as dedicated inbound lift modules 150A and outbound lift modules 150B, in alternative aspects, each of the lift modules 150A, 150B may be used for both inbound and outbound transfer of case units / case units from the storage and retrieval system 100.

[0040] As can be appreciated, the storage and retrieval system 100 may include a plurality of inbound lift modules 150A and outbound lift modules 150B that are accessible by, for example, a robot 110 of the storage and retrieval system 100 so that one or more case units, unfilled (e.g., case unit(s) not held in a pallet) or filled (in a pallet or tote), may be transferred from the lift modules 150A, 150B to each storage space on a corresponding level 130L, and from each storage space to any one of the lift modules 150A, 150B on a corresponding level 130L. The robot 110 may be configured to transfer case units CU between the storage spaces and the lift modules 150A, 150B. In general, the lift modules 150A, 150B include at least one movable payload support that enables case unit(s) to be moved between the inbound transfer station 170 and the outbound transfer station 160 and the corresponding level of the storage space (wherein the case unit(s) are stored and retrieved). The lift module(s) may have any suitable configuration, such as, for example, a reciprocating lift or any other suitable configuration. The lift module(s) 150A, 150B include any suitable controller (such as, the controller 120 or other suitable controller coupled to the controller 120, the warehouse management system 2500 and / or the palletizer controller 164), and may form a sequencer or picker in a manner similar to that described in U.S. Patent Application No. 16 / 444,592 filed on June 18, 2019 (the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) that sequences mixed cases CU according to a predetermined mixed case sequencing solution generated as described herein for the palletizer 160PB to build a pallet load PAL.

[0041] The automated storage and retrieval system may include a control system, which includes, for example, one or more control servers 120, which are communicatively connected to the infeed and outfeed conveyors and transfer stations 170, 160, lift modules 150A, 150B, and robot 110 via a suitable communication and control network 180. The communication and control network 180 may have any suitable architecture, for example, it may incorporate various programmable logic controllers (PLCs), such as for commanding the operation of the infeed and outfeed conveyors and transfer stations 170, 160, lift modules 150A, 150B, and other suitable system automation. The control server 120 may include high-level programming to implement a box management system (CMS) 120 that manages the box flow system. The network 180 may further include suitable communications for implementing bidirectional docking with the robot 110. For example, the robot 110 may include an onboard processor / controller 1220. The network 180 may include a suitable two-way communication package that enables the robot controller 1220 to request or receive commands from the control server 180 for achieving desired case unit transportation (e.g., placement into or retrieval from a storage location), and to send desired robot 110 information and data (including robot 110 itinerary, status, and other desired data) to the control server 120. Figure 2 As seen in FIG. 1 , the control server 120 may further be connected to a warehouse management system 2500 for providing, for example, inventory management and customer order fulfillment information to the CMS 120 level program. A suitable example of an automated storage and retrieval system arranged for holding and storing case units is described in U.S. Patent No. 9,096,375 issued on August 4, 2015, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0042] Still refer to Figure 1 and 2In aspects of the present disclosure, the outgoing section of the system 100, and more specifically the outgoing transfer station and conveyor 160 extending therefrom, is used to transport box units retrieved from storage to a palletizer 160PB. The palletizer 160PB includes one or more articulated arms 161, 162, each having a respective end or end effector 161E, 162E of an arm tool configured to transport a box unit CU for placement on a mixed box pallet load PAL. A suitable example of a palletizer 160PB is described in U.S. Patent Application No. 16 / 035,204, filed on July 13, 2018 and entitled “Apparatus and Method for Building a Pallet Load,” the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The interface (not shown) between the outgoing section conveyor and the palletizer 160PB may have any desired configuration that facilitates substantially non-mandatory (relative to the output of the outgoing section of the system) arrival of ordered case units, and placement of non-restricted picking of case units by the palletizer for building mixed case pallet loads PAL. A palletizer controller 164 is provided to control the operation of the palletizer 160PB. In the illustrated aspect of the present disclosure, the palletizer controller 164 may be a separate control server or processor (e.g., a PC) that is communicatively linked over a suitable network (e.g., network 180 or a different network) for bidirectional communication with the control server 120, and more specifically the CMS level programming of the control server 120. Figure 2 Further illustrated is a scenario where a palletizer controller 164' may be integrated into the system control server 120. Thus, as may be appreciated, control level programming (implementing commands for palletizer operation) as well as higher level palletizer programming (such as utilizing pallet load generators 166, 166') may reside on a processing platform common to the control server 120 or remote platform palletizer controller 164, as desired. As may be further appreciated, the palletizer controllers 164, 164' may interface with the CMS program of the control server 120 for information on, for example, corresponding orders and case units used by the pallet generators to generate pallet loads corresponding to corresponding orders. For example, the information sought and provided by the CMS program to the palletizer controller 164, 164' may include identification information for the corresponding orders to be filled, the sequence of orders to be completed, identification information (e.g., SKU) of the corresponding boxes (e.g., which one and how many) for the corresponding orders, queue information for initializing boxes for retrieval and transport to the palletizer and changes thereto to the extent applicable dimensional data for the corresponding boxes, and any other desired information.

[0043] Refer again Figure 1A. 2. 2A, a supply order (e.g., a customer order) is received by the warehouse management system 2500. The pallet load generator 166, 166' generates a pallet layout plan 184 (e.g., a pallet load structure) based on the mixed case characteristics, conditions and constraints (e.g., pallet size, sorting locations by cases that meet the conditions, layering of cases, etc.) of the pallet provided by the warehouse management system 2500, such as in the manner described in U.S. Patent No. 8,965,559 (previously incorporated herein by reference in its entirety), wherein the pallet layout plan 184 is stored in a memory accessible by the pallet load generator 166, 166' so that the controller / pallet load generator is programmed with the initial pallet load plan (i.e., the pallet layout plan 184 is the initial pallet load plan). The initial pallet layout plan 184 may be any suitable plan that fully and stably forms a mixed parcel pallet load PAL in mixed parcel layers L121-L125 with an initial planned pallet load distribution (initial definition and completion of the pallet load as described herein) such as the pallet load distribution described in U.S. Patent No. 8,965,559 (previously incorporated herein by reference in its entirety); however, any suitable pallet layout plan 184 may be used as the initial pallet layout plan. Note that the initial pallet layout plan 184 describes (before any determination that there are missing boxes) a valid location and posture for each mixed box CU in the pallet load PAL, and each box CU has a valid location and posture on the mixed box layers L121-L125, L12T of the pallet layout plan 184. As described herein, according to aspects of the present disclosure, the initial pallet layout plan 184 is modified in real time to account for missing box(es), as described herein.

[0044] As mentioned herein, the initial pallet layout plan 184 is for mixed boxes CU that are highly heterogeneous and differ from the order of the boxes CU at the pallet building robot 14 resolved from the pallet layout plan 184 . In one aspect, sequencing of the boxes CU using the multi-level transport system 190 can be achieved in any suitable manner, such as in a manner (or manners) similar to those described in: U.S. Patent No. 10,377,585, entitled “Storage and Retrieval System Transport Vehicle”, issued on August 13, 2019, U.S. Patent No. 9,884,719, entitled “Storage and Retrieval System”, issued on February 6, 2018, U.S. Patent Application No. 14 / 997,892, entitled “Storage and Retrieval System”, filed on January 18, 2016, U.S. Patent No. 10,214,355, entitled “Storage and Retrieval System”, issued on February 26, 2019, U.S. Patent No. 10,214,355, entitled “Storage and Retrieval System”, issued on October 16, 2018, System” and / or U.S. Patent Application No. 16 / 444,592 filed on June 18, 2109 and entitled “Vertical Sequencer for Product Order Fulfillment” and U.S. Patent No. 11,305,430 issued on April 19, 2022, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

[0045] Still refer to Figure 1-3AAs described above, aspects of the present disclosure provide for real-time modification of the initial pallet load plan 184 when one or more case units intended to be palletized according to the initial pallet load plan 184 are not delivered to the palletizer 160PB by the automated parcel transport system 190. In the event of a missing case unit, the controller 120 (and its pallet load generators 164, 164') are configured to quickly (e.g., in real time during pallet construction, prior to sequencing of the affected case units) modify the initial pallet load plan 184 so as to preserve the general shape of the initial pallet load PAL and the order of the case units to be delivered to the palletizer 160PB by the automated parcel transport system 190. As described herein, there may be several possible ways to modify the initial pallet load plan 184 in the event of a missing case unit, depending on the structure of the initial pallet load PAL and / or the size and location of the missing case units. These modifications to the initial pallet load plan 184 are implemented with a pallet load re-plan 185, wherein the pallet load re-plan 185 provides for building a stable pallet without undelivered missing case units.

[0046] The controller 120 and its pallet load generators 164, 164' are configured to resolve any gap(s) in the initial pallet load plan 184 due to missing case unit(s) by sequentially (or in any other suitable manner) employing different possible modifications to the initial pallet load plan 184. Here, the different modifications are employed in an order of those modifications having the least impact on the initial pallet load plan to those modifications having a greater impact on the initial pallet load plan, with the modifications that produce a stable pallet load and have the least impact on the initial pallet load being selected by the controller as the pallet load re-plan 185. In other aspects, the different modifications may be performed in parallel by the pallet load generator controller 120, with the results of the parallel determinations being compared, and the modifications that produce a stable pallet load and have the least impact on the initial pallet load being selected by the controller as the pallet load re-plan 185.

