Patent ID: 8577585

Claim:
A transport and handling system for use in transporting commodities, said system comprising: a transportation network comprising a plurality of predefined paths of travel extending between a plurality of locations; a plurality of transport vehicles, each transport vehicle of said plurality of transport vehicles is configured to independently travel along said transportation network; a plurality of motor assemblies oriented along said transportation network, each motor assembly of said plurality of motor assemblies is oriented with respect to a predefined segment of said transportation network and configured to convey each of said transport vehicles along the predefined segment, each motor assembly comprising a passive breaking system that is configured to brake said plurality of transport vehicles upon a loss of electrical power to said motor assembly; and a control system operatively coupled to each motor assembly of said plurality of motor assemblies to selectively operate each motor assembly to independently convey each transport vehicle of said plurality of transport vehicles along said transportation network, said control system configured to: assign a transport vehicle to convey a commodity along a predetermined vehicle path trajectory; and transmit a notification to a user input device when the predetermined vehicle path trajectory is different from an actual vehicle path trajectory.