A vehicle and conveyor system for simultaneously transporting workpieces and workers, wherein the vehicle has a workpiece receptacle, an assembly platform accessible to workers, its own drive which is designed to drive the vehicle independently of other vehicles of the conveyor system, a contactless route sensor for navigating the vehicle and a control apparatus for controlling the drive, inter alia on the basis of a signal from the route sensor. The vehicle may have a contactless platform sensor for monitoring the assembly platform, wherein the platform sensor is designed to at least temporarily alternatively take over the monitoring of the travel situation of the vehicle or to at least temporarily additionally support the monitoring of the travel situation of the vehicle. A conveyor system having two such vehicles and to a corresponding method is also provided.

A direction switching module for lift robots using a pair of pinions coupled to a rack for propelling vertically and horizontally according to the track's orientation, is disclosed. In a linear motion mode both pinions rotate in the same velocity. In a direction switching mode, when changing from vertical to horizontal motion mode and vise versa, the module is capable of propelling one pinion on a vertical track and its counterpart on a horizontal track, simultaneously, each pinion in a different velocity. A bogie propelled by two pairs of said module is also disclosed, and a controller configured to drive both pinions in same velocity during linear motion and each pinion in a separate appropriate velocity during the direction switching mode. A method for turning a pinion-driven lift-robot in an intersection of rails and a controller for controlling the linear motion modes and the direction switching modes of the lift robot are also disclosed.

A reference cost and a variable cost are included in a link cost for setting a set route for causing a setting vehicle to travel to a destination on a travelable route. A controller obtains an adjusted variable cost by adjusting a variable cost using a priority adjustment value set higher as a priority for arriving more quickly at a destination decreases, determines a link cost for each link in a candidate route, which is a candidate for a set route for a setting vehicle, based on the adjusted variable cost and the reference cost, obtains a route cost for each candidate route based on the link costs, and sets the set route based on the route costs of the candidate routes.

A system for delivering an article from a first location to a second location with a robot having a closeable transport container for housing the article during transport. A closeable recipient container is provided at the second location for receiving the article. At least one computer configured to navigate the robot over an outdoor transportation network between locations is provided. The robot has a robot article transport mechanism controlled by the at least one computer for removing the article from the transport container and the recipient container has a recipient article transport mechanism for moving the article inside the recipient container.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include automated guided vehicles (AGVs) having a broadcasting system. In one embodiment, the self-driving system includes a body having one or more motorized wheels, a console coupled in an upright position to an end of the body, and a broadcasting system disposed at the console and is operable to send a notification to one or more mobile devices, wherein the broadcasting system uses a first type of positioning system and the one or more mobile devices use a second type of positioning system different from the first type of positioning system.

A method and a device for controlling a number of robots to emergency stop are provided. The method includes arranging multiple position points in a site where robots work and position identifiers corresponding to the position points, and providing corresponding recognizers at bottoms of the robots; when fault signals reported by the robots are detected, determining, according to the fault signals, whether all the robots in the site need to be controlled to emergency stop, wherein if yes, according to current positions and moving speeds of the robots, position points in the site are allocated to the robots as respective emergency stop positions, the robots are controlled to move to the corresponding emergency stop positions, and thereafter the robots are controlled to stop movement. The device comprises a configuration module, a determination module, an allocation module and a control module.

A container handling method employing dense storage comprises: when at least one blocking container blocking removal of a target container is stored on storage shelf, container fetching mechanism of a robot fetching at least one blocking container from storage shelf, and temporarily storing same on buffer mechanism of robot; and container fetching mechanism of robot fetching target container from storage shelf, storing same on buffer mechanism of robot, fetching at least one blocking container from buffer mechanism of robot, and placing same at an original storage position thereof, an original storage position of target container, or other vacant storage positions on storage shelf; when buffer mechanism of robot is full due to at least one blocking container, container fetching mechanism of robot fetching target container from storage shelf, and keeping same on container fetching mechanism of robot.

A method includes moving a locating feature associated with a robotic arm of the robotic system along a selected defined path to a detected position, where the detected position is a position of the locating feature when a force feedback condition is satisfied. The method includes calculating a positional offset of the robotic arm based on a nominal position and the detected position of the robotic arm. The method includes performing, by the robotic system, one or more operations at the manufacturing station using the positional offset.

A safety system for an automated storage and picking system is described. The storage system includes load handling devices operating above a series of stacked containers located within a framework, the top of which includes tracks on which the load handling devices operate. The safety system includes a transmitter located in close proximity to the storage system and a receiver located on each of the load handling devices. The transmitter can continually transmit a signal that is detected by the receivers on the load handling devices. In the event of an emergency or a breach of the storage system, the transmission of the signal is cut. Once the receiver no longer receives the signal from the transmitter, power to each load handling device drive is cut to render the storage system safe.

The present disclosure discloses a dispatching method and device, and a non-transitory readable storage medium, and relates to the field of computer technology. The method of the present disclosure includes: obtaining path condition information within a warehouse; calculating pickup time of each candidate robot of a plurality of candidate robots according to a location of the candidate robot and the path condition information; dispatching a target robot to perform a pickup task according to the pickup time of each candidate robot.