A robot-based electronic commerce warehouse order picking method is provided, box body identity information of a circulation box is acquired and the circulation box and a robot are bound based on the box body identity information, the circulation box includes at least one circulation position, a tag and a goods placement mark are correspondingly arranged at the circulation position, and the box body identity information includes information of the tag and information of the goods placement mark; warehouse order information is acquired and the warehouse order information is associated with the box body identity information to obtain order binding information; an interaction terminal of the robot is controlled according to the order binding information to display an interaction interface to instruct a picker to pick goods at a corresponding goods position and place the goods at the circulation position according to the goods placement mark.

Techniques for automatically modulating a physical configuration of a reconfigurable building structure. A reconfigurable building structure may be constructed of physical elements that are movable with respect to one another to facilitate actuating the reconfigurable building structure between a plurality of different physical configurations. The physical configuration of a reconfigurable building structure may be adjusted to accommodate for physical dimensions of an item that is going to be moved into the reconfigurable building structure. For example, a spacing between two shelves may be expanded in response to an order being placed for a large item. In this way, when the item is delivered to a physical address associated with the reconfigurable building structure, various physical characteristics of the reconfigurable building structure may have already been modulated to accept the item.

A robotic system for dynamic controlling the movement of a mobile robot is presented. The robotic system includes a multi-level transport system arranged in an xyz-space. The multi-level transport system includes a plurality of magnetic tracks configured to allow movement of the mobile robot in at least one direction in the xy-plane. The multi-level transport system further includes a plurality of transfer mechanisms configured to change the direction of the mobile robot in the xy-plane, and to allow the movement of the mobile robot in a direction along the z-axis, each transfer mechanism defining a transfer node in the multi-level transport system. The robotic system further includes a control system configured to dynamically control the movement of the mobile robot in the x,y,z direction at one or more transfer nodes of the multi-level transport system, by dynamically activating a corresponding magnetic track or a corresponding transfer mechanism.

An example method includes: during a container load process, controlling a sensor assembly to capture sensor data depicting a container interior; detecting, from the sensor data, items in the container interior; determining, based on the detected items, first and second load process metrics associated with first and second targets; generating first and second normalized metrics based on the first and second load process metrics, and the first and second targets; obtaining a first weighting factor associated with the first load process metric, and a second weighting factor associated with the second load process metric; combining the first normalized metric and the first weighting factor, with the second normalized metric and the second weighting factor, to generate an aggregated load process metric; and transmitting a control command according to the aggregated load process metric; and rendering, at an indicator device, a load process state indicator according to the control command.

A warehouse automation system adapted to improve warehouse operating productivity includes a plurality of carts for transporting products within a warehouse and a controller. The controller is adapted to associate a first one of the plurality of carts with a first person and to control the first cart to lead the first person around the warehouse. According to one advantage, the time the first person spends restocking, picking, counting, sorting, moving, and packing product into customer orders and shipments, for example, is reduced.

The present disclosure relates to a method for verifying a value stream along a transport route, wherein a plurality of field devices, each having at least one sensor and/or actuator for determining and/or monitoring at least one process variable and an electronic unit, are arranged along the transport route and generate corresponding data, or for verifying the value stream of at least one product in warehouse stock, wherein a first service platform is used, via which a plurality of participant nodes each with at least one database have a communication connection to one another according to a distributed ledger or blockchain technology.

A method for retrieving an inventory item based on a handling robot, where the handling robot includes: a storage frame; and a material handling device installed on the storage frame, and including a telescopic arm and a manipulator installed to the telescopic arm; and the method for retrieving an inventory item includes: driving, by the telescopic arm, the manipulator to extend to a preset position of warehouse shelf along a preset horizontal reference line; loading, by the manipulator that is remained on the reference line, the inventory item located in the preset position; driving, by the telescopic arm, the manipulator loaded with the inventory item to move to the storage frame along the reference line; and unloading, by the manipulator that is remained on the reference line, the inventory item to the storage frame.

Methods and apparatus for efficiently fulfilling product orders corresponding are described. Order items are divided into those which are to be automatically picked using an automated pick cell including a loader, such as a robotic arm, storage buffers and an apparatus for transferring the automatically picked items onto a robotic cart. The manually picked items are picked by a human picker guided by the robotic cart. The manual pick can occur before or after the automatic pick of items. In some embodiments whether items are to be automatically picked before or after the manual pick portion of an order depends on which ordering will allow for packing of the items corresponding to an order into the least number of receptacles, e.g., totes which are transported by the robotic pick carts.

A warehouse automation system adapted to improve warehouse operating productivity includes a plurality of carts for transporting products within a warehouse and a controller. The controller is adapted to associate a first one of the plurality of carts with a first person and to control the first cart to lead the first person around the warehouse. According to one advantage, the time the first person spends restocking, picking, counting, sorting, moving, and packing product into customer orders and shipments, for example, is reduced.

A method, a medium, and a system for distributing a warehouse task from a warehouse management hub to a programmable logic controller comprise receiving at least one warehouse task at a warehouse management hub including attributes for physically transferring at least one product into a warehouse, out of the warehouse or within the warehouse, determining, by the warehouse management hub and based on the attributes of the warehouse task, one of a plurality of warehouse management devices for processing the warehouse task, sending, by the warehouse management hub, the warehouse task to the determined warehouse management device, identifying, by the determined warehouse management device and based on the attributes of the warehouse task, a first one of a plurality of programmable logic controllers, and sending, by the determined warehouse management device, a message including information for carrying out the warehouse task to the identified programmable logic controllers.