A stocker includes a transporter that travels through a traveling space within a stocker and transports an article, a pair of rails that flank the traveling space extend in parallel or substantially in parallel in a horizontal direction, platforms movable along the pair of rails, and a housing provided on a stocker outer side of a door that separates an inside and an outside of the stocker, and that houses the platforms. The pair of rails extend from the inside of the stocker to the housing through an opening directly under the door. At least one of the platforms includes a fence in an upright standing manner and an upper end of the fence is higher than an upper end of the opening. The platform that includes the fence extends across the inside of the stocker and the outside of the stocker via the opening while the fence is arranged on a stocker inner side.

To provide a low-temperature storage system that can, with a simple structure, minimize heat transfer into the low-temperature storage chamber, improve storage space efficiency inside the low-temperature storage chamber, and reduce production and maintenance costs. The low-temperature storage system includes a low-temperature storage chamber, and a moving mechanism that carries storage objects in and out of the chamber. The moving mechanism includes an internal unit, which is made up of a holding part, a lift member that moves the holding part up and down, a reciprocating member that moves the holding part back and forth, and a supplementary moving member that moves storage shelves; and an external unit that transmits driving forces to the internal unit. The holding part, lift member, and reciprocating member are disposed to line up along a moving direction of the supplementary moving member.

Embodiments provide for a conveying system to move multiple articles from one location to another. The conveying system may use a transport device to grasp each article from an initial location, rotate the articles away from the initial locations, move the articles linearly, and rotate the articles to destination locations. Rather than moving each article one-by-one, in the embodiments described herein, the conveying system can move multiple articles simultaneously to various locations where each location may contain a different process to perform on the article. Moving multiple articles simultaneously shortens the time required to process the articles.

Disclosed herein is an apparatus and method of autonomous Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) comprising a fully autonomous growing environment. More specifically, disclosed herein is an apparatus and method in which a plurality of frame assembly may be stored and manipulated within a track assembly that is configured within a rack through the motivational input a carriage-mounted manipulators. Each frame assembly is configured to be coupled to an adjacent frame assembly supported by the track assembly by at least one coupler disposed on a forward end and a rearward end of each frame assembly. With the frame assembly including a low friction bearing surface to orient within a track assembly, it may be configured to satisfy various utilities necessary within the farm, such as but not limited to the housing grow media for the cultivation or the housing of electromechanical systems.

A system, comprising: a storage workspace including a first framework defined by a series of first uprights, the first uprights supporting a grid of two substantially perpendicular sets of rails; and a plurality of containers for storing objects, wherein the plurality of containers are arranged in stacks, each stack of containers is located underneath a grid space in the workspace; and a grid extension including a continuation of the two substantially perpendicular sets of rails, and wherein the plurality of containers can be moved by one or more load handling devices between the storage workspace and an area beneath the grid extension, wherein the area beneath the grid extension is configured for positioning a roll cage such that containers can be placed or removed from the roll cage.

A goods-storage and order-fulfillment system having a rack store consisting of stackable rack units forming a multi-level shelving rack, with each shelf configured to store a plurality of articles, and including an automated depositing and retrieving machine that has its own travel drive and is automatically controlled and contactlessly guided for depositing trays or articles into and/or retrieving the same from the shelving racks. The system includes an automated transport unit for receiving articles from or transferring articles to the depositing and retrieving machine to transport an individual article unloaded from the tray to a picking station or to transfer an individual article to the tray or to the machine, the transport unit being floor-bound and having its own travel drive and being automatically controlled and contactlessly guided. The system includes at least one picking station supplied with individual articles by the transport unit for at least partial order fulfillment.

A warehousing apparatus including a temporary storage layer board used for providing a temporary storage station, and a plurality of shelves with each shelf including at least one storage layer board and a plurality of stand columns arranged at intervals in a horizontal direction. The storage layer board is spaced apart from the temporary storage layer board in a vertical direction by means of a stand column, and the storage layer board is used for providing a storage position, a first robot passage in which a first robot travels and a second robot passage in which a second robot travels.

An automated warehouse system and method are provided for controlling the internal microclimate of receptacles within a warehouse or order fulfilment facility. The system provides independent environmental condition monitoring and regulation for each tote. The system enables individual totes to be maintained at adequate or substantially ideal conditions, independent of its position within a storage system or the environmental conditions of adjacent totes in the storage system. The totes may include self-contained environmental control systems and/or the storage system may include environmental control inputs to adjust or maintain the environmental conditions within a particular tote. The system is operable to monitor and control the microclimate of a tote while it is stored at a storage location within the storage system or in a buffer, and may be operable to monitor and/or control the microclimates of the totes while they travel throughout the system.

An automated warehouse system and method for climate controlled storage and order fulfilment comprises a control system, an automated storage and retrieval system (“ASRS”) with a storage rack defining storage locations for storage receptacles for containing goods, where either at least some of the storage receptacles are individually temperature controllable or the storage rack is at least partially disposed in a frozen environment. A transportation system is coupled with the ASRS for transporting storage receptacles to and from the automated storage and retrieval system, and a workstation is in communication with the transportation system for picking goods to a temperature-controlled order receptacle. The control system directs order fulfilment operations comprising directing goods requiring stable temperature control from the ASRS to the workstation and directs an operator to pick the goods from the storage receptacle to the temperature-controlled order receptacle to maintain the goods within a required temperature range.

An automated warehouse system and method are provided for controlling internal microclimates of totes within a warehouse or order fulfilment facility. The system provides independent environmental condition monitoring and regulation for each tote. The system enables individual totes to be maintained at adequate or substantially ideal conditions, independent of its position within a storage system or the environmental conditions of adjacent totes. The storage system includes environmental control inputs at individual storage locations to adjust or maintain environmental conditions within a tote at a particular storage location. The totes engage the environmental control inputs when they are stored at a storage location. The system may utilize standard or commercially available totes. The system is operable to monitor and control the microclimate of a tote while it is stored at a storage location and may be operable to monitor the totes while they travel throughout the system.