PRIORITY

The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/489, 121 filed April 24, 2017, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The invention generally relates to automated, robotic and other processing systems, and relates in particular to automated and robotic systems intended for use in environments requiring, for example, that a variety of objects (e.g., articles, parcels or packages) be processed, e.g., sorted and/or otherwise distributed to several output destinations.

Many object distribution systems receive objects in a disorganized stream that may be provided as individual objects or objects aggregated in groups such as in bags, arriving on any of several different conveyances, commonly a conveyor, a truck, a pallet, a Gaylord, or a bin. Each object must then be distributed to the correct destination container, as determined by identification information associated with the object, which is commonly determined by a label printed on the object. The destination container may take many forms, such as a bag or a bin.

The processing of such objects has traditionally been done, at least in part, by human workers that scan the objects, e.g., with a hand-held barcode scanner, and then place the objects at assigned locations. For example many order fulfillment operations achieve high efficiency by employing a process called wave picking. In wave picking, orders are picked from warehouse shelves and placed at locations (e.g., into bins) containing multiple orders that are sorted downstream. At the processing stage individual objects are identified, and multi-object orders are consolidated, for example into a single bin or shelf location, so that they may be packed and then shipped to customers. The processing (e.g., sorting) of these objects has traditionally been done by hand. A human sorter picks an object from an incoming bin, finds a barcode on the object, scans the barcode with a handheld barcode scanner, determines from the scanned barcode the appropriate bin or shelf location for the article, and then places the article in the so-determined bin or shelf location where all objects for that order have been defined to belong. Automated systems for order fulfillment have also been proposed. See for example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0244026, which discloses the use of a robotic arm together with an arcuate structure that is movable to within reach of the robotic arm.

Other ways of identifying objects by code scanning either require manual processing, or require that the code location be controlled or constrained so that a fixed or robot-held code scanner (e.g., barcode scanner) can reliably detect it. Manually operated barcode scanners are generally either fixed or handheld systems. With fixed systems, such as those used at point- of-sale systems, the operator holds the object and places it in front of the scanner so that the barcode faces the scanning device's sensors, and the scanner, which scans continuously, decodes any barcodes that it can detect. If the object is not immediately detected, the person holding the object typically needs to vary the position or rotation of the object in front of the fixed scanner, so as to make the barcode more visible to the scanner. For handheld systems, the person operating the scanner looks for the barcode on the object, and then holds the scanner so that the object's barcode is visible to the scanner, and then presses a button on the handheld scanner to initiate a scan of the barcode.

Further, many current distribution center sorting systems generally assume an inflexible sequence of operations whereby a disorganized stream of input objects is first singulated into a single stream of isolated obj ects presented one at a time to a scanner that identifies the obj ect. A conveyance element or elements (e.g., a conveyor, a tilt tray, or manually movable bins) transport the objects to the desired destination or further processing station, which may be a bin, a chute, a bag or a conveyor etc.

In conventional parcel sortation systems, human workers or automated systems typically retrieve objects in an arrival order, and sort each object into a collection bin based on a set of given heuristics. For instance, all objects of like type might go to a collection bin, or all objects in a single customer order, or all objects destined for the same shipping destination, etc. The human workers or automated systems are required to receive objects and to move each to their assigned collection bin. If the number of different types of input (received) objects is large, a large number of collection bins is required.

Such a system has inherent inefficiencies as well as inflexibilities since the desired goal is to match incoming objects to assigned collection bins. Such systems may require a large number of collection bins (and therefore a large amount of physical space, large capital costs, and large operating costs) in part, because sorting all objects to all destinations at once is not always most efficient.

Current state-of-the-art sortation systems rely on human labor to some extent. Most solutions rely on a worker that is performing sortation, by scanning an object from an induction area (chute, table, etc.) and placing the object in a staging location, conveyor, or collection bin. When a bin is full, another worker empties the bin into a bag, box, or other container, and sends that container on to the next processing step. Such a system has limits on throughput (i.e., how fast can human workers sort to or empty bins in this fashion) and on number of diverts (i.e., for a given bin size, only so many bins may be arranged to be within efficient reach of human workers).