[0047] The controller 120 is communicatively connected to register at least one missing / removed package / case unit that cannot be delivered to the palletizer 160PB from at least one of the storage array and the automated package transport system 190. For example, the controller 120 is communicatively connected to the automated package transport system 190 of the material handling system 100 (e.g., the robot 110 and / or the elevator 150 include suitable sensors to identify the case units being transported, and / or the location where the case units are stored, picked or otherwise considered to be located, such scanners enable identification of the presence or absence of the case units at the designated location) and other automation (e.g., input case scanner / picker, which has sensors that enable registration of the input case units into the storage, etc.). When the case unit CU enters the storage array from the automated package transport system 190, the controller 120 is configured to track / register the storage location 130S and status (e.g., item inventory status and location) of the incoming case unit CU in the memory. In the case where the case unit CU is damaged or cannot be delivered to the designated storage location (as determined by one or more of the infeed transfer station 160IN, the elevator 150A, and the robot 110), the controller 120 receives a message from one or more of the infeed transfer station 160IN, the elevator 150A, and the robot 110 that the case unit is undeliverable and unavailable for palletizing. Similarly, in the case where the case unit CU intended to be picked up by the robot 110 for palletizing from the designated storage location 130S is determined by the robot 110 to be not disposed at the designated storage location 130S (e.g., missing) or becomes stuck or otherwise cannot be moved from the designated storage location, the controller 120 receives a message from the robot 110 that the case unit CU in the designated storage area (or believed to be therein) is undeliverable and unavailable for palletizing. The controller 120 is also configured to receive a message from the robot 110 carrying the case unit CU for palletizing (e.g., which becomes inactive during the case unit transportation) that the case unit CU onboard the robot is undeliverable and unavailable for palletizing. The above are just a few examples of possible case unit transport disruptions that may result in crossed out / missing case units, and it should be understood that the controller 120 may receive messages from any suitable automation of the material handling system 100 regarding the unavailability of that automation or the unavailability of case units to be picked up and / or transported by the automation. Here, the controller 120 registers in memory the (at least one) missing case unit (e.g., identified by the automated parcel transport system 190).

[0048] Also refer to Fig. 8A(which shows the initial planned pallet load distribution), with respect to the missing box unit CU registered by the controller, the pallet load generator 164, 164' is arranged or otherwise configured (for example, using any suitable non-transitory computer program code) to identify the corresponding pallet layer L of the missing box unit 800 in the initial pallet load plan 184, and determine the corresponding void VCUV formed by the missing box unit 800 in the corresponding layer L. The pallet load generator 164, 164' is configured (for example, using any suitable non-transitory computer program code) to determine the degree of stability caused by the corresponding void VCUV in the corresponding pallet layer L, and to tentatively resolve the corresponding void VCUV based on the optimization of the degree of stability being equal to or exceeding a predetermined threshold (for example, a predetermined stability threshold), which characterizes the corresponding pallet layer L with the resolved void VCUV as stable. The pallet load generator 164, 164' is programmed with a meta-gesture parcel resolver 164R (see Figure 1 ), which tentatively optimizes the degree of stability of the corresponding pallet layer L from the meta-pose of at least one adjacent package (as described herein with respect to, for example Figure 6A-14 As described herein, the pallet load generator 164, 164' is configured to optimize the degree of stability of the corresponding pallet layer L from the following two: tentative optimization via the meta-gesture package resolver 164R, and exchanging at least another package of the initial pallet load plan 184 into the corresponding gap VCUV of the missing box unit (i.e., the crossed-out package) 800. As also described herein, the pallet load generator 164, 164' is configured to generate a pallet load re-plan 185 for the automated palletizer 160PB as defined by the resolution of each corresponding gap VCUV of each missing box unit 800 in the initial pallet load plan 184.

[0049] The predetermined stability threshold of the degree of stability will have a corresponding pallet layer with resolved voids RVCUV (e.g. Fig. 8A In the middle is layer L, but see also Figure 8B-13B ) as being stable for automatic palletizing. The predetermined threshold value of the degree of stability also characterizes the resolution of the corresponding void VCUV as a resolved void RVCUV, and the reformation of the corresponding pallet layer L destabilized by the corresponding void VCUV as a stable layer stabilized by the resolved void RVCUV (see Figure 8B , 9B , 10B, 10C, 11B, 12B and 13B). The stabilizing layer defines a stabilizing support SUP equivalent to each other stabilizing layer of the pallet load replanning 185 for all superimposed layers on the stabilizing layer (see e.g. Figure 8BLayer LS, LS1, Fig. 9B Layer L9S, Fig. 10B and 10C Layer L10S, Fig. 11B Layer L11S, Fig. 12B Layer L12S and Fig. 13B As an example, as described herein, the predetermined stability threshold is the point at which a case unit / stack in a layer and / or pallet load PAL becomes unstable so as to collapse or fall due to the expected forces experienced during pallet building and transportation.

[0050] As also described herein, optimization of the degree of stability may be achieved by at least one of: repositioning (e.g., moving and / or rearranging) case units, exchanging / replacing missing case units with at least one case unit, and exchanging pallet layers. In other aspects, optimization of the degree of stability may be achieved in any suitable manner. As described herein, repositioning case units includes horizontally repositioning at least one adjacent case unit in the initial pallet load plan 184 relative to a corresponding void VCUV (e.g., adjacent to a void VCUV), and / or changing the orientation of at least one adjacent case unit in the initial pallet load plan 184 relative to a corresponding void VCUV. As also described herein, exchanging case units includes exchanging / replacing at least another case unit of the initial pallet load 184 into a corresponding void VCUV in place of a missing / deleted case unit. The pallet load generator 164 , 164 ′ is configured to generate a pallet load re-plan 185 for the automated palletizer 160PB as defined by the resolution of each corresponding void VCUV of each crossed-out case unit in the initial pallet load plan 184 .

[0051] Reference Figure 1 , 2 , 4, 5, again note that pallet load re-planning 185 can be implemented for any portion of the initial pallet load 184 that has not yet been sequenced for palletizing. Figure 4 and 5 The case unit CU is shown at various stages of delivery to the palletizer 160PB. For example, Figure 4 A pallet load PAL constructed according to the initial pallet load plan 184 is shown, wherein the pallet load PAL includes mixed case units of different sizes. Here, the case units are shown placed on the outbound conveyor 160CB in a predetermined pallet placement order. Figure 4In the example shown in , case units SCU in the palletizing sequence with placement numbers 1-40 are placed in the pallet load PAL (and their positions and orientations are not changed in the pallet load replanning 185), while case units with sequence numbers 41-50 are arranged on the outbound conveyor 160CB for sequential placement in the pallet load PAL. The case units placed on the outbound conveyor 160CB are considered "in the palletizing sequence", and the placement sequence of these cases may not be changed in the pallet load replanning 185, although the positions of the sequential case units in the pallet load PAL may be changed relative to the original or initial pallet load plan 184; note that placement anomalies of case units in the palletizing sequence can be resolved / resolved in a manner substantially similar to that described in U.S. Patent No. 11,305,430 issued on April 19, 2022, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0052] exist Figure 5 , the pallet load PAL build is shown with case units already in the pallet load PAL, where the next case units (e.g., case units with sequence numbers 1-6) are placed on the outbound conveyor 160CB in the palletizing sequence. As described above, the case units already placed in the pallet load PAL are not affected by any pallet load replanning 185, and only the position of the case units SCU in the palletizing sequence (not the placement order) can be changed in the pallet load replanning 185. The case units CU are delivered to the outbound conveyor 160CB from one or more storage levels 130L via the multi-level transportation system 190. The position and / or placement order of the case units delivered to the outbound conveyor 160CB (or those case units that are still in storage space but assigned to the pallet load PAL, i.e., not in the "palletizing sequence") can be changed in the pallet load replanning 185. These in-transit case units are identified with sequence numbers 7-15 (although the sequence numbers can be changed in the pallet load replanning 185). Note that some of the case units in transit may be placed by the robot 110 in a buffer location, such as on a buffer shelf BS or at a transfer station TS, according to the sequencing in the original pallet load plan 184 in a manner that maximizes the case unit delivery rate (e.g., optimizes throughput). Here, the controller 120 and its pallet load generators 164, 164' are configured to preserve the optimized delivery rate in any pallet load replan 185 that may be implemented to account for the missing case units.

[0053] Reference Figure 4A, 6A, 6B and as mentioned herein, in the pallet load re-planning 185, the degree of stability is optimized in view of the gap VCUV formed by the missing case unit. The degree of stability (or degree of stability) of any given case unit in the pallet load can be at least partially defined as being proportional to the containment radius 610 set around the centroid of the case unit CU4, within which all points belong to the bounding polygon (e.g., convex hull 615) of the support of the case unit CU4 formed by the lower case units CU1-CU3 on which the case unit CU4 is placed. The containment radius 610 is the minimum distance projected from the centroid of the case unit to the edge of the convex hull 615. Fig. 6A and 6B The static stability of the cabinet unit CU4 supported by / mounted on the other cabinet units CU1 - CU3 is shown (in a top view of the cabinet units). Fig. 6A and 6B The arrangement of case units in is merely exemplary, and in other aspects, the case units may have any suitable arrangement. Here, case unit CU4 is placed on top of case units CU1-CU3 so that the bottom surface of case unit CU4 is substantially horizontal (e.g., in a horizontal plane). For static stability, the center of gravity of case unit CU4 projected to the bottom surface of case unit CU4 will be located within the convex hull 615 of the supporting surfaces of all case units CU4 (e.g., the supporting surface is the overlapping portion of the bottom surface of case unit CU4 and the top surface of supporting case units CU1-CU3). The convex hull 615 is a convex polygon that encloses all points of the supporting surface. Note that since the shape of each case unit may not be a perfect rectangle, and the placement of each case unit may not coincide precisely with the pallet load planning, the projection of the center of gravity of case unit CU4 will be substantially within the convex hull 615. Here, the larger the containment radius 610, the more stable the placement of case unit CU4. As can be seen in Fig. 6A and 6B As seen in Figure 6B The box unit CU4 in the horizontal plane is transferred so that the box unit CU4 has a larger supporting surface area (compared to Fig. 6A ), so that the convex hull 615 and thus the containment radius 610 are larger, resulting in more stable box placement. The pallet load generators 164, 164' are configured so as to maximize the containment radius of any box unit CU whose position / orientation is modified in the pallet load replanning, so that the resulting pallet load is stable during pallet construction and transportation. As can be appreciated, the degree of stability may also include a metric (e.g., empirically determined in any suitable manner) that corresponds to the resistance of the box unit / stack to collapsing or falling due to the expected forces experienced during pallet construction and transportation as described herein.

