Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
  • B65G1/00—Storing articles, individually or in orderly arrangement, in warehouses or magazines
  • B65G1/02—Storage devices
  • B65G1/04—Storage devices mechanical
  • B65G1/0492—Storage devices mechanical with cars adapted to travel in storage aisles
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
  • B65G1/00—Storing articles, individually or in orderly arrangement, in warehouses or magazines
  • B65G1/02—Storage devices
  • B65G1/04—Storage devices mechanical
  • B65G1/137—Storage devices mechanical with arrangements or automatic control means for selecting which articles are to be removed
  • B65G1/1373—Storage devices mechanical with arrangements or automatic control means for selecting which articles are to be removed for fulfilling orders in warehouses
  • B65G1/1378—Storage devices mechanical with arrangements or automatic control means for selecting which articles are to be removed for fulfilling orders in warehouses the orders being assembled on fixed commissioning areas remote from the storage areas
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
  • G06Q10/08—Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
  • G06Q10/087—Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60L—PROPULSION OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES; SUPPLYING ELECTRIC POWER FOR AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES; ELECTRODYNAMIC BRAKE SYSTEMS FOR VEHICLES IN GENERAL; MAGNETIC SUSPENSION OR LEVITATION FOR VEHICLES; MONITORING OPERATING VARIABLES OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES; ELECTRIC SAFETY DEVICES FOR ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES
  • B60L2200/00—Type of vehicles
  • B60L2200/40—Working vehicles
  • B60L2200/44—Industrial trucks or floor conveyors
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
  • B65G2201/00—Indexing codes relating to handling devices, e.g. conveyors, characterised by the type of product or load being conveyed or handled
  • B65G2201/02—Articles
  • B65G2201/0235—Containers
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
  • B65G2209/00—Indexing codes relating to order picking devices in General
  • B65G2209/10—Partial order forming

Definitions

• the field of the present disclosure is that of warehouse or store logistics and in particular logistics chain automation.
• the present disclosure concerns a system and a method for preparing at least part of an order.
• Patent document US2018/0305123A1 presents such a technique, according to which robots are guided to the order preparation station by means of guide rails, or of toothed wheel mechanisms, in an order determined by a centralized order management system.
• Patent document US2019/0270591 presents a similar technique.
• Patent document US2021/0221615A1 thus proposes an order preparation technique according to an appointment preparation principle, in which order preparation stations can be designed, on the fly, at any point of the warehouse, depending on needs and the volume of orders to be prepared.
• a disadvantage of this known technique is that the operations of transferring products from robots arriving at an order station to robots intended to transport the products of an order to a shipping station are difficult for an operator: this can lead to product falls or shocks, and makes the work of an order picker difficult, or even likely to affect their health and ultimately lead to the development of musculoskeletal disorders.
• mobile order preparation stations while they have the advantage of being able to be designed “on the fly”, have the disadvantage of being not very ergonomic.
• the management of the robot fleet within a store or a storage workshop is a complex operation, the efficiency of which is constantly sought to be improved in terms of flow flexibility. , simplicity of operations, and speed of product transfers to constitute orders and route them to a shipping station.
• the implementation of order preparation stations in variable locations complicates the management of the fleet of autonomous mobile robots, by multiplying the possible destinations of these robots, and therefore the circulation axes in warehouses, which therefore complicates the management of the risk of collisions between robots. There is therefore a need for solutions that meet these requirements.
• an order preparation system comprising: at least one order preparation station;
• Such an order preparation station includes:
• an inclined ramp for trolley access to the order preparation station(s), comprising at least one trolley circulation zone, and a temporary trolley storage zone,
• a parking area accessible from the inclined ramp comprising at least two adjacent parking spaces intended to respectively receive a cart from the first set and a cart from the second set.
• the carts are able to roll freely on the ramp inclined in at least two perpendicular directions to pass from the circulation zone to any of the temporary storage and parking zones, and vice versa.
• an order preparation method comprising:
• the routings are implemented by moving the carts in a circulation zone provided on an inclined ramp for access to the order preparation station.
• the collection is carried out in a parking area accessible from the inclined ramp comprising at least two adjacent parking spaces intended to respectively receive a cart from the first set and a cart from the second set, and, in the event of modification of an order for order preparation, the method comprises a free movement of at least one of the carts of the first and/or the second set of carts in at least two perpendicular directions to pass from the parking area or from the storage area circulation to a temporary storage area for carts provided on the inclined ramp, and vice versa.
• a computer program product comprising program code instructions for controlling the movements of carts of a first set and a second set of self-guided carts capable of rolling on the ground according to the method as defined herein when this program is executed by a processor.
• non-transitory recording medium readable by a computer on which such a program is recorded.
• Such a recording medium can be any entity or device capable of storing the program.
