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

Claim 5:
6. 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 camera for acquiring images of parcel carts of the plurality of parcel carts located in the loading area of the loading station, and
one or more processors configured to execute instructions stored in a memory component,
wherein at least one processor of the one or more processors is operably connected to the camera and is configured to execute instructions to process images received from the camera to determine if any parcel carts of the plurality of parcel carts positioned within the loading area of the loading station has been loaded with one or more parcels in a manner that satisfies one or more predetermined conditions corresponding to a particular parcel cart being fully loaded, and
wherein at least one processor of the one or more processors is configured to execute instruction to (i) communicate instructions to a first mobile robot of the plurality of mobile robots to transport a parcel cart within the loading area of the loading station determined to be fully loaded from a particular one of the multiple predetermined locations to a predetermined destination, 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.