Other partially automated sortation systems involve the use of recirculating conveyors and tilt trays, where the tilt trays receive objects by human sortation (human induction), and each tilt tray moves past a scanner. Each object is then scanned and moved to a pre-defined location assigned to the object. The tray then tilts to drop the object into the location. Further, partially automated systems, such as the bomb-bay style recirculating conveyor, involve having trays open doors on the bottom of each tray at the time that the tray is positioned over a predefined chute, and the object is then dropped from the tray into the chute. Again, the objects are scanned while in the tray, which assumes that any identifying code is visible to the scanner.

Such partially automated systems are lacking in key areas. As noted, these conveyors have discrete trays that can be loaded with an object; they then pass through scan tunnels that scan the object and associate it with the tray in which it is riding. When the tray passes the correct bin, a trigger mechanism causes the tray to dump the object into the bin. A drawback with such systems however, is that every divert requires an actuator, which increases the mechanical complexity and the cost per divert can be very high.

An alternative is to use human labor to increase the number of diverts, or collection bins, available in the system. This decreases system installation costs, but increases the operating costs. Multiple cells may then work in parallel, effectively multiplying throughput linearly while keeping the number of expensive automated diverts at a minimum. Such diverts do not ID an object and cannot divert it to a particular spot, but rather they work with beam breaks or other sensors to seek to ensure that indiscriminate bunches of objects get appropriately diverted. The lower cost of such diverts coupled with the low number of diverts keep the overall system divert cost low.

Unfortunately, these systems don't address the limitations to total number of system bins. The system is simply diverting an equal share of the total objects to each parallel manual cell. Thus each parallel sortation cell must have all the same collection bins designations; otherwise an object might be delivered to a cell that does not have a bin to which that object is mapped. There remains a need for a more efficient and more cost effective object sortation system that sorts objects of a variety of sizes and weights into appropriate collection bins or trays of fixed sizes, yet is efficient in handling objects of such varying sizes and weights.

SUMMARY

In accordance with an embodiment, the invention provides a processing system including a singulation system. The singulation system includes a conveying system for moving objects to be processed from a source area along a first direction, a detection system for detecting objects at the conveying system, and for selecting certain selected objects for redistribution on the conveying system, and a movement redistribution system for redistributing the certain selected objects on the conveying system for providing a singulated stream of objects.

In accordance with another embodiment, the invention provides a singulation system including a conveying system for moving objects to be sorted from a source area along a first direction, a selection system for selecting certain selected objects for redistribution on the conveying system, and a movement redistribution system for redistributing the certain selected objects on the conveying system and by returning the certain selected objects to an earlier stage of the conveying system such that a singulated stream of objects may be provided to an object processing system.

In accordance with a further embodiment, the invention provides a method of providing singulation of objects. The method includes the steps of moving objects to be sorted from a source area along a first direction of a conveying system, detecting objects at the conveying system, selecting certain selected objects for redistribution on the conveying system, and redistributing the certain selected objects on the conveying system to provide a singulated stream of objects. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following description may be further understood with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of an object singulation processing system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of the object singulation processing system of Figure 1 at later point in time;

Figure 3 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of the object singulation processing system of Figure 1 at a further later point in time;

Figure 4 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of the processing conveyor of Figure i ;

Figure 5 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of an object processing system in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 6 shows an illustrative diagrammatic front view of the drop perception system of Figure 1;

Figure 7 shows an illustrative diagrammatic rear view of the drop perception system of Figure 1;

Figure 8 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of an object distribution system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 9 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of a shuttle wing sortation system of Figure 8;

Figure 10 shows an illustrative top view of a destination location in the shuttle wing sortation system of Figure 9;

Figure 11 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of an object distribution system in accordance with another embodiment of the invention; Figure 12 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of an object distribution system in accordance with a further embodiment of the invention;

Figure 13 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of a portion of the shuttle wing processing system of Figure 12;

Figure 14 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of the portion of the shuttle wing processing system of Figure 13, with an object being dropped from the carriage;

Figure 15 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of an object distribution system in accordance with yet a further embodiment of the invention;

Figure 16 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of a portion of the shuttle wing processing system of Figure 15;

Figure 17 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of the portion of the shuttle wing processing system of Figure 16, with an object being dropped from the carriage;

Figure 18 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of the object distribution system of Figure 15 showing a destination bin position sensor;

Figure 19 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of a flowchart showing selected processing steps in a system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

Figure 20 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of a flowchart showing bin assignment and management steps in a system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

