Patent ID: 11905125
Assignee: MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEMS, INC.
Field: Handling (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  G | IPC B

Claim 10:
11. A parcel cart loading system, comprising:
a conveyor for transporting parcels;
a plurality of parcel carts configured to receive parcels offloaded from the conveyor;
a loading station, including
a loading area including multiple predetermined locations at which respective parcel carts of the plurality of parcel carts can be positioned to receive parcels offloaded from the conveyor, and
a queue area configured to receive parcel carts of the plurality of parcel carts intended for subsequent transfer to the loading area of the loading station; and

a vision and control subsystem operably connected to a plurality of mobile robots, the vision and control subsystem including
a vision unit, including (a) a camera for acquiring images of parcel carts of the plurality of parcel carts located in the loading area of the loading station, and (b) a first processor operably connected to the camera and configured to execute instructions stored in a first memory component to receive and process the images received from the camera to determine if a parcel cart of the plurality of parcel carts located within the loading station has been loaded with one or more parcels in a manner that satisfies one or more predetermined conditions corresponding to the parcel cart being fully loaded, and
a controller operably connected to the vision unit, the controller including a second processor configured to execute instructions stored in a second memory component to (i) communicate instructions to a first mobile robot of the plurality of mobile robots to transport the parcel cart within the loading area of the loading station from a particular one of the multiple predetermined locations to a predetermined destination if the parcel cart is determined to be fully loaded and (ii) communicate instructions to a second mobile robot of the plurality of mobile robots to transport a parcel cart of the plurality of parcel carts positioned within the queue area of the loading station to the particular one of the multiple predetermined locations within the loading area at which the parcel cart transported by the first mobile robot was previously positioned.