[0054] Exemplary pallet replanning and stability determination are described herein with reference to Figures 8A-13BShown and described are cases where the posture of one or more case units in a pallet layer is changed and / or one or more case units in a pallet layer (or subsequent layers) are swapped with missing case units. Note that the rearrangement and swapping of case units may be employed by the pallet load generators 164, 164' in any suitable combination not limited to those combinations shown herein.

[0055] Reference Figure 1 , 2 7. In order to achieve the production of pallet load replanning 185, the pallet load generator 164, 164' (of the controller 120) is configured with a minimum change replanning algorithm 700 (at least some of the minimum change replanning algorithm 700 may be included in the meta-gesture parcel resolver 164R), the minimum change replanning algorithm 700 is improved in complexity (the algorithm may be called a replanning or change variant), and includes but is not limited to: an algorithm 701 for moving / rotating / centering adjacent box units, an algorithm 702 for moving (multiple) boxes or stacks in the same layer, an algorithm 703 for moving (multiple) top boxes of adjacent stacks, and an algorithm 704 for replacing (multiple) missing boxes with (multiple) boxes from a higher layer / moving gaps to a higher place. The minimum change replanning algorithms 700 are executed by the pallet load generators 164, 164' in order of complexity to maximize the containment radius 610 of the case units in the pallet load plan with the least complex minimum change replanning algorithm 700, which produces a stable and constructible pallet load replan (e.g., the containment radius is maximized with the minimum movement of the case units in the pallet load plan). With respect to one or more case units missing from the initial pallet load plan 184, the pallet load generators 164, 164' are configured to execute the minimum change replanning algorithms 700 in sequence (e.g., from less complex to more complex) until one of the minimum change replanning algorithms 700 successfully produces a stable and constructible replanned pallet load 185. With respect to the determination of the minimum change replanning algorithm 700 that successfully produced a stable and constructible replanned pallet load 185, the pallet load generators 164, 165 select the replanned pallet load 185 of the successful minimum change algorithm 700 and cancel execution of the remaining minimum change replanning algorithms 700.

[0056] As an example, the pallet load generator 164, 164' is configured to generate a load by executing the least complex algorithm, such as the algorithm 701 for moving / rotating / centering adjacent case units (an example of which is about Figures 8A-10C Provided below, where the (possible) poses resulting from the movement, rotation and / or centering of the box unit may be collectively referred to as meta-poses, the pallet load generator 164, 165' starts the re-planning of the pallet load determination process from the meta-pose via the meta-pose parcel resolver 164R to tentatively optimize the degree of stability of the corresponding pallet layer. For example, also refer to Fig. 8Aand 8B , an exemplary pallet load replanning 185 for layer L will be described. Here, the initial pallet load plan 184 is modified, wherein the corresponding void VCUV of the missing case unit 800 is set to an adjacent case unit 810. The case units 810, 800 have similar heights 815, and both are part of a stack 820 of case units in layer L, which layer L has other stacks of substantially similar stack heights 825. In this example, the stability of layer L and stack 820 is achieved in the pallet load replanning 185 by transferring / repositioning the case unit 810 (e.g., changing its posture) in a horizontal (e.g., XY) plane along a direction 890 toward the void VCUV so that the case unit 810 at least partially closes the corresponding void VCUV (e.g., intrudes therein) (e.g., the repositioning of at least one adjacent case unit 810 includes a horizontal translation of at least one adjacent case unit 810 at least partially into the corresponding void VCUV). As can be seen in Figure 8B As seen in FIG. 1 , the case unit 810 is shifted in direction 890 to substantially the center of the stack 820 to produce a stable re-planned pallet load. The pallet load generator 164, 164' is configured to generate a pallet load re-plan 185 for the palletizer 160PB as defined by the resolution of (each) corresponding gap (e.g., resolved gap RVCUV) of each missing / deleted case unit in the initial pallet load plan 184.

[0057] Although the case unit 810 is described above as being horizontally translated to the center of the stack 820, the pallet load generators 164, 164' are configured to horizontally translate the case unit 810 (e.g., at least one adjacent package) in a sequence of incremental position translations, wherein such translation may be performed at an initial position of the case unit 810 (e.g., Fig. 8A The pallet load generator 164, 164' determines the degree of stability of each of the incremental posture translations of the case unit 810, and selects the posture of the case unit 810 corresponding to the incremental posture translation with the greatest degree of stability for the pallet load re-planning 185 (in this example, the selected posture is at the center of the stack 820).

[0058] Still refer to Fig. 8A and 8B, if the case unit 810 and the corresponding gap VCUV are set at the top of the stack 820, and the stacking layer LS in the initial pallet load planning 184 includes a case unit that interlocks with the case unit 810 and the corresponding gap VCUV and another stacking layer LS1, then the transfer of the case unit 810 closing the gap VCUV as described above may cause instability in one or more of the layers LS, LS1. Here, the pallet load replanning 185 may modify the layer L to exchange the case unit 810 with one or more case units (e.g., case unit 830) below the case unit 810 in the stack 820 so that the centered case unit 810 is no longer at the top of the stack 820 in the layer L. Another modification to the layer L may include changing the posture of the case unit 810 (as described herein with respect to Fig.9A and 9B described), such as by surrounding the box unit 810 in Figure 8B The center point CP of the replanned position shown in FIG. 1 is rotated by 90 degrees (or other suitable rotation angle) if such rotation will not produce a spatial intersection with adjacent stacks of the same layer L and will result in a more stable position of the case unit CU directly above and supported by the case unit 810 (e.g., with a larger value of the containment radius, see FIG. 1 ). Fig. 6A and 6B ).

[0059] Reference Fig.9A and 9B , an example of changing the posture of a box unit to produce a stable replanned pallet load will be described. Fig.9A and 9B The level L9 or a portion of the level L9 is shown, wherein the box units have substantially the same height 915, wherein the initial pallet load distribution for the level L9 is planned in Fig.9A and the pallet load is re-planned in Fig. 9B Although the box units in layer L9 are shown as having the same height, it is noted that Fig.9A and 9B The described changes in posture of one or more boxes may also apply to layers of stacked box units (such as in Fig. 8A , 8B and 11A-13B), where each case unit may be different, but the stack has substantially the same height, if the missing case unit itself has the height of the entire stack in the layer, or all case units in the stack are missing / crossed out.

[0060] In this example, case unit 901 is missing and leaves a void VCUV in pallet layer L9. To resolve the void VCUV into a resolved void RVCUV, pallet load generators 164, 164' translate (e.g., horizontally) an adjacent case unit 902 (e.g., adjacent to the void VCUV) in direction 990 to substantially center the adjacent case unit 902 within the void VCUV (at least partially closing the void VCUV into a resolved void RVCUV) while rotating the adjacent case unit 902 around its center point CP so that the adjacent case has a rotated and translated position in the pallet load replanning 195 (e.g., the repositioning of at least one adjacent case unit 902 includes the rotation of at least one adjacent case unit 902 from an initial rotational position ( Fig.9A ) to the translational rotational pose ( Fig. 9B Although the adjacent box unit 902 is Fig. 9B 902 is shown as being rotated about its center point CP, but the pallet load generators 164, 164' are configured to determine the orientation of the case unit 902 when it is in an unrotated orientation (e.g. Fig.9A ) and rotational orientation (e.g. Fig. 9B The pallet load generator 164, 164' determines the degree of stability of the pallet load replan 185 in both the initial rotational posture and the translational rotational posture) such that the posture of the box unit selected / selected by the pallet load generator 164, 164' for the pallet load replan 185 is a posture that produces maximum stability (e.g., a larger value of the containment radius) for the box unit placed above the box unit 902 in the stacking layer L9S and does not spatially overlap with adjacent box units in the same layer L9. Again, as mentioned above, the pallet load generator 164, 164' is configured to generate a pallet load replan 185 for the palletizer 160PB as defined by the resolution of (each) corresponding gap (e.g., the resolved gap RVCUV) of each missing / deleted box unit in the initial pallet load plan 184.

[0061] Fig. 10A , 10B 10C shows another example of a pallet load re-planning 185 for layer L10, where the initial pallet load distribution plan for layer L10 is Fig. 10A and the pallet load is re-planned in Fig. 10B and 10C ; however, in this example, the pallet load generator 164 , 164 ′ generates a pallet load re-plan 185 by relocating more than one adjacent case unit to resolve the gap VCUV left by the missing case unit 1001 . Fig. 10A , 10B10C and 10C show a layer L10 or a portion of a layer L10 in which the case units have substantially the same height 1015. Although the case units in the layer L10 are shown as having the same height, it is noted that Fig. 10A , 10B The change in posture of one or more boxes described in 10C may also apply to layers of stacked box units (such as in Fig. 8A , 8B and 11A-13B), where each case unit may be different, but the stack has substantially the same height, if the missing case unit itself has the height of the entire stack in the layer, or all case units in the stack are missing / crossed out.

[0062] In this example, case unit 1001 is missing and leaves a void VCUV in pallet layer L10. In order to resolve the void VCUV into a resolved void RVCUV, the pallet load generators 164, 164' shift (e.g., change the posture) of more than one adjacent case unit 1002, 1003 (e.g., adjacent to the void VCUV). In this example, case unit 1002 shifts in direction 1090 and case unit 1003 shifts in direction 1091 so that both case units 1002, 1003 intrude into the void VCUV to at least partially close the void VCUV into the resolved void RVCUV in the pallet load replanning 185. In this example, the pallet load generators 164, 164' are configured to utilize progressively larger position shifts (e.g., comparing case units 1002, 1003) of one or more adjacent case units 1002, 1003 into the void VCUV. Fig. 10B and 10C ) to iteratively determine the degree of stability of the pallet load replan 185 until adjacent case units 1002, 1003 have spatial overlap with each other or with other case units in layer L10. For each position shift of one or more of the case units 1002, 1003, the pallet load generator 164, 164' determines the degree of stability of the corresponding case unit 1002, 1003 and selects its position shift which results in the case unit being placed above the case unit 1002, 1003 in the stacking layer L10S producing maximum stability (e.g., having a larger value of containment radius) and not producing spatial overlap with adjacent case units in the same layer L10. Again, as mentioned above, the pallet load generator 164, 164' is configured to generate a pallet load replan 185 for the palletizer 160PB as defined by the resolution of (each) corresponding gap (e.g., resolved gap RVCUV) of each missing / deleted case unit in the initial pallet load plan 184.

