A method and apparatus are provided for sorting or retrieving items to/from a plurality of destinations areas. The items are loaded onto one of a plurality of independently controlled delivery vehicles. The delivery vehicles follow a track that guides the delivery vehicles to/from the destination areas, which are positioned along the track. Once at the appropriate destination area, an item is transferred between the delivery vehicle and the destination area.

The present invention comprises a device (1100) for monitoring a storage height (2100) of a warehouse (2000), in particular a shelf warehouse, preferably a high-bay warehouse, comprising at least: a sensor (1110) that is in particular designed to be arranged in an upper region of the warehouse (2000), wherein the sensor (1110) is configured so as: to perform a distance measurement (D.sub.i, D.sub.N) of a distance (D.sub.i, D.sub.N) that is substantially horizontal with respect to the warehouse (2000) and that monitors a predefined maximum storage height (2120), and a measurement and/or control unit (1120) that is configured so as to output a message (F, W) in the event of an exceedance (Ü) of the predefined maximum storage height (2120) being detected by the sensor (1110).

An autonomous mobile robot includes a placement part, an arm configured to extend from and retract into the placement part in a horizontal direction, and a control unit configured to control a movement of the arm. The control unit moves a tip of the arm into a groove formed in a bottom surface of an object supported from underneath thereof, and then the control unit returns the tip of the arm hooked in the groove to the placement part, or the control unit moves the tip of the arm hooked in a groove formed in a bottom surface of an object placed on the placement part toward a rack configured to support the object from underneath thereof.

Proposed are an OHT (overhead hoist transport) vehicle traction device and a method of managing an OHT system using same. The OHT vehicle traction device may solve problems of a driving-malfunction vehicle on the rails of an OHT system or tows the vehicle, and the method of managing the OHT system may increase the management efficiency of the entire OHT system by solving problems of a driving-malfunction vehicle or towing the vehicle in an unmanned type.

A method and an associated robot for retrieval of a target article from an article stack are disclosed. The article stack comprising the target article and a first non-target article being positioned on top of the target article, the target article being arranged in the article stack with a lower target article face being at a first vertical stack position. The method comprises: identifying the target article; positioning a platform having a platform surface in a first vertical platform position wherein the platform surface is at the first vertical stack position or below the first vertical stack position; repositioning the target article and the first non-target article in a first horizontal direction onto the platform; and repositioning the first non-target article opposite the first horizontal direction off the platform.

A device for storing cylindrical material according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a rack shelf including one or more racks in which a circular axis is stored, a rack master including a first rack master fork configured to collect a first circular axis in which an article stored in a target rack is not mounted, and a second rack master fork configured to transport a second circular axis in which the article is mounted in the target rack from which the first circular axis is collected, a turn skid configured to collect the first circular axis collected from the first rack master fork; and an input/output port configure to mount the article in the first circular axis collected from the turn skid.

The present disclosure provides an article transport vehicle and an article transport facility capable of allowing the article transport vehicles to share power. In addition, the present disclosure provides the article transport vehicle and the article transport facility capable of normally managing the article transport vehicle even though a non-power supply section, in which no electric supply line is installed along a rail, is lengthened. According to the present disclosure, it is possible to normally manage the article transport vehicle and relatively easily ensure power stored in the battery even though a supply of power from the electric supply line is cut off or no electric supply line is installed along the traveling rail.

A warehouse with a cable driven transport vehicle for movement of items within the warehouse, where the cable driven storage and retrieval machine comprises a load handling platform that is suspended by cables, which are variable in length and tensioned by cable tensioning means, such that the load handling platform can access a given workspace of the warehouse, and where the cable tensioning means themselves are made to be moveable within the given workspace.

A transferring robot is disclosed in the disclosure. The transferring robot includes a movable chassis configured to move along a path among adjacent warehouse storage containers; a temporary storage shelf provided on the movable chassis, the temporary storage shelf being configured to store a target case; a fetching assembly provided on the movable chassis, the fetching assembly being configured to extend or retract horizontally relative to the movable chassis, so as to realize fetching and placing of the target case between the storage containers and the temporary storage shelf, where a direction along which the fetching assembly extends or retracts horizontally is perpendicular to a moving direction. A warehousing and logistics system includes the foregoing transferring robot. The disclosure further discloses a warehousing system and an item transferring method.

An automated warehouse includes a stacker crane, a switch, and a transfer controller. The stacker crane includes a traveling vehicle that travels in a first direction, a hoist carriage provided to the traveling vehicle, first and second transfer devices provided to the hoist carriage, and a lateral conveyor to move the first transfer device laterally on the hoist carriage. The switch switches between a first state that enables the lateral movement of the first transfer device and a second state that disables the same. When the switch selects the second state, the transfer controller moves the first and second transfer devices to positions corresponding to first and second shelves without moving the first transfer device laterally.