Patent ID: 8276739

Claim:
A storage system, comprising: at least two storage racks disposed in an opposing manner, the storage racks each including two or more levels that have one or more rack conveyors, wherein the rack conveyors are configured to store items; a vertical transport disposed between the storage racks, the vertical transport including one or more robotic arms being secured to the vertical transport to move vertically in unison with the vertical transport, the vertical transport having one or more loading areas, the robot arms being configured to load items from the racks onto the loading areas of the vertical transport; an elevator configured to move the vertical transport vertically between the levels so that the robotic arms are able to load the items from the rack conveyors onto the loading areas of the vertical transport, wherein the loading areas move vertically with vertical transport when the elevator vertically moves the vertical transport; wherein the vertical transport has one or more guide rails upon which the robotic arms hang, wherein the guide rails extend above the loading areas in a longitudinal direction between the racks; wherein the robotic arms are configured to move longitudinally above the loading areas along the guide rails for loading items along the length of the vertical transport; and wherein the robotic arms include an inverted six axis robot.