Floor-to-height retrieval robot with adjustable lift and extensible platform
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing robots are limited in their ability to automate tasks in warehouse and inventory management, as they often require specific site configurations and are unable to retrieve objects from various heights or locations, restricting their versatility and adaptability.
Innovation Solution
The development of autonomous floor-to-height (FTH) robots equipped with a motorized base, lift, upper and lower platforms, and a retriever system that can adjust to different heights and object configurations, allowing for the retrieval and placement of objects on or above the ground, regardless of their size, shape, or storage location.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If existing robots are used for warehouse tasks, then automation is achieved, but they require specific site configurations and cannot retrieve objects from various heights or locations
Solution Approach 1:
The robot employs a motorized lift system that dynamically adjusts the platform height to match the storage location height, enabling the robot to retrieve objects from various heights without requiring fixed infrastructure. The lift mechanism transforms a static platform into a dynamic one that adapts to different retrieval heights.
Solution Approach 2:
The robot is designed with multiple functional components (motorized base, adjustable lift, extensible retriever, gripper) that enable it to perform multiple tasks: navigating to different locations, adjusting to various heights, extending to reach objects, and grasping diverse objects. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for specialized robots for different warehouse configurations.
2Productivity
If specialized purpose robots are developed for specific tasks, then task performance is optimized, but versatility across different warehouse configurations is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The robot is divided into independent functional modules: a motorized base for navigation, a motorized lift for height adjustment, an extensible retriever for reaching, and a gripper for grasping. Each module can be independently controlled and optimized, allowing the robot to maintain high productivity while adapting to different warehouse configurations through coordinated module operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The combination of motorized base for mobile navigation, adjustable lift for height adaptation, and extensible retriever for reach adjustment creates a dynamically adaptable system. These dynamic components enable the robot to optimize its configuration for each specific retrieval task while maintaining overall task automation capability.
3Ease of manufacture
If robots are designed with fixed structures for specific heights, then manufacturing is simplified, but adaptability to different storage heights is lost
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of manufacturing multiple fixed-height robot variants, the invention uses a single standardized robot design with a motorized lift system that can dynamically adjust the platform to any required height. This dynamic approach maintains manufacturing simplicity while providing unlimited height adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The robot changes its operational parameters (platform height, retriever extension length) through motorized adjustment mechanisms rather than physical reconfiguration. This allows the same standardized robot structure to adapt to different storage heights by changing its operational parameters through the lift and extensible components.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a robot for retrieving objects with different sizes, shapes, weights, placements, configurations, and/or other characteristics from a floor or raised height. The robot may include a motorized base, a lift that raises to a plurality of heights from the base, an upper platform attached over the lift, a vertical extension extending downwards from a frontside of the upper platform and in front of the lift, a lower platform with a proximal end coupled to the vertical extension and a distal end extending in front of the robot and directly over a ground surface on which the motorized base moves when the lift is in a lowered position, and a retriever for retrieving an object onto the lower platform.