The drawings are shown for illustrative purposes only.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In accordance with an embodiment, the invention provides a processing system that includes an input system for receiving a wide variety of objects to be processed, and a singulation system for providing a singulated stream of objects for efficient processing of the objects. In further embodiments, the system may include an identification system for identifying objects, and an output system for providing the singulated stream of objects at desired output destinations. Individual parcels need to be identified and conveyed to desired parcel-specific locations. The described systems reliably automate the identification and conveyance of such parcels, employing in certain embodiments, a set of conveyors and sensors and a robot arm. In short, applicants have discovered that when automating sortation of objects, there are a few main things to consider: 1) the overall system throughput (parcels sorted per hour), 2) the number of diverts (i.e., number of discrete locations to which an object can be routed), 3) the total area of the sortation system (square feet), and 4) the annual costs to run the system (man-hours, electrical costs, cost of disposable components).

Processing objects in a distribution center (e.g., sorting or order fulfillment) are applications for automatically identifying and moving objects. In a shipping distribution center for example, objects commonly arrive in trucks, are conveyed to sortation stations where they are processed, e.g., sorted) according to desired destinations, aggregated in bags, and then loaded in trucks for transport to the desired destinations. Another application would be in the shipping department of a retail store or order fulfillment center, which may require that objects be processed for transport to different shippers, or to different distribution centers of a particular shipper. In a shipping or distribution center the objects may take form of plastic bags, boxes, tubes, envelopes, or any other suitable container, and in some cases may also include objects not in a container. In a shipping or distribution center the desired destination is commonly obtained by reading identifying information printed on the object or on an attached label. In this scenario the destination corresponding to identifying information is commonly obtained by querying the customer's information system. In other scenarios the destination may be written directly on the object, or may be known through other means. In accordance with various embodiments, therefore, the invention provides a method of taking individual objects from a disorganized stream of objects, providing a singulated stream of objects, identifying individual objects, and processing them to desired destinations. The invention further provides methods for loading objects into the system, for conveying objects from one point to the next, for excluding inappropriate or unidentifiable objects, for grasping objects, for determining grasp locations, for determining robot motion trajectories, for transferring objects from one conveyor to another, for aggregating parcels and transferring to output conveyors, for digital communication within the system and with outside information systems, for communication with human operators and maintenance staff, and for maintaining a safe environment.

Important components of an automated object identification and processing system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 shows a system 10 that includes an infeed hopper 12 into which objects 14 may be dumped, e.g., by a dumper or transferred from a Gaylord. An infeed conveyor 16 conveys objects from the infeed hopper 12 to a primary conveyor 19. The infeed conveyor 16 may include cleats 18 for assisting in lifting the objects 14 from the hopper 12 onto the primary conveyor 19. Primary perception system 32 surveys the objects 14 to identify objects when possible, to determine good grasp points, and to select certain objects for repositioning on the conveyor 19 in accordance with various embodiments of the invention.

The system also includes one or more programmable motion systems 20, 24 such as robotic arms 21, 25, each of which includes a gripper 22, 26 for gripping objects 14. Each robotic arm may be equipped with sensors and computing, that when combined is assumed herein to exhibit the following capabilities: (a) it is able to pick objects up from a stream of (e.g., non-singulated) objects; (b) it is able to move the object to arbitrary places within its workspace; and, (c) it is able to generate a map of objects that it is able to pick, represented as a candidate set of grasp points in the workcell, and as a list of polytopes enclosing the object in space. The allowable objects are determined by the capabilities of the robotic system. Their size, weight and geometry are assumed to be such that the robotic system is able to pick, move and place them.

With further reference to Figures 2 and 3, the robotic arms 21, 25 are used to move objects either to the beginning of the conveyor 19, or to positions that will provide a singulated stream of objects 15. For example, Figures 1 - 3 show that an object 13 may be picked up by the robotic arm 21 and moved to an upstream portion of the conveyor 19, and show that an object 17 may be picked up by the other robotic arm 25 and also moved to an upstream portion of the conveyor 19. The movement of the objects 13, 17 provides a singulated stream of objects 15 by removing selected objects and returning the objects to an upstream portion of the conveyor.