[0063] In a manner similar to that described above, the pallet load generators 164, 164' are configured to horizontally translate more than one of at least one adjacent case units (e.g., case units 1002, 1003) in a corresponding sequence of incremental posture translations (e.g., case unit 1002 moves in a corresponding sequence of incremental posture translations in direction 1090, and / or case unit 1003 moves in a corresponding sequence of incremental posture translations in direction 1091). The pallet load generators 164, 164' determine a degree of stability for each combination of the corresponding incremental posture translations of the case units 1002, 1003, and select, for pallet load replanning 185, the corresponding posture of the case units 1002, 1003 that corresponds to the combination of corresponding incremental posture translations having the greatest degree of stability.

[0064] The algorithm 701 for moving / rotating / centering neighboring boxes described above successfully produces a stable and constructible pallet load replan 185 ( Figure 7 , box 720), cancel the remaining more complex algorithms 702-704, and re-plan the cargo load ( Figure 7 , box 730).

[0065] In the event that the algorithm 701 for moving / rotating / centering adjacent boxes described above is unsuccessful, the pallet load generator 164, 164' is configured to determine whether the algorithm 702 for moving boxes / stacks within the same layer produces a stable and constructible re-planned pallet load 185. For example, see also Fig.11A and 11B , another example of pallet load re-planning 185 is shown with respect to pallet layer L11, wherein the initial pallet load distribution plan for layer L11 is Fig.11A and the pallet load is re-planned in Fig. 11B. Here, the pallet layer L11 has a height 1115 and includes stacks of case units, wherein each stack has substantially a height 1115 and one or more case units therein. In this example, the missing case unit 1101 is large compared to the other case units in the layer L11, and re-placement of the adjacent case units 1104, 1105, 1106 may not result in a stable configuration of the case units in the stacked layer L11S. Here, the pallet load generators 164, 164' are configured to achieve the exchange of at least another case unit by placing at least another case unit in the corresponding gap VCUV, wherein the at least another case unit and the missing / deleted case unit belong to the same / common pallet load layer, such as the pallet load layer L11. For example, the pallet load generators 164, 164' are configured to determine whether there are one or more case units in the same layer L11 that are smaller in length and width and have a height (or combined height) substantially equal to the missing case unit 1101. In the presence of such one or more box units (in this example, box unit 1102 is smaller than box unit 1101 in length and width and has height 1115), the pallet load generator 164, 164' generates a pallet load re-planning 185, which repositions / exchanges box unit 1102 at the center of the gap VCUV left by the missing box unit 1101 so as to resolve the gap VCUV into a resolved gap RVCUV (if such movement results in a stable configuration (e.g., a containment radius with a larger value) of the box unit above the resolved gap RVCUV in the stacking layer L11S).

[0066] As can be appreciated, replacing or exchanging the missing case unit 1101 with the case unit 1102 leaves another gap in the initial pallet load plan 184 at the pallet layer position designated for the case unit 1102. The other gap is resolved in one of the manners described herein, such as by shifting or changing the posture of the adjacent case unit 1103 so as to position the adjacent case unit at the center of the other gap so as to resolve the other gap into another resolved gap RVCUV2. In other aspects, the other gap can also be resolved by moving / exchanging another case unit in the same / common layer having a length and width less than the case unit 1102 into the pallet layer position designated for the case unit 1102 to fill the gap left by the case unit 1102 (if such movement will result in a stable configuration (e.g., a containment radius with a larger value) of the case unit above the resolved gap RVCUV2 in the stacking layer L11S). The pallet load generator 164, 164' when solving the pallet load replan 195 can also determine the stability of the box units in the pallet load replan 185, wherein one or more of the boxes 1102, 1103, 1104, 1105, 1106 are rotated, and implement such rotations in the pallet load replan if such rotations provide a stable configuration (e.g., a containment radius with a larger value) of the box units above the resolved gap RVCUV2 in the stacking layer L11S. As mentioned above, the pallet load generator 164, 164' is configured to generate a pallet load replan 185 for the palletizer 160PB as defined by the resolution of each missing / deleted box unit and / or each corresponding gap (e.g., resolved gaps RVCUV and RVCUC2) of each relocated box unit in the initial pallet load plan 184.

[0067] The algorithm 702 described above for moving box(es) / stack(s) in the same layer successfully produces a stable and constructible pallet load replan 185 ( Figure 7 , box 720), cancel the remaining more complex algorithms 703-704, and re-plan the cargo load ( Figure 7 , box 730).

[0068] In the event that the algorithm 702 described above for moving case(s) / stack(s) in the same layer is unsuccessful, the pallet load generator 164, 164' is configured to determine whether the algorithm 703 for moving the top case(s) of an adjacent stack produces a stable and buildable re-planned pallet load 185. For example, see also Fig. 12A and 12B , a pallet load re-planning 185 is shown with respect to pallet layer L12, wherein the initial pallet load distribution plan for layer L12 (and generally, the pallet load) is Fig. 12A and the pallet load is re-planned in Fig. 12B. Here, pallet layer L12 includes a stack of case units, wherein each of the stacks has a height 1215 substantially equal to the height of pallet layer L12. In this example, the missing case unit 1201 is part of the stack in layer L12, but the stack has other case units 1202, 1204 present in the pallet load replanning 185 (e.g., case unit 1204 is disposed below the void VCUV left by the missing case unit 1201, and case unit 1202 is disposed above the void VCUV left by the missing case unit 1201). To resolve the void VCUV, the pallet load generators 164, 164' are configured to effectuate the exchange of at least one case unit within the common stack of case units by lowering at least one case unit into the corresponding void VCUV. For example, to resolve a void VCUV into a resolved void RVCUV, the pallet load generator 164, 164' is configured (wherein the movement of the case unit does not create a spatial overlap of the cases in the layer L12) to move a case unit 1202 disposed above the void VCUV (e.g., at the top of the respective stack) downwardly (i.e., in the direction 1290) into the void VCUV so as to close the void VCUV and seat against an adjacent case unit 1204. Here, exchanging a case unit 1202 (e.g., at least another case unit) at least partially closes the corresponding void VCUV and creates another void corresponding to the initial position of the case unit 1202.

[0069] The pallet load generator 164, 164' is configured to at least partially close another gap created by moving the case unit 1202 in the direction 1290 by at least one of repositioning at least one adjacent case unit 1203 in the initial pallet load plan 184 adjacent to the other gap relative to the other gap, and exchanging (as described herein) at least another package of the initial pallet load plan 184 into another gap (e.g., created by moving the package 1202) for the exchanged package 1202. In this example, the pallet load generator 164, 164' at least partially moves (e.g., horizontally translates) the case unit 1203 (at the top of an adjacent stack in the same layer) in the direction 1291 into another gap within the common stack created by moving the case unit 1202 so that the case unit in the layer L12S stacked and positioned on the case unit 1290 is stable (e.g., has a larger value of the containment radius, as described herein). As described above, the degree of stability of the pallet load replanning 185 is determined for more than one iteration of placement of the box unit 1203, wherein the box unit is moved different amounts in the direction 1291 relative to its initial position in the initial pallet load plan 184 (without creating spatial overlap with adjacent box units), and wherein the pallet load generator 164, 164' selects a position shift for the box unit 1203 that produces maximum stability (e.g., a containment radius with a larger value) for the box unit placed above the box unit 1203.

[0070] The algorithm 703 described above for moving the top box(es) of adjacent stack(s) successfully produces a stable and constructible pallet load replan 185 ( Figure 7 , box 720), cancel the remaining more complex algorithms 704, and re-plan the cargo load ( Figure 7 , box 730).

[0071] In the event that the algorithm 703 described above to move the top box(es) of the adjacent stack(s) is unsuccessful, the pallet load generator 164, 164' is configured to determine whether the algorithm 704 to replace the missing box(es) with box(es) from a higher level / move the gaps higher produces a stable and buildable re-planned pallet load 185. For example, see also Fig.13A13A (showing an initial pallet load plan) and 13B (showing a pallet load re-planning) show an example of a pallet load re-planning 185 for a pallet layer L13, wherein the layer L13 includes a stack of case units, wherein each of the stacks has a height substantially equal to the height 1315 of the pallet layer L13. In this example, the pallet load generator 164, 164' is configured to exchange at least another case unit by placing at least another case unit from an overlaid pallet load layer within a corresponding void VCUV relative to the pallet load layer from which the case unit is missing / deleted. For example, the pallet load generator 164, 164' is configured to at least partially close the void VCUV left by the missing case unit 1301 in the initial pallet load plan 184 with a case unit 1302 from another layer L13S in the initial pallet load plan 194, wherein the case unit layer L13S is overlaid on the layer L13, and the case unit 1302 has a placement sequence number higher than the case unit 1301 (i.e., is ordered to be placed later). Here, case unit 1302 is selected by pallet load generator 134, 164' based on similarity of case unit characteristics (e.g., length, width, and / or height) compared to missing case unit 1301. In this example, the height of case unit 1302 substantially matches the height of missing case unit 1301, and the length and width of case unit 1302 are equal to or less than the length and width of missing case unit 1301, so that case unit 1302 substantially fits within void VCUV without case unit 1302 overhanging beyond the boundaries of the pallet base.

[0072] As can be appreciated, moving case unit 1302 to fill void VCUV creates another void VCUV2 (e.g., higher in the case placement sequence of the pallet load), which can be moved in a manner such as described herein with respect to Figure 7-12B Here, the pallet load generators 164, 164 recursively execute the minimal change replanning algorithm 700 to fill in the gaps in the pallet load plan starting from the lowest missing box (e.g., the missing box with the lowest sequence number) until the top of the pallet load is reached to resolve all missing boxes and replan the pallet load (or at least the portion of the pallet load that is not sequenced for palletizing as described herein).