• the medium may comprise a storage means, such as a ROM, for example a CD ROM or a microelectronic circuit ROM, or even a magnetic recording means, for example a USB key or a hard disk.
• such a recording medium may be a transmissible medium such as an electrical or optical signal, which may be conveyed via an electrical or optical cable, by radio or by other means, so that the computer program it contains can be executed remotely.
• the program according to the invention can in particular be downloaded onto a network, for example the Internet network.
• the recording medium may be an integrated circuit in which the program is incorporated, the circuit being adapted to execute or to be used in the execution of the aforementioned order preparation method.
• the inclined ramp has a width greater than or equal to the width of four carts, preferably greater than or equal to the width of six carts.
• the trolley circulation zone comprises at least two arrival lanes and at least two departure lanes of the trolleys.
• the temporary storage area is substantially horizontal and configured to temporarily store at least two carts.
• the parking zone is inclined relative to the horizontal.
• the parking zone has an angle of inclination relative to the horizontal of sign opposite to that of the access ramp.
• the temporary storage zone and/or the circulation zone include means for charging a cart battery.
• Storage containers and collection containers belong to the group comprising: bins; cartons.
• the adjacent parking spaces are at different heights.
• At least part of the carts of the first set of carts are also carts belonging to the second set of carts or vice versa.
• the adjacent parking spaces face the position of an operator or a robotic arm.
• the order preparation method comprises: temporary storage of at least one cart of the second set in the temporary storage zone until an order associated with a collection container conveyed by the temporarily stored trolley becomes priority; moving the temporarily stored trolley from the temporary storage zone towards the circulation zone in a first direction of movement and moving the temporarily stored trolley from the circulation zone towards the parking zone in a second direction of movement perpendicular to the first direction of movement.
• FIG 1 is a representation of an online commerce distribution warehouse in which an exemplary embodiment of an order preparation method according to the invention is implemented.
• FIG2 is a detailed perspective view of a warehouse order preparation station shown with reference to Figure 1.
• FIG 3 is a partial front view of the order preparation station presented with reference to Figure 2.
• FIG 4 is a partial side view of the order preparation station presented with reference to Figure 2. Detailed description of the invention
• the general principle of the invention is based on the design of an order preparation station which autonomous robots access by taking an inclined ramp, and which advantageously has three zones, namely: a trolley circulation zone;
• a parking area which comprises at least two adjacent locations intended to respectively receive a robot transporting a storage container from the article storage warehouse and a robot transporting a collection container, intended to receive the articles of an order In preparation.
• Such robots are autonomous in their movement, and can in particular move in 2D on the inclined ramp, and circulate freely between the three zones of circulation, temporary storage and parking, depending on the more or less priority nature of the command to which they are associated.
• a temporary storage zone at the order preparation station advantageously allows the temporary storage of part of the articles of an order being prepared, for example while waiting for the restocking of 'an item ordered but missing from the warehouse or store, or when it is necessary to defer shipment of the order.
• such an order preparation station is particularly ergonomic: it comprises at least two adjacent locations facing the operator or a robotic arm and, preferably, within reach of the latter to receive one or more storage container(s) and one or more container(s) for collecting the items in the order being prepared.
• the operator does not need to walk or move the motorized arm on the ground, in order to be able to transfer the items in an order between the storage containers and the delivery containers. collection. This transfer takes place in a simple and ergonomic movement of an arm of the operator or the robotic arm and in a reduced time.
• these adjacent locations accessible from the inclined access ramp to the order preparation station, are preferably placed at eye level, so that the operator does not have to bend down to handle the items. items in the order. This reduces the range of movements of the operator, and therefore the risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders.
• the presence, in the parking zone, of a number of adjacent spaces greater than two also makes it possible to reduce the order preparation time. It is in fact possible to position, in the parking area, several storage containers carrying different items required for the order (for example, a container of ping-pong balls and a container of ping-pong rackets). The ping-pong balls are taken from the first container and placed in the collection container, then the ping-pong rackets are immediately taken from the second container, without it being necessary to wait until the racket container has taken the place the ball container in the parking space dedicated to storage containers. It is also possible to place several collection containers in the parking area, which is advantageous when the same item is required for the preparation of several orders.
• three collection containers could be placed in the parking area, along with the storage container containing the ping pong balls. It is then possible to take ping-pong balls from the storage container and place them successively and quickly in each of the three collection containers.
• trolley means any motorized vehicle equipped with at least two rolling wheels on a ground (and therefore being able to have two, three, four or even a number largest number of rolling wheels) and intended to transport a load, with the exception of any flying machine.
• robots and carts are used interchangeably. Examples of such carts are for example described in patent documents W02023001449 and FR3125514 in the name of the Applicant.
• such robots or carts are autonomous in their movement, and capable of changing trajectory very quickly, with a reduced footprint.
• such robots or carts are