Significantly, a singulated stream of objects 15 is provided (as shown at 30), and this singulated stream of obj ects may be monitored by a perception system 33, and may be delivered to an identification system 34 (such as a drop perception system as discussed below) as a singulated stream and without requiring that a robotic system place objects into the drop perception system. Objects may then fall through the system 34 onto, for example, a conveyor system 36, for further processing as discussed below. By providing a singulated stream of objects for processing, the system is able to more effectively control the object processing rate, and reduce the incidence of errors that may occur, for example if two objects in close contact with each other are perceived as being one object. The infeed conveyor 16 may also be in communication with the controller 78 and the robotic arm 24, and the speed of the infeed conveyor 16 may be adjusted to either slow down if moving too fast, or speed up if system determines that more bandwidth exists for a faster input. The speed and direction of the conveyor 19 may also be adjusted as may be necessary to provide the singulate stream of objects.

As further shown in Figure 4, the system may monitor the movement of the conveyor 19, enabling the system to maintain dynamic information regarding divided areas or zones of a defined distance (Zd) such that the singulated stream of objects is provided with one object 15 per area Zd. This may be achieved, for example, by moving obj ects 9, 7, 5 and 4 to upstream positions on the conveyor and may include moving objects 8, 6 to locations that are more central to a respective area Zd. In certain embodiments and applications, the system may move objects to downstream positions on the conveyor in the process of providing a singulated stream of objects.

As further shown in Figure 5, a system 10' of another embodiment of the invention may include a primary conveyor 29 with cleats 3 1. The cleats may, for example, define the divided areas or zones such that when the singulated stream of obj ects 15 is provided, it is provided with one object positioned within each cleated area. The primary conveyor 29 is otherwise similar to and functions like primary conveyor 19 of Figures 1 - 4, and the cleats 31 may be similar to the cleats 18 of the infeed conveyor 16. The remaining elements of the system of Figure 5 are the same as those of Figures 1, 2 and 3 and bear the same reference numerals.

The correct processing destination is determined from the symbol (e.g., barcode) on the object. It is assumed that the objects are marked in one or more places on their exterior with a visually distinctive mark such as a barcode or radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag so that they may be identified with a scanner. The type of marking depends on the type of scanning system used, but may include ID or 2D barcode symbologies. Multiple symbologies or labeling approaches may be employed. The types of scanners employed are assumed to be compatible with the marking approach. The marking, either by barcode, RFID tag, or other means, encodes a symbol string, which is typically a string of letters and numbers, that identifies the object.

The perception system 34 may be supported by stands or may be suspended from above. As further shown in Figures 6 and 7, the perception system 34 may include a structure 52 having a top opening 54 and a bottom opening 56, and may be covered by an enclosing material 58. The structure 52 includes a plurality of sources (e.g., illumination sources such as LEDs) 60 as well as a plurality of image perception units (e.g., cameras) 62. The sources 60 may be provided in a variety of arrangements, and each may be directed toward the center of the opening. The perception units 62 are also generally directed toward the opening, although some cameras are directed horizontally, while others are directed upward, and some are directed downward. The system 34 also includes an entry source (e.g., infrared source) 64 as well as an entry detector (e.g., infrared detector) 66 for detecting when an object has entered the perception system 34. The LEDs and cameras therefore encircle the inside of the structure 52, and the cameras are positioned to view the interior via windows that may include a glass or plastic covering (e.g., 68).

An aspect of certain embodiments of the present invention, is the ability to identify via barcode or other visual markings of objects by employing a perception system into which objects may be dropped. Automated scanning systems would be unable to see barcodes on objects that are presented in a way that their barcodes are not exposed or visible to a single camera. The system 34 therefore is designed to view an object from a large number of different views very quickly, reducing or eliminating the possibility of the system 34 not being able to view identifying indicia on an object.

Key features in the perception system are the specific design of the perception system so as to maximize the probability of a successful scan, while simultaneously minimizing the average scan time. The probability of a successful scan and the average scan time make up key performance characteristics. These key performance characteristics are determined by the configuration and properties of the perception system, as well as the object set and how they are marked.

The two key performance characteristics may be optimized for a given item set and method of labeling. Parameters of the optimization for a system include how many scanners, where and in what orientation to place them, and what sensor resolutions and fields of view for the scanners to use. Optimization can be done through trial and error, or by simulation with models of the object.

Optimization through simulation employs a scanner performance model. A scanner performance model is the range of positions, orientations and barcode element size that an identifying symbol can be detected and decoded by the scanner, where the barcode element size is the size of the smallest feature on the symbol. These are typically rated at a minimum and maximum range, a maximum skew angle, a maximum pitch angle, and a minimum and maximum tilt angle.