[0073] Reference Figure 1 , 2 , 3A, 6A-13B, an exemplary method for handling and placing packages on pallets destined for orderly storage will be described according to aspects of the present disclosure. In the method, the storage array of the material handling system 100 is provided with a storage space 130S ( Fig.14 , box 1400). The multi-level transport system 190 stores and retrieves box units from the storage space 130S of the storage array ( Fig.14, block 1410). The automated palletizer 160PB places the mixed case units onto the pallet ( Fig.14 , box 1420) to form a mixed package pallet load PAL (see Figure 3A ), wherein the automated palletizer 160PB is communicatively connected to a multi-level transport system 190 that provides individual case units from a storage array (see Figure 2 , 4 , 5) to the automated palletizer 160PB for forming a mixed case unit pallet load PAL, wherein the mixed package pallet load PAL comprises more than one composite layer L121-L125, L12T of the mixed package (see Figure 3A As described herein, the controller 120 is programmed with a pallet load generator 164, 164' having an initial pallet load plan 184, and the controller 120 completely and stably forms a pallet load PAL (of mixed case units) in a mixed case unit layer with the initially planned pallet load distribution. Fig.14 , box 1430) (as described herein).

[0074] As described herein, the pallet load re-planning 185 may be implemented for any portion of the initial pallet load 184 that has not yet been sequenced for palletizing. As also mentioned herein, the controller 120 registers at least one deleted / missing package from at least one of the storage array and the multi-level transportation system 190, and identifies, using the pallet load generator 164, 164', the corresponding pallet layer ( Fig.14 , block 1440), and determines the corresponding void CVUV in the corresponding pallet layer formed by the removed / missing box unit. The pallet load generator 164, 164' determines the degree of stability ( Fig.14 , block 1450), and tentatively resolve the corresponding gap CVUV based on an optimization where the degree of stability equals or exceeds a predetermined threshold from at least one of the following: Fig.14 , box 1460): repositioning at least one adjacent case unit adjacent to the corresponding gap CVUV in the initial pallet load plan 184 relative to the corresponding gap CVUV (as described herein), and swapping at least another case unit of the initial pallet load plan 184 into the corresponding gap CVUV of the removed / missing case unit (as described herein). The pallet load generator 164, 164' generates a pallet load replan 185 (as described herein) for the automated palletizer 160PB as defined by the resolution of each corresponding gap CVUV of each removed / missing case unit in the initial pallet load plan 184 (as described herein) ( Fig.14, block 1470). As described herein, the pallet load generator 164, 164' is programmed with a meta-gesture parcel defragmenter 164R for at least one adjacent case unit or parcel CU adjacent to the corresponding void VCUV (see Figure 1 ), which tentatively optimizes the degree of stability of the corresponding pallet layer L from the meta-gesture of the at least one adjacent package so that the degree of stability is equal to or exceeds a predetermined threshold, and resolves the corresponding gap VCUV. The pallet load generator 164, 164' is configured to optimize the degree of stability of the corresponding pallet layer L from the following two: tentative optimization via the meta-gesture package resolver 164R, and exchanging at least another package of the initial pallet load plan 184 into the corresponding gap VCUV of the missing box unit (i.e., the crossed-out package) 800. The pallet load generator 164, 164' is also configured to generate a pallet load re-plan 185 for the automated palletizer 160PB as defined by the resolution of each corresponding gap VCUV of each missing box unit 800 in the initial pallet load plan 184. Refer to Figure 2 and 4 Although aspects of the present disclosure are described above with respect to building a pallet load PAL with a single articulated arm 161 of an automated palletizer 160PB, in some aspects, the automated palletizer 160PB may have more than one articulated arm 161, 162 working in unison to build a pallet load PAL (see Figure 2 ). More than one articulated arm 161, 162 has overlapping access to the pallet load PAL that spans at least a portion of the footprint of the pallet base. Figure 2 As seen in FIG. 1 , each of the articulated arms 161, 162 of the automated palletizer 160PB has a corresponding conveyor 160CB, from which corresponding case units are picked up to be sequentially placed in the pallet load PAL. The pallet load generators 164, 164' are configured to tentatively resolve the corresponding gaps VCUV (in the manner described herein) only from the case units assigned to the first articulated arms 161, 162 in the initial pallet load plan 184 if the initial pallet load plan 184 assigns the missing / deleted case units to the first one of the articulated arms 161, 162 of the automated palletizer 160PB; and tentatively resolve the corresponding gaps VCUV (in the manner described herein) only from the case units assigned to the second articulated arms 161, 162 in the initial pallet load plan 184 if the initial pallet load plan 184 assigns the missing / deleted case units to the second one of the articulated arms 161, 162 of the automated palletizer 160PB.

[0075] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, there is provided a material handling system for handling and placing packages onto pallets destined for orderly storage. The material handling system comprises:

[0076] a storage array having storage spaces for holding packages therein;

[0077] an automated package transport system communicatively coupled to the storage array for storing packages in storage spaces of the storage array and retrieving packages from storage spaces of the storage array;

[0078] an automated palletizer for placing mixed parcels onto a pallet to form a pallet load of mixed parcels, the automated palletizer being communicatively coupled to an automated parcel transport system that provides individual parcels from a storage array to the automated palletizer for forming a pallet load of mixed parcels, the pallet load of mixed parcels comprising more than one composite layer of mixed parcels; and

[0079] a controller operably connected to the automated palletizer, the controller being programmed with a pallet load generator having an initial pallet load plan for completely and stably forming a mixed parcel pallet load in a mixed parcel layer with the initially planned pallet load distribution;

[0080] in:

[0081] a controller communicatively coupled to register at least one removed parcel from at least one of the storage array and the automated parcel transport system, wherein the pallet load generator is arranged to identify a corresponding pallet layer in the initial pallet load plan for the removed parcel and to determine a corresponding void in the corresponding pallet layer formed by the removed parcel; and

[0082] The pallet load generator is configured to determine a degree of stability due to a corresponding void in a corresponding pallet layer and heuristically resolve the corresponding void based on an optimization in which the degree of stability equals or exceeds a predetermined threshold from at least one of:

[0083] Replacing at least one adjacent package in the initial pallet load plan adjacent to the corresponding gap relative to the corresponding gap, and

[0084] swapping at least one other package of the initial pallet load plan into a corresponding slot of the removed package; and

[0085] The pallet load generator is configured to generate a pallet load re-plan for the automated palletizer as defined by the resolution of each corresponding void of each crossed-out package in the initial pallet load plan.

[0086] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, rearrangement of at least one adjacent package at least partially closes the corresponding gap.

[0087] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, a predetermined threshold of the degree of stability characterizes a corresponding pallet layer having resolved voids as being stable for automated palletizing.

[0088] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, a predetermined threshold value of the degree of stability characterizes the resolution of a corresponding void as a resolved void and characterizes the reformation of a corresponding pallet layer destabilized by the corresponding void as a stabilized layer stabilized by the resolved void.

[0089] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, a stabilizing layer defines a stabilizing support comparable to every other stabilizing layer for pallet load replanning for automated palletizing of all superimposed layers on the stabilizing layer.

[0090] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the degree of stability is proportional to a containment radius set around the center of mass of the package, within which all points belong to a bounding polygon of support for the package formed by the underlying package on which the package rests.

[0091] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the repositioning of at least one adjacent package includes horizontal translation of at least one adjacent package at least partially into the corresponding gap.

[0092] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, a pallet load generator is configured to: horizontally translate at least one adjacent package in a sequence of incremental posture translations; determine a degree of stability for each of the incremental posture translations of at least one adjacent package; and select, for pallet load replanning, a posture of at least one package corresponding to the incremental posture translation having a greatest degree of stability.

[0093] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, a pallet load generator is configured to: horizontally translate more than one of at least one adjacent packages in a corresponding sequence of incremental posture translations; determine a degree of stability for each combination of corresponding incremental posture translations of more than one of at least one adjacent packages; and select, for pallet load replanning, a corresponding posture of more than one of at least one package corresponding to a combination of corresponding incremental posture translations having a greatest degree of stability.

[0094] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the repositioning of at least one adjacent package includes rotation of at least one adjacent package about a center of the at least one adjacent package from an initial rotational posture to a translational rotational posture.

[0095] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, a pallet load generator is configured to: determine a degree of stability of at least one package in both an initial rotational posture and a translational rotational posture; and select, for pallet load replanning, a posture of at least one package corresponding to an initial rotational posture and a translational rotational posture having a maximum degree of stability.

[0096] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, exchanging at least another package at least partially closes the corresponding gap and creates another gap corresponding to the initial position of the at least another package.

[0097] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the pallet load generator is configured to resolve another gap based on an optimization in which a degree of stability equals or exceeds a predetermined threshold from at least one of the following: repositioning at least one adjacent package in the initial pallet load plan adjacent to another gap relative to the other gap, and exchanging at least another package of the initial pallet load plan into another gap of the exchanged package.

[0098] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the pallet load generator is configured to exchange at least one other package by placing at least one other package in the corresponding void, wherein the at least one other package and the crossed-off package belong to a common pallet load layer.

[0099] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the pallet load generator is configured to exchange at least one other package by placing at least one other package from an overlying pallet load layer within a corresponding void relative to the pallet load layer from which the package was struck out.

[0100] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the strike-off package and at least one other package are disposed in a common package stack, and the pallet load generator is configured to exchange the at least one other package by lowering the at least one other package within the common package stack into a corresponding void.

[0101] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the pallet load generator is further configured to at least partially horizontally translate at least one adjacent package in the stack of adjacent packages into another void within the common stack of packages created by lowering at least another package.

[0102] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the material handling system further includes another automated palletizer for placing mixed packages onto a pallet to form a pallet load of mixed packages, the other automated palletizer and the automated palletizer having overlapping access across at least a portion of the footprint of the pallet, wherein the pallet load generator is configured to: in a case where an initial pallet load plan assigns removed packages to the automated palletizer, tentatively resolve corresponding gaps only from packages assigned to the automated palletizer in the initial pallet load plan; and in a case where the initial pallet load plan assigns removed packages to another automated palletizer, tentatively resolve corresponding gaps only from packages assigned to the other automated palletizer in the initial pallet load plan.

