Goods-to-Person Picking Robot

Overview

A goods-to-person picking robot collects a mobile storage pod from anywhere in a warehouse grid and carries it to a fixed operator station, so the picker stands still and the inventory comes to them. It differs from a simple under-rack carrier in two ways: it can move in any direction without turning its body, and it rotates the pod once it arrives so the operator always faces the correct shelf. The result is a pick rate several times higher than walk-and-pick, with the robot doing all the travel. Everything is built on a rigid Drive Base that slides under a pod, lifts it, and steers it through the aisles.

Base and traction

The base centres on the welded Base Frame, with a perimeter Bumper Ring and four Support Caster casters sharing the static load. Motion comes from two Traction Module units, and the key feature is that each wheel is both driven and steered. A Drive Motor turns the Tread Wheel while a separate Steering Motor rotates the whole wheel about a vertical Steering Bearing. By steering both wheels to the same angle the robot can crab sideways, and by steering them to opposing angles it spins in place. This omnidirectional capability lets the robot enter a narrow pod slot from any heading without the multi-point turns a fixed-axle robot would need. Two Traction Encoder sensors per module report drive speed and steer angle.

Load handler

Lifting the pod is the job of the Load Handler. A Lift Actuator drives a Ball Screw through a Ball Nut Carrier carrier to extend a Scissor Frame, raising the deck about eighty millimetres so the pod legs clear the floor. The ball screw is chosen over a hydraulic ram because it holds height precisely without leaks and draws no power once stopped. On top sits a powered Turntable running on a Slew Ring and driven by a geared Turntable Motor; this is what rotates the lifted pod to present the right face to the operator. A high-friction Deck Grip Pad couples the deck to the pod base so the pod turns with the deck rather than slipping, and a Lift Sensor confirms height and pod presence before the robot drives off.

Power

The Energy System runs the robot through a full shift on opportunity charging. A Traction Battery of lithium Lithium Cell cells in a sealed Battery Case supplies traction power, managed by a Battery Management that balances cells and reports state of charge. Rather than swapping packs, the robot drives onto a floor rail where a spring Charge Shoe meets the contacts and tops up between jobs. A DC-DC Converter converter steps the pack voltage down to the logic and sensor rails.

Control and perception

The Control Core houses the Compute Board that runs navigation and task logic, three Motor Drive amplifiers for the drive, steer, and lift axes, and an I/O Board for field signals, with a IMU aiding dead reckoning. Localization uses the Perception Suite suite: a spinning Navigation LiDAR tracks aisle structure for coarse position, a downward Floor Reader decodes floor fiducials to pin location to within a centimetre, and an upward Pod Camera aligns the deck to the pod base before lifting. Perimeter Proximity Sensor sensors catch near obstacles the scanners miss.

Safety and fleet operation

Sharing a floor with people at the pick stations makes the Safety Stack mandatory certified hardware. Two Safety Scanner units monitor protective fields, a Safety Relay Module module enforces a dual-channel safe stop, and Emergency Stop buttons cut drive power directly, with a Status Beacon showing state. Jobs arrive over the Operator Link, where a Fleet Radio exchanges tasks with the warehouse control system and a small Status Panel shows local state. The central system schedules which pod goes to which station, sequences charging, and routes traffic so robots do not block one another. All circuits run through the Wiring Harness harness and are protected at the Fuse Block. The payoff is that a single operator, fed by a steady stream of pods, picks far more order lines per hour than they could on foot, and the warehouse layout can be re-densified by software because nothing is fixed to the floor but the fiducials.