Typical performance for camera-based scanners are that they are able to detect symbols within some range of distances as long as both pitch and skew of the plane of the symbol are within the range of plus or minus 45 degrees, while the tilt of the symbol can be arbitrary (between 0 and 360 degrees). The scanner performance model predicts whether a given symbol in a given position and orientation will be detected.

The scanner performance model is coupled with a model of where symbols would expect to be positioned and oriented. A symbol pose model is the range of all positions and orientations, in other words poses, in which a symbol will expect to be found. For the scanner, the symbol pose model is itself a combination of an article gripping model, which predicts how objects will be held by the robotic system, as well as a symbol -item appearance model, which describes the possible placements of the symbol on the object. For the scanner, the symbol pose model is itself a combination of the symbol -item appearance model, as well as an inbound- object pose model, which models the distribution of poses over which inbound articles are presented to the scanner. These models may be constructed empirically, modeled using an analytical model, or approximate models may be employed using simple sphere models for objects and a uniform distributions over the sphere as a symbol-item appearance model.

The operations of the systems described herein are coordinated by the central control system 78 as shown in Figures 1 - 3, 5, 8 and 10. The central control system is comprised of one or more workstations or central processing units (CPUs). The correspondence between barcodes, for example, and outbound destinations is maintained by the central control system in a database called a manifest. The central control system maintains the manifest by communicating with a warehouse management system (WMS).

If the perception system successfully recognizes a marking on the object, then the object is then identified and forwarded to a sorting station or other processing station. If the object is not identified, the robotic system may divert the object to a human sortation bin 76 to be reviewed by a human.

With reference to Figure 8, in a processing system 100 of an embodiment of the invention, objects 14 passing through the secondary perception unit 34 fall onto secondary conveyor 36. Diverters 70 including push bars 72 divert objects to shuttle sections 74 as appropriate. While only two such diverters and shuttle sections are shown, any number of such diverters and shuttle sections may be used. Unidentified objects or otherwise unacceptable objects continue along secondary conveyor 36 and fall into secondary exception bin 76. The diverters 70 are in communication with the controller 78, which is in communication with the scanner 32 as well as the indexing position of the conveyor 19. Once an object falls through the scanner and lands on the conveyor 36, the system notes the conveyor position of the object. The scanner information is processed, and the object (if identified) is associated with that conveyor location, and its processing location is identified (as discussed in more detail below). As the conveyor advances, the system will know when the object is in the line of activation of a selected diverter, and will activate the diverter to push the object into the appropriate carriage. The carriage then moves the object to the assigned bin as discussed in more detail below. In various embodiments, the diverters may push an object off through various other ways, such as using a robot or a diverting guide, and in further embodiments, the diverters may pull an object off of the conveyor.

As further shown with reference to Figure 9, each shuttle section 74 incudes a carriage 80 that shuttles back and forth between destination chutes 84 that include guide walls 85 that lead to two rows of bins 90, 92 on either side of track 88. Again, a central computing and control station 78 communicates with other computers distributed in the other components, and also communicates with the customer information system, provides a user interface, and coordinates all processes. As shown in Figure 9, each processing bin 90, 92 of each shuttle section 74 may include a pull out drawer 82 from which each of the two opposing processing bins (e.g., 90, 92) may be accessed and emptied. Each pull-out drawer 82 may also include light indicators 94 to indicate when the processing bin (e.g., 90, 92) is either full or is ready to be emptied based on system heuristics, e.g., that the bin is statistically unlikely to receive another object soon. In other embodiments, such lights may be positioned above the respective bin. Each drawer may also include a lock 99 that a person must unlock to pull out the drawer 82. The lock includes sensors that communicate with the controller 78, and when a drawer is unlocked, the system knows not to sort to either bin in the unlocked drawer. This way, the system may continue operating while drawers are pulled and bins are emptied.

As shown in Figure 10, each bin (90, 92), may include one or more pairs of emitters 96 and sensors 98 at the top of the bin. Output from a sensor 98 that is representative of a prolonged interruption from the associated source, may be used to determine that the bin is full. Figure 11 shows a processing system 100' similar to that shown in Figure 8 (where the identical components have the same reference numbers), except that the shuttle sections 74' of Figure 8 are positioned alongside (parallel with) the conveyor 36' . In particular, a first diverter 70' may push an object into a carriage 80' at one end of a shuttle section 74', while a second diverter 70" may push an object into a carriage 80" in the middle of a shuttle section 74" . In accordance with further embodiments, many different arrangements are possible, and each is within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Each drawer 82' and 82" may as discussed below, and the indicator lights 84', 84" may be located above the drawers 82', 82".

