Methods and apparatuses are provided for use in monitoring product placement within a shopping facility. Some embodiments provide an apparatus configured to determine product placement conditions within a shopping facility, comprising: a transceiver configured to wirelessly receive communications; a product monitoring control circuit coupled with the transceiver; a memory coupled with the control circuit and storing computer instructions that when executed by the control circuit cause the control circuit to: obtain a composite three-dimensional (3D) scan mapping corresponding to at least a select area of the shopping facility and based on a series of 3D scan data; evaluate the 3D scan mapping to identify multiple product depth distances; and identify, from the evaluation of the 3D scan mapping, when one or more of the multiple product depth distances is greater than a predefined depth distance threshold from the reference offset distance of the product support structure.

A workpiece placement system includes a robot for placing a workpiece in a containment area or on a jig; a sensor for measuring a three-dimensional shape of the containment area or jig; a processor for performing a process to determine a workpiece placement position and a workpiece placement posture based on the three-dimensional shape; and a robot controller for controlling the robot based on the workpiece placement position and the workpiece placement posture. The processor obtains a workpiece shape of the workpiece to be placed; retrieves workpiece placement postures chosen by a user; calculates a vacant area of the containment area or jig based on the three-dimensional shape; calculates workpiece placeable areas that satisfy the workpiece shape and the workpiece placement posture in the vacant area; and determines the workpiece placement position and the workpiece placement posture suitable for placement of the workpiece in the workpiece placeable areas.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for determining item availability are provided. A computer implemented method for determining item availability in a shopping space comprising: receiving a request for an item for purchase, instructing a motorized transport unit to travel to a display space in the shopping space corresponding to the item for the purchase, determining whether the item is available in the display space based on information captured by one or more sensors of the motorized transport unit, and in an event that the item for purchase is not available in the display space: determining an item unavailable response to present to the customer.

An apparatus comprises a plurality of motorized mobile retail facility personal assistance apparatuses and a central computer system. The central computer system includes a network interface that permits the central computer system to wirelessly communicate with the mobile apparatuses and also with at least one user interface unit. Upon receiving a request to use one of the mobile apparatuses, the central computer system assigns an available apparatuses for use by a user during a usage session. This activity can include interfacing with the user to determine one or more specifics regarding their current needs in these regards. The specifics of their needs, in turn, can provide a basis for assigning a particular apparatus from amongst a plurality of differently purposed and differently configured apparatuses.

Manufacturing and assembly of a shoe or a portion of a shoe is enhanced by automated placement and assembly of shoe parts. For example, a part-recognition system analyzes an image of a shoe part to identify the part and determine a location of the part. Once the part is identified and located, the part can be manipulated by an automated manufacturing tool.

Apparatuses, components and methods are provided herein useful to provide assistance to customers and/or workers in a shopping facility. In some embodiments, a shopping facility personal assistance system comprises: a plurality of motorized transport units located in and configured to move through a shopping facility space; a plurality of user interface units, each corresponding to a respective motorized transport unit during use of the respective motorized transport unit; and a central computer system having a network interface such that the central computer system wirelessly communicates with one or both of the plurality of motorized transport units and the plurality of user interface units, wherein the central computer system is configured to control movement of the plurality of motorized transport units through the shopping facility space based at least on inputs from the plurality of user interface units.

Some embodiments include a track system comprising: an elevated track system comprising a series of elevated tracks that are positioned elevated above a sales floor and products distributed over at least a portion of the sales floor of a retail store, and configured such that multiple motorized transport units travel along the series of elevated tracks in traversing at least portions of the retail store.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for restoring shopping space conditions are provided. A system for restoring shopping space conditions comprises a motorized transport unit comprising at least one sensor, and a central computer system comprising a wireless transceiver for communicating with the motorized transport unit. The central computer system being configured to: identify a section of a shopping space having a dropped item, instruct the motorized transport unit to travel to the section of the shopping space and collect information associated with the dropped item using the at least one sensor, determine a characteristic of the dropped item in the section of the shopping space using the at least one sensor of the motorized transport unit, and select a cleaning task from a plurality of cleaning tasks based on the characteristic of the dropped item.

A load parameter setting device includes: a storage unit that stores a plurality of load parameters corresponding to a plurality of types of workpieces to be gripped by the robot respectively; an index calculation unit that calculates, for each of the plurality of stored load parameters, an index for selection of the load parameter of the workpiece gripped by the robot based on a current position and orientation of the robot; and a selection unit that selects the load parameter of the workpiece from among the plurality of load parameters stored in the storage unit based on the calculated index.

Methods and apparatuses are provided for use in monitoring product placement within a shopping facility. Some embodiments provide an apparatus configured to determine product placement conditions within a shopping facility, comprising: a transceiver configured to wirelessly receive communications; a product monitoring control circuit coupled with the transceiver; a memory coupled with the control circuit and storing computer instructions that when executed by the control circuit cause the control circuit to: obtain a composite three-dimensional (3D) scan mapping corresponding to at least a select area of the shopping facility and based on a series of 3D scan data; evaluate the 3D scan mapping to identify multiple product depth distances; and identify, from the evaluation of the 3D scan mapping, when one or more of the multiple product depth distances is greater than a predefined depth distance threshold from the reference offset distance of the product support structure.