[0103] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, a method for handling and placing packages onto pallets destined for orderly storage is provided. The method comprises:

[0104] providing a storage array of a material handling system, the storage array having storage spaces for holding packages therein;

[0105] storing parcels in storage spaces of the storage array and retrieving parcels from storage spaces of the storage array using an automated parcel transport system that is communicatively coupled to a material handling system of the storage array;

[0106] placing the mixed parcels onto a pallet using an automated palletizer of the material handling system to form a pallet load of mixed parcels, the automated palletizer being communicatively coupled to an automated parcel transport system that provides individual parcels from a storage array to the automated palletizer for forming a pallet load of mixed parcels, the pallet load of mixed parcels including more than one composite layer of mixed parcels; and

[0107] fully and stably forming a mixed parcel pallet load in a mixed parcel layer with the initially planned pallet load distribution using a controller of a material handling system operably connected to an automated palletizer and programmed with a pallet load generator having an initial pallet load plan;

[0108] in:

[0109] a controller communicatively coupled to register at least one removed parcel from at least one of the storage array and the automated parcel transport system, wherein the pallet load generator is arranged to identify a corresponding pallet layer in the initial pallet load plan for the removed parcel and to determine a corresponding void in the corresponding pallet layer formed by the removed parcel; and

[0110] The pallet load generator determines a degree of stability due to a corresponding void in a corresponding pallet layer and heuristically resolves the corresponding void based on an optimization where the degree of stability equals or exceeds a predetermined threshold from at least one of:

[0111] Replacing at least one adjacent package in the initial pallet load plan adjacent to the corresponding gap relative to the corresponding gap, and

[0112] swapping at least one other package of the initial pallet load plan into a corresponding slot of the removed package; and

[0113] The pallet load generator generates a pallet load re-plan for the automated palletizer as defined by the resolution of each corresponding void of each removed package of the initial pallet load plan.

[0114] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, rearrangement of at least one adjacent package at least partially closes the corresponding gap.

[0115] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, a predetermined threshold of the degree of stability characterizes a corresponding pallet layer having resolved voids as being stable for automated palletizing.

[0116] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, a predetermined threshold value of the degree of stability characterizes the resolution of a corresponding void as a resolved void and characterizes the reformation of a corresponding pallet layer destabilized by the corresponding void as a stabilized layer stabilized by the resolved void.

[0117] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, a stabilizing layer defines a stabilizing support comparable to every other stabilizing layer for pallet load replanning for automated palletizing of all superimposed layers on the stabilizing layer.

[0118] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the degree of stability is proportional to a containment radius set around the center of mass of the package, within which all points belong to a bounding polygon of support for the package formed by the underlying package on which the package rests.

[0119] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the repositioning of at least one adjacent package includes horizontal translation of at least one adjacent package at least partially into the corresponding gap.

[0120] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the method further includes utilizing a pallet load generator to: horizontally translate at least one adjacent package in a sequence of incremental posture translations; determine a degree of stability for each of the incremental posture translations of at least one adjacent package; and select, for pallet load replanning, a posture of at least one package corresponding to the incremental posture translation having the greatest degree of stability.

[0121] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the method further includes utilizing a pallet load generator to: horizontally translate more than one of at least one adjacent packages in a corresponding sequence of incremental posture translations; determine a degree of stability for each combination of corresponding incremental posture translations of more than one of at least one adjacent packages; and select, for pallet load replanning, a corresponding posture of more than one of at least one package corresponding to a combination of corresponding incremental posture translations having a maximum degree of stability.

[0122] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the repositioning of at least one adjacent package includes rotation of at least one adjacent package about a center of the at least one adjacent package from an initial rotational posture to a translational rotational posture.

[0123] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the method further includes utilizing a pallet load generator to: determine a degree of stability of at least one package in both an initial rotational posture and a translational rotational posture; and selecting, for pallet load replanning, a posture of at least one package corresponding to an initial rotational posture and a translational rotational posture having a maximum degree of stability.

[0124] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, exchanging at least another package at least partially closes the corresponding gap and creates another gap corresponding to the initial position of the at least another package.

[0125] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the method further includes resolving another gap using a pallet load generator based on an optimization where the degree of stability is equal to or exceeds a predetermined threshold from at least one of the following: repositioning at least one adjacent package in the initial pallet load plan adjacent to another gap relative to the other gap; and exchanging at least another package of the initial pallet load plan into another gap of the exchanged package.

[0126] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the pallet load generator enables exchanging at least one other package by placing at least one other package in a corresponding void, wherein the at least one other package and the crossed-off package belong to a common pallet load layer.

[0127] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the pallet load generator exchanges at least one other package by placing at least one other package from an overlying pallet load layer within a corresponding void relative to the pallet load layer from which the package was struck out.

[0128] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the strike-off package and at least one other package are disposed in a common package stack, and the pallet load generator exchanges the at least one other package by lowering the at least one other package within the common package stack into a corresponding gap.

[0129] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, a pallet load generator at least partially horizontally translates at least one adjacent package in the stack of adjacent packages into another void within the common stack of packages created by lowering at least another package.

[0130] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the method further includes placing mixed packages onto a pallet using another automated palletizer to form a pallet load of mixed packages, the other automated palletizer and the automated palletizer having overlapping access across at least a portion of the footprint of the pallet, wherein: in a case where an initial pallet load plan assigns removed packages to the automated palletizer, the pallet load generator is used to tentatively resolve corresponding gaps from only the packages assigned to the automated palletizer in the initial pallet load plan; and in a case where the initial pallet load plan assigns removed packages to another automated palletizer, the pallet load generator is used to tentatively resolve corresponding gaps from only the packages assigned to the another automated palletizer in the initial pallet load plan.

[0131] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, a material handling system for handling and placing packages on a pallet destined for orderly storage is provided. The material handling system includes: a storage array having storage spaces for holding packages therein; an automated parcel transport system communicatively connected to the storage array for storing packages in the storage spaces of the storage array and retrieving packages from the storage spaces of the storage array; an automated palletizer for placing mixed packages on the pallet to form a pallet load of mixed packages, the automated palletizer communicatively connected to the automated parcel transport system, the automated parcel transport system providing individual packages from the storage array to the automated palletizer for forming a pallet load of mixed packages, the pallet load of mixed packages including more than one composite layer of mixed packages; and a controller operably connected to the automated palletizer, the controller being programmed with a pallet load generator having an initial pallet load plan for completely and stably forming a pallet load of mixed packages with the initially planned pallet load distribution in the mixed package layer. The controller is communicatively connected to register at least one removed package from at least one of the storage array and the automated parcel transportation system, wherein the pallet load generator is arranged to identify a corresponding pallet layer of the removed package in the initial pallet load plan, and determine a corresponding gap formed by the removed package in the corresponding pallet layer; and the pallet load generator is programmed with a meta-posture parcel defuser for at least one adjacent package adjacent to the corresponding gap, which tentatively optimizes a degree of stability of the corresponding pallet layer from the meta-posture of the at least one adjacent package so that the degree of stability equals or exceeds a predetermined threshold, and defuses the corresponding gap.

[0132] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the pallet load generator is configured to optimize the degree of stability of the corresponding pallet layer from the following two: tentative optimization via a meta-gesture package defragmenter, and exchanging at least another package of the initial pallet load plan into the corresponding gap of the removed package; and the pallet load generator is configured to generate a pallet load re-plan for the automated palletizer as defined by the defragmentation of each corresponding gap of each removed package in the initial pallet load plan.

[0133] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the meta-gesture package defragmenter realizes the re-placement of at least one adjacent package adjacent to a corresponding gap in the initial pallet load plan relative to the corresponding gap.

[0134] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, rearrangement of at least one adjacent package at least partially closes the corresponding gap.

[0135] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the repositioning of at least one adjacent package includes horizontal translation of at least one adjacent package at least partially into the corresponding gap.

[0136] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the repositioning of at least one adjacent package includes rotation of at least one adjacent package about a center of the at least one adjacent package from an initial rotational posture to a translational rotational posture.

[0137] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the pallet load generator is configured to exchange at least one other package by placing at least one other package in the corresponding void, wherein the at least one other package and the crossed-off package belong to a common pallet load layer.

[0138] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the pallet load generator is configured to exchange at least one other package by placing at least one other package from an overlying pallet load layer within a corresponding void relative to the pallet load layer from which the package was struck out.

[0139] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the strike-off package and at least one other package are disposed in a common package stack, and the pallet load generator is configured to exchange the at least one other package by lowering the at least one other package within the common package stack into a corresponding void.

[0140] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the pallet load generator is further configured to at least partially horizontally translate at least one adjacent package in the stack of adjacent packages into another void within the common stack of packages created by lowering at least another package.

[0141] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, exchanging at least another package at least partially closes the corresponding gap and creates another gap corresponding to the initial position of the at least another package.

[0142] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the pallet load generator is configured to resolve another gap based on an optimization in which a degree of stability equals or exceeds a predetermined threshold from at least one of the following: repositioning at least one adjacent package in the initial pallet load plan adjacent to another gap relative to the other gap, and exchanging at least another package of the initial pallet load plan into another gap of the exchanged package.

[0143] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, a predetermined threshold of the degree of stability characterizes a corresponding pallet layer having resolved voids as being stable for automated palletizing.

[0144] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, a predetermined threshold value of the degree of stability characterizes the resolution of a corresponding void as a resolved void and characterizes the reformation of a corresponding pallet layer destabilized by the corresponding void as a stabilized layer stabilized by the resolved void.

[0145] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, a stabilizing layer defines a stabilizing support comparable to every other stabilizing layer for pallet load replanning for automated palletizing of all superimposed layers on the stabilizing layer.

[0146] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the degree of stability is proportional to a containment radius set around the center of mass of the package, within which all points belong to a bounding polygon of support for the package formed by the underlying package on which the package rests.