Similarly, the diverters 70', 70" are in communication with the controller 78, which is in communication with the scanner 34 as well as the indexing position of the conveyor 36' . Again, in various embodiments, the diverters may push an object off through various other ways, such as using a robot or a diverting guide, and in further embodiments, the diverters may pull an object off of the conveyor. Once an object falls through the scanner and lands of the conveyor, the system notes the conveyor position of the object. The scanner information is processed, and the object (if identified) is associated with that conveyor location, and its processing location is identified (as discussed in more detail below). Again, as the conveyor advances, the system will know when the obj ect is in the line of activation of a selected diverter, and will activate the diverter to push the object into the appropriate carriage. The carriage then moves the object to the assigned bin as discussed in more detail below.

Figure 12 shows a processing system 200 similar to that of systems 100, 100' (with similar elements bearing similar reference numerals), except that the system 200 includes carriages 101 that ride along a track (e.g., a circular track) 102. When a carriage 101 is positioned below the drop scanner 34, an object falls through the scanner and is identified as discussed above. The carriage 101 is then moved between rows of bins 104. With further reference to Figures 13 and 14, when the carriage 101 is moved to a desired processing location, the carriage stops (or slows), and tilts to dump the object 14 into the bin 104 (as shown in Figure 14) similar to the action of carriage 80 discussed above. Again, the object 14 may include indicia 15 such as a barcode that was detected by the scanner 34. Similar to the embodiment of Figure 9, guide walls may be used to guide the object as it falls so that the object does not accidently drop into a neighboring bin, and sensors (e.g., emitter/detector pairs) 96, 98 may be employed to detect when a bin is full as discussed above.

Figure 15 shows a processing system 200' similar to that of systems 100, 100' and 200 (with similar elements bearing similar reference numerals), except that the system 200' includes carriages 202 that ride along a track (e.g., a circular track) 204. When a carriage 202 is positioned below the drop scanner 34, an object falls through the scanner and is identified as discussed above. The carriage 202 is then moved between rows of bins 206, each of which may include, for example a pre-placed bag. With further reference to Figures 16 and 17, when the carriage 202 is moved to a desired processing location, the carriage stops (or slows), and dumps the object 14 into the bin 206 (as shown in Figure 16) similar to the action of carriage 80 discussed above. Again, the object 14 may include indicia 15 such as a barcode that was detected by the scanner 34.

As further shown in Figure 18, when a bins 206 is full (e.g., by sensors as discussed above, or by the system knowing how many items are in the bin, or by having a human simply decide that a bin is full) a human may then pick up the bin 206. Upon removing the bin 206, a sensor system 208 under the bin will indicate that the bin (that specific bin) has been removed. The system may continue processing other bins, but will know not to sort to the removed bin. A new empty bin 210 may then be replaced on the opened location. Because the assignment of bin processing locations is dynamic and flexible, no further registration is required. As soon as the bin 210 is placed on the sensor 208, the system will know that there is a new unassigned bin ready for dynamic processing as discussed further below. The assignment of processing bins may also be dynamic. For example, systems in accordance with further embodiments, provide improved transport and conveyor systems to provide a singulated stream of objects, and to provide dynamically changing patterns of object handling, with resulting efficiencies in the sortation process, lower space requirements, lower demand for manual operations, and as a consequence, lower capital and operating costs for the entire system.

During use, the sorting station may select an object and then identify the selected object by the perception system 32 (or may detect an identity of an object using a scanner on the articulated arm, or may use the robotic arm to move the object to a detection device). If the object has an assigned bin or a new bin is available, then the end effector will drop the object from the carriage into the bin. If the object is not identified the object may be dropped into a designated exception bin that is part of the shuttle wing, or the object may continue traveling in the carriage 202 along the track 204 and later be dropped into an exception bin 76 (e.g., as discussed above with reference to Figure 8) .

The system assigns a bin to the object if a new bin is available and the object is not yet assigned a bin at that sorting station. What is significant is that the sorting station is not pre- assigned a large set of collection bins assigned to all possible objects that may appear in the input path. Further, the central controller may employ a wide variety of heuristics that may further shape the process of dynamically assigning objects to collection bins as discussed in more detail below. Once bins are either filled or otherwise completed, the completed bins are signaled as being done and ready for further processing (e.g., by lights 92 associated with bin 90, 92 in Figure 10).

As shown in Figure 19, a sortation process of the invention at a sorting station may begin (step 400) by providing a singulated stream of objects that, one at a time, drop an object into the drop scanner (step 402). The system then identifies the new object (step 404). The system then will determine whether the object is yet assigned to any collection bin (step 406). If not, the system will determine whether a next bin is available (step 408). If no next bin is available (step 410), the robotic system will return the object to the input buffer (step 410) and return to step 402. Alternatively, the system can pick one of the collection bins that is in process and decide that it can be emptied to be reused for the object in hand, at which point the control system can empty the collection bin or signal a human worker to do it. If a next bin is available (and the system may permit any number of bins per station), the system will then assign the object to a next bin (step 412). The system then places the object into the assigned bin (step 414). The system then returns to step 402 until finished. Again, in certain embodiments, the secondary conveyor may be an indexed conveyor that moves in increments each time an object is dropped onto the conveyor. The system may then register the identity of the object, access a warehouse manifest, and determine an assigned bin location or assign a new bin location.

A process of the overall control system is shown, for example, in Figure 20. The overall control system may begin (step 500) by permitting a new collection bin at each station to be assigned to a group of objects based on overall system parameters (step 502) as discussed in more detail below. The system then identifies assigned bins correlated with objects at each station (step 504), and updates the number of objects at each bin at each station (step 506). The system then determines that when a bin is either full or the system expects that the associated sorting station is unlikely to see another object associated with the bin, the associated sorting station robotic system will then place the completed bin onto an output conveyor, or signal a human worker to come and empty the bin (step 508), and then return to step 502.

Systems of various embodiments provide numerous advantages because of the inherent dynamic flexibility. The flexible correspondence between sorter outputs and destinations provides that there may be fewer sorter outputs than destinations, so the entire system may require less space. The flexible correspondence between sorter outputs and destinations also provides that the system may choose the most efficient order in which to handle objects, in a way that varies with the particular mix of objects and downstream demand. The system is also easily scalable, by adding sorters, and more robust since the failure of a single sorter might be handled dynamically without even stopping the system. It should be possible for sorters to exercise discretion in the order of objects, favoring objects that need to be handled quickly, or favoring objects for which the given sorter may have a specialized gripper.

In various embodiments therefore, the object processing system may include a carriage 80 that shuttles back and forth on a track between destination bins. A central computing and control station 78 communicates with other computers distributed in the other components, and also communicates with the customer information system, provides a user interface, and coordinates all processes. In other embodiments, the system may include a track (e.g., in a loop) along which carriages may travel in one direction past a plurality of destination bins.

Systems of various embodiments provide numerous advantages because of the inherent dynamic flexibility. The flexible correspondence between sorter outputs and destinations provides that there may be fewer sorter outputs than destinations, so the entire system may require less space. The flexible correspondence between sorter outputs and destinations also provides that the system may choose the most efficient order in which to handle objects, in a way that varies with the particular mix of objects and downstream demand. The system is also easily scalable, by adding sorters, and more robust since the failure of a single sorter might be handled dynamically without even stopping the system. It should be possible for sorters to exercise discretion in the order of objects, favoring objects that need to be handled quickly, or favoring objects for which the given sorter may have a specialized gripper.

The system provides in a specific embodiment an input system that interfaces to the customer's conveyors and containers, stores objects for feeding into the system, and feeds those objects into the system at a moderate and controllable rate. In one embodiment, the interface to the customer's process takes the form of a dumper from a Gaylord, but many other embodiments are possible. In one embodiment, feeding into the system is by an inclined cleated conveyor with overhead flow restrictors, e.g., baffles. In accordance with certain embodiments, the system feeds objects in at a modest controlled rate. Many options are available, including variations in the conveyor slope and speed, the presence, size and structure of cleats and baffles, and the use of sensors to monitor and control the feed rate.

The system includes in a specific embodiment a primary perception system that monitors the stream of objects on the primary conveyor. Where possible the primary perception system may identify the object to speed or simplify subsequent operations. For example, knowledge of the objects on the primary conveyor may enable the system to make better choices regarding which objects to move to provide a singulated stream of objects.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that numerous modifications and variations may be made to the above disclosed embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is: