A vehicle for use in an inventory management system having a plurality of destination areas and a guide system includes a platform for receiving and transporting items to and from the destination areas, a plurality of motors, a first drive system, a second drive system, a transfer mechanism, and a clutch mechanism. The transfer system is configured to transfer and retrieve items to and from the destination areas, and the clutch mechanism is configured to engage and disengage the transfer mechanism from at least one of the motors, whereby the second drive system drives movement of the vehicle independently of the transfer mechanism.

A pallet racking system is disclosed, comprising a plurality of pallet shelves connected to a plurality of columns and a plurality of suspension hanging systems coupled to the plurality of columns. Each suspension hanging system is coupled to and configured for supporting a storage unit therebelow. The suspension hanging systems are slidable relative to the plurality of pallet shelves such that the sliding movement of a suspension hanging system relative to an adjacent suspension hanging system defines an aisle space therebetween.

A container exchange station is provided in connection with a workspace of an inventory system. At the container exchange station, containers are exchanged between container holders and container shuttles. The container holders are configured to hold one or more containers having consolidated inventory items in high density storage. The container shuttles are also configured to hold one or more containers for performing other operations with respect to inventory items in the one or more containers. The containers are configured to hold inventory items while the inventory items move for various operations throughout the workspace and while the inventory items are stowed in high density storage in the workspace.

A container exchange station is provided in connection with a workspace of an inventory system. At the container exchange station, containers are exchanged between container holders and container shuttles. The container holders are configured to hold one or more containers having consolidated inventory items in high density storage. The container shuttles are also configured to hold one or more containers for performing other operations with respect to inventory items in the one or more containers. The containers are configured to hold inventory items while the inventory items move for various operations throughout the workspace and while the inventory items are stowed in high density storage in the workspace.

A high-efficiency storage system includes: a warehouse area, having grid spaces arranged closely with each other into an a×b matrix, and a and b being positive integers greater than 1; plural containing members disposed in the grid spaces for containing objects respectively; plural moving members for moving the containing members in the warehouse area; and a control device, telecommunicatively coupled to the moving members, for controlling the movement of the moving members. The effect of managing a warehouse automatically can be achieved by connecting the control device to the moving members telecommunicatively, so as to reduces the walkway space originally used for transporting goods and increase the storage space, and the warehouse area come with a matrix design, so that the storage space is utilized effectively, and the remaining usable spaces in the warehouse area can be fully used.

A high-efficiency storage system includes: a warehouse area, having grid spaces arranged closely with each other into an a×b matrix, and a and b being positive integers greater than 1; plural containing members disposed in the grid spaces for containing objects respectively; plural moving members for moving the containing members in the warehouse area; and a control device, telecommunicatively coupled to the moving members, for controlling the movement of the moving members. The effect of managing a warehouse automatically can be achieved by connecting the control device to the moving members telecommunicatively, so as to reduces the walkway space originally used for transporting goods and increase the storage space, and the warehouse area come with a matrix design, so that the storage space is utilized effectively, and the remaining usable spaces in the warehouse area can be fully used.

A storage and retrieval system including a vertical array of storage levels, each storage level having storage locations, a multilevel vertical conveyor system configured to transport the uncontained case units to and from the vertical array of storage levels, each storage level being configured to receive uncontained case units from the multilevel vertical conveyor system, at least one autonomous transport confined to each storage level, the at least one autonomous transport being configured to transport the uncontained case units between respective storage locations and the multilevel vertical conveyor system, and a controller configured to effect operation of the multilevel vertical conveyor system and at least one autonomous transport for assembling orders of uncontained case units of different types without moving bundles of the same uncontained case unit type throughout the storage and retrieval system.

The present invention is a robotic system for maintaining product inventory and dispensing products upon request from a customer or other user. Product items are stored in an inventory storage unit (ISU), one item per bin. Controller logic allows items to be stored in, and retrieved from, arbitrarily-assigned storage locations. The bins hang on rails within drawers. Configuration of the rails facilitates bins of variable height.

The present invention is a robotic system for maintaining product inventory and dispensing products upon request from a customer or other user. Product items are stored in an inventory storage unit (ISU), one item per bin. Controller logic allows items to be stored in, and retrieved from, arbitrarily-assigned storage locations. The bins hang on rails within drawers. Configuration of the rails facilitates bins of variable height.

A method of preparing meals in a computerized kitchen workspace is set forth. The computerized kitchen workspace includes one or more robots for preparing and cooking food in the kitchen workspace. Kitchen appliances may be automatically controlled according to a recipe. The one or more robots may access kitchen items necessary for meal preparation by rotating automated shelves. The meal may then be automatically prepared by the one or more robots. Automated storage shelves may be provided with electrical power for powering kitchen appliances found on the shelves.