[0147] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, a pallet load generator is configured to: horizontally translate at least one adjacent package in a sequence of incremental posture translations; determine a degree of stability for each of the incremental posture translations of at least one adjacent package; and select, for pallet load replanning, a posture of at least one package corresponding to the incremental posture translation having a greatest degree of stability.

[0148] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, a pallet load generator is configured to: horizontally translate more than one of at least one adjacent packages in a corresponding sequence of incremental posture translations; determine a degree of stability for each combination of corresponding incremental posture translations of more than one of at least one adjacent packages; and select, for pallet load replanning, a corresponding posture of more than one of at least one package corresponding to a combination of corresponding incremental posture translations having a greatest degree of stability.

[0149] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, a pallet load generator is configured to: determine a degree of stability of at least one package in both an initial rotational posture and a translational rotational posture; and select, for pallet load replanning, a posture of at least one package corresponding to an initial rotational posture and a translational rotational posture having a maximum degree of stability.

[0150] According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the material handling system further includes: another automated palletizer, which is used to place mixed packages onto a pallet to form a pallet load of mixed packages, the other automated palletizer and the automated palletizer having overlapping access across at least a portion of the footprint of the pallet; wherein the pallet load generator is configured to: in the event that an initial pallet load plan assigns removed packages to the automated palletizer, tentatively resolve corresponding gaps only from packages assigned to the automated palletizer in the initial pallet load plan; and in the event that the initial pallet load plan assigns removed packages to another automated palletizer, tentatively resolve corresponding gaps only from packages assigned to the other automated palletizer in the initial pallet load plan.

[0151] It should be understood that the previous description only illustrates aspects of the present disclosure. Various alternatives and modifications may be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from aspects of the present disclosure. Therefore, aspects of the present disclosure are intended to cover all such alternatives, modifications and variations that fall within the scope of any appended claims. In addition, the mere fact that different features are recited in mutually different dependent or independent claims does not indicate that a combination of these features may not be advantageously used, and such combinations are still within the scope of aspects of the present disclosure.

[0152] The rights being claimed are:

Claims

1. A material handling system for handling and placing packages onto pallets destined for orderly storage, the material handling system comprising: a storage array having storage spaces for holding packages therein; an automated parcel transport system, the automated parcel transport system being communicatively connected to the storage array and configured to store parcels in the storage spaces of the storage array and to retrieve parcels from the storage spaces of the storage array; an automated palletizer for placing mixed parcels onto a pallet to form a pallet load of mixed parcels, the automated palletizer being communicatively connected to the automated parcel transport system, the automated parcel transport system providing individual parcels from the storage array to the automated palletizer for forming the pallet load of mixed parcels, the pallet load of mixed parcels comprising more than one composite layer of mixed parcels; as well as a controller operably connected to the automated palletizer, the controller being programmed with a pallet load generator having an initial pallet load plan for completely and stably forming the mixed parcel pallet load in a mixed parcel layer with the initially planned pallet load distribution; in: The controller is communicatively coupled to register at least one strike-off parcel from at least one of the storage array and the automated parcel transport system, wherein the pallet load generator is arranged to identify a corresponding pallet layer of the strike-off parcel in the initial pallet load plan and determine a corresponding void in the corresponding pallet layer formed by the strike-off parcel; and The pallet load generator is configured to determine a degree of stability due to the corresponding void in the corresponding pallet layer and heuristically resolve the corresponding void based on an optimization in which the degree of stability equals or exceeds a predetermined threshold from at least one of: repositioning at least one adjacent package in the initial pallet load plan adjacent to the corresponding gap relative to the corresponding gap, and swapping at least another package of the initial pallet load plan into the corresponding slot of the removed package; and The pallet load generator is configured to generate a pallet load re-plan for the automated palletizer as defined by the resolution of each corresponding void for each crossed-out package in the initial pallet load plan.

2. The material handling system of claim 1, wherein: The rearrangement of at least one adjacent package at least partially closes the corresponding gap.

3. The material handling system of claim 1, wherein: The predetermined threshold value of the degree of stability characterizes the corresponding pallet layer having the resolved void as being stable for automated palletizing.

4. The material handling system of claim 1, wherein: The predetermined threshold value of the degree of stability characterizes the resolution of the corresponding void as a resolved void and the reformation of the corresponding pallet layer destabilized by the corresponding void as a stabilized layer stabilized by the resolved void.

5. The material handling system of claim 4, wherein: The stabilizing layer defines a stabilizing support comparable to every other stabilizing layer of the pallet load replanning for automatic palletizing of all superimposed layers on the stabilizing layer.

6. The material handling system of claim 1, wherein: The degree of stability is proportional to the containment radius set around the center of mass of the package, within which all points belong to the limiting polygon of the support of the package formed by the underlying package on which the package is placed.

7. The material handling system of claim 1, wherein: The repositioning of the at least one adjacent package includes a horizontal translation of the at least one adjacent package at least partially into the corresponding gap.

8. The material handling system of claim 1, wherein: The pallet load generator is configured to: translating the at least one adjacent package horizontally in a sequence of increasing gesture translations; determining a degree of stability of each of said incremental posture translations of said at least one adjacent package; as well as The pose of the at least one package corresponding to the incremental pose translation having a greatest degree of stability is selected for the pallet load replanning.

9. The material handling system of claim 1, wherein: The pallet load generator is configured to: horizontally translating more than one of the at least one adjacent package in a corresponding sequence of incremental translations; determining a degree of stability of each combination of said more than one respective incremental posture translations in said at least one adjacent package; as well as The more than one respective postures of the at least one package corresponding to the combination of the respective incremental posture translations having a greatest degree of stability are selected for the pallet load replanning.

10. The material handling system of claim 1, wherein: The repositioning of the at least one adjacent package includes a rotation of the at least one adjacent package from an initial rotational posture to a translational rotational posture about a center of the at least one adjacent package.

11. The material handling system of claim 1 , wherein: The pallet load generator is configured to: determining a degree of stability of the at least one parcel in both the initial rotational pose and the translational rotational pose; and A pose of the at least one package corresponding to the one initial rotational pose and the translational rotational pose having a greatest degree of stability is selected for the pallet load replanning.

12. The material handling system of claim 1, wherein: Exchanging the at least one further package at least partially closes the corresponding gap and creates another gap corresponding to the initial position of the at least one further package.

13. The material handling system of claim 12, wherein: The pallet load generator is configured to resolve the another gap based on optimization of the degree of stability being equal to or exceeding a predetermined threshold from at least one of: repositioning at least one adjacent package in the initial pallet load plan adjacent to the another gap relative to the another gap, and At least one other package of the initial pallet load plan is swapped into the other slot of the swapped package.

14. The material handling system of claim 1, wherein: The pallet load generator is configured to exchange the at least one other package by placing the at least one other package in the corresponding void, wherein the at least one other package and the crossed-out package belong to a common pallet load layer.

15. The material handling system of claim 1, wherein: The pallet load generator is configured to exchange the at least one other package by placing the at least one other package from an overlying pallet load layer within the corresponding void relative to the pallet load layer from which the package was struck out.

16. The material handling system of claim 1, wherein: The strike-off package and the at least one other package are disposed in a common package stack, and the pallet load generator is configured to effectuate the exchange of the at least one other package by lowering the at least one other package within the common package stack into the corresponding void.

17. The material handling system of claim 16, wherein: The pallet load generator is further configured to at least partially horizontally translate the at least one adjacent package in the stack of adjacent packages into another void within the common package stack created by lowering the at least another package.

18. The material handling system of claim 1, wherein: The automatic palletizer comprises: a first arm and a second arm configured to place a mixed parcel onto the pallet to form a pallet load of the mixed parcels, the first arm and the second arm having overlapping access across at least a portion of a footprint of the pallet; The pallet load generator is configured to: In the event that the initial pallet load plan assigns the removed parcel to the first arm, tentatively resolving the corresponding gap only from the parcels assigned to the first arm in the initial pallet load plan; and In the event that the initial pallet load plan assigns the removed packages to the second arm, the corresponding gaps are tentatively resolved only by the packages assigned to the second arm in the initial pallet load plan.

19. A method for handling and placing packages onto pallets destined for orderly storage, the method comprising: providing a storage array of a material handling system, the storage array having storage spaces for holding packages therein; storing parcels in and retrieving parcels from the storage spaces of the storage array using an automated parcel transport system communicatively coupled to the material handling system of the storage array; placing mixed parcels onto a pallet using an automated palletizer of the material handling system to form a pallet load of mixed parcels, the automated palletizer being communicatively coupled to the automated parcel transport system, the automated parcel transport system providing individual parcels from the storage array to the automated palletizer for forming the pallet load of mixed parcels, the pallet load of mixed parcels comprising more than one composite layer of mixed parcels; and fully and stably forming the mixed parcel pallet load in a mixed parcel layer with the initially planned pallet load distribution using a controller of the material handling system operably connected to the automated palletizer and programmed with a pallet load generator having an initial pallet load plan; in: The controller is communicatively coupled to register at least one strike-off parcel from at least one of the storage array and the automated parcel transport system, wherein the pallet load generator is arranged to identify a corresponding pallet layer of the strike-off parcel in the initial pallet load plan and determine a corresponding void in the corresponding pallet layer formed by the strike-off parcel; and The pallet load generator determines a degree of stability due to the corresponding gap in the corresponding pallet layer and heuristically resolves the corresponding gap based on an optimization in which the degree of stability equals or exceeds a predetermined threshold from at least one of: repositioning at least one adjacent package in the initial pallet load plan adjacent to the corresponding gap relative to the corresponding gap, and swapping at least another package of the initial pallet load plan into the corresponding slot of the removed package; and The pallet load generator generates a pallet load re-plan for the automated palletizer as defined by the resolution of each corresponding void for each crossed-out package in the initial pallet load plan.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein: The rearrangement of at least one adjacent package at least partially closes the corresponding gap.

21. The method according to claim 19, wherein: The predetermined threshold value of the degree of stability characterizes the corresponding pallet layer having the resolved void as being stable for automated palletizing.

22. The method according to claim 19, wherein: The predetermined threshold value of the degree of stability characterizes the resolution of the corresponding void as a resolved void and the reformation of the corresponding pallet layer destabilized by the corresponding void as a stabilized layer stabilized by the resolved void.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein: The stabilizing layer defines a stabilizing support comparable to every other stabilizing layer of the pallet load replanning for automatic palletizing of all superimposed layers on the stabilizing layer.

24. The method according to claim 19, wherein: The degree of stability is proportional to the containment radius set around the center of mass of the package, within which all points belong to the limiting polygon of the support of the package formed by the underlying package on which the package is placed.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein: The repositioning of the at least one adjacent package includes a horizontal translation of the at least one adjacent package at least partially into the corresponding gap.

26. The method of claim 19, further comprising utilizing the pallet load generator: translating the at least one adjacent package horizontally in a sequence of increasing gesture translations; determining a degree of stability of each of said incremental posture translations of said at least one adjacent package; as well as The pose of the at least one package corresponding to the incremental pose translation having a greatest degree of stability is selected for the pallet load replanning.

27. The method of claim 19, further comprising utilizing the pallet load generator: horizontally translating more than one of the at least one adjacent package in a corresponding sequence of incremental translations; determining a degree of stability of each combination of said more than one respective incremental posture translations in said at least one adjacent package; and The more than one respective postures of the at least one package corresponding to the combination of the respective incremental posture translations having a greatest degree of stability are selected for the pallet load replanning.

28. The method of claim 19, wherein: The repositioning of the at least one adjacent package includes a rotation of the at least one adjacent package from an initial rotational posture to a translational rotational posture about a center of the at least one adjacent package.

29. The method of claim 19, further comprising utilizing the pallet load generator: determining a degree of stability of the at least one parcel in both the initial rotational pose and the translational rotational pose; and A pose of the at least one package corresponding to the one initial rotational pose and the translational rotational pose having a greatest degree of stability is selected for the pallet load replanning.

30. The method of claim 19, wherein: Exchanging the at least one further package at least partially closes the corresponding gap and creates another gap corresponding to the initial position of the at least one further package.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising resolving the another gap using the pallet load generator based on optimization of the degree of stability equaling or exceeding a predetermined threshold from at least one of: repositioning at least one adjacent package in the initial pallet load plan adjacent to the another gap relative to the another gap, and At least one other package of the initial pallet load plan is swapped into the other slot of the swapped package.

32. The method of claim 19, wherein: The pallet load generator enables exchanging the at least one other package by placing the at least one other package in the corresponding void, wherein the at least one other package and the crossed-out package belong to a common pallet load layer.

33. The method of claim 19, wherein: The pallet load generator exchanges the at least one other package by placing the at least one other package from an overlying pallet load layer within the corresponding void relative to the pallet load layer from which the package was struck out.

34. The method of claim 19, wherein: The strike-off package and the at least one other package are disposed in a common package stack, and the pallet load generator exchanges the at least one other package by lowering the at least one other package within the common package stack into the corresponding void.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein: The pallet load generator at least partially horizontally translates the at least one adjacent package in the stack of adjacent packages into another void within the common stack of packages created by lowering the at least another package.

36. The method of claim 19, further comprising: placing mixed parcels onto the pallet using a second arm of the automated palletizer to form a pallet load of the mixed parcels, the second arm of the automated palletizer and the first arm of the automated palletizer having overlapping access across at least a portion of the footprint of the pallet; in: In the event that the initial pallet load plan assigns the removed parcel to the first arm, using the pallet load generator to tentatively resolve the corresponding gap only from the parcels assigned to the first arm in the initial pallet load plan; and In the event that the initial pallet load plan allocates the removed packages to the second arm, the corresponding gaps are tentatively resolved using the pallet load generator only from the packages allocated to the second arm in the initial pallet load plan.

37. A material handling system for handling and placing packages onto pallets destined for organized storage, the material handling system comprising: a storage array having storage spaces for holding packages therein; an automated parcel transport system, the automated parcel transport system being communicatively connected to the storage array and configured to store parcels in the storage spaces of the storage array and to retrieve parcels from the storage spaces of the storage array; an automated palletizer for placing mixed parcels onto a pallet to form a pallet load of mixed parcels, the automated palletizer being communicatively connected to the automated parcel transport system, the automated parcel transport system providing individual parcels from the storage array to the automated palletizer for forming the pallet load of mixed parcels, the pallet load of mixed parcels comprising more than one composite layer of mixed parcels; as well as a controller operably connected to the automated palletizer, the controller being programmed with a pallet load generator having an initial pallet load plan for completely and stably forming the mixed parcel pallet load in a mixed parcel layer with the initially planned pallet load distribution; in: The controller is communicatively coupled to register at least one strike-off parcel from at least one of the storage array and the automated parcel transport system, wherein the pallet load generator is arranged to identify a corresponding pallet layer of the strike-off parcel in the initial pallet load plan and determine a corresponding void in the corresponding pallet layer formed by the strike-off parcel; and The pallet load generator is programmed with a meta-posture package defuser for at least one adjacent package adjacent to the corresponding gap, which tentatively optimizes the degree of stability of the corresponding pallet layer from the meta-posture of the at least one adjacent package so that the degree of stability equals or exceeds a predetermined threshold and defuses the corresponding gap.

38. The material handling system of claim 37, wherein: The pallet load generator is configured to optimize the degree of stability of the corresponding pallet layer from: tentative optimization via the meta-gesture parcel defragmenter, and swapping at least another parcel of the initial pallet load plan into the corresponding void of the crossed-out parcel; and The pallet load generator is configured to generate a pallet load re-plan for the automated palletizer as defined by the resolution of each corresponding void for each crossed-out package in the initial pallet load plan.

39. The material handling system of claim 38, wherein: The meta-gesture package defuser realizes the re-placement of at least one adjacent package adjacent to the corresponding gap in the initial pallet load plan relative to the corresponding gap.

40. The material handling system of claim 39, wherein: The rearrangement of at least one adjacent package at least partially closes the corresponding gap.

41. The material handling system of claim 39, wherein: The repositioning of the at least one adjacent package includes a horizontal translation of the at least one adjacent package at least partially into the corresponding gap.

42. The material handling system of claim 39, wherein: The repositioning of the at least one adjacent package includes a rotation of the at least one adjacent package from an initial rotational posture to a translational rotational posture about a center of the at least one adjacent package.

43. The material handling system of claim 38, wherein: The pallet load generator is configured to exchange the at least one other package by placing the at least one other package in the corresponding void, wherein the at least one other package and the crossed-out package belong to a common pallet load layer.

44. The material handling system of claim 38, wherein: The pallet load generator is configured to exchange the at least one other package by placing the at least one other package from an overlying pallet load layer within the corresponding void relative to the pallet load layer from which the package was struck out.

45. The material handling system of claim 38, wherein: The strike-off package and the at least one other package are disposed in a common package stack, and the pallet load generator is configured to effectuate the exchange of the at least one other package by lowering the at least one other package within the common package stack into the corresponding void.

46. ​​The material handling system of claim 45, wherein: The pallet load generator is further configured to at least partially horizontally translate the at least one adjacent package in the stack of adjacent packages into another void within the common package stack created by lowering the at least another package.

47. The material handling system of claim 38, wherein: Exchanging the at least one further package at least partially closes the corresponding gap and creates another gap corresponding to the initial position of the at least one further package.

48. The material handling system of claim 47, wherein: The pallet load generator is configured to resolve the another gap based on optimization of the degree of stability being equal to or exceeding a predetermined threshold from at least one of: repositioning at least one adjacent package in the initial pallet load plan adjacent to the another gap relative to the another gap, and At least one other package of the initial pallet load plan is swapped into the other slot of the swapped package.

49. The material handling system of claim 37, wherein: The predetermined threshold value of the degree of stability characterizes the corresponding pallet layer having the resolved void as being stable for automated palletizing.

50. The material handling system of claim 37, wherein: The predetermined threshold value of the degree of stability characterizes the resolution of the corresponding void as a resolved void and the reformation of the corresponding pallet layer destabilized by the corresponding void as a stabilized layer stabilized by the resolved void.

51. The material handling system of claim 50, wherein: The stabilizing layer defines a stabilizing support comparable to every other stabilizing layer of the pallet load replanning for automatic palletizing of all superimposed layers on the stabilizing layer.

52. The material handling system of claim 37, wherein: The degree of stability is proportional to the containment radius set around the center of mass of the package, within which all points belong to the limiting polygon of the support of the package formed by the underlying package on which the package is placed.

53. The material handling system of claim 37, wherein: The pallet load generator is configured to: translating the at least one adjacent package horizontally in a sequence of increasing gesture translations; determining a degree of stability of each of said incremental posture translations of said at least one adjacent package; as well as The pose of the at least one package corresponding to the incremental pose translation having a greatest degree of stability is selected for the pallet load replanning.

54. The material handling system of claim 37, wherein: The pallet load generator is configured to: horizontally translating more than one of the at least one adjacent package in a corresponding sequence of incremental translations; determining a degree of stability of each combination of said more than one respective incremental posture translations in said at least one adjacent package; as well as The more than one respective postures of the at least one package corresponding to the combination of the respective incremental posture translations having a greatest degree of stability are selected for the pallet load replanning.

55. The material handling system of claim 37, wherein: The pallet load generator is configured to: determining a degree of stability of the at least one parcel in both the initial rotational pose and the translational rotational pose; and A pose of the at least one package corresponding to the one initial rotational pose and the translational rotational pose having a greatest degree of stability is selected for the pallet load replanning.

56. The material handling system of claim 37, wherein: The automatic palletizer comprises: a first arm and a second arm configured to place a mixed parcel onto the pallet to form a pallet load of the mixed parcels, the first arm and the second arm having overlapping access across at least a portion of a footprint of the pallet; The pallet load generator is configured to: In the event that the initial pallet load plan assigns the removed parcel to the first arm, tentatively resolving the corresponding gap only from the parcels assigned to the first arm in the initial pallet load plan; and In the event that the initial pallet load plan assigns the removed packages to the second arm, the corresponding gaps are tentatively resolved only by the packages assigned to the second arm in the initial pallet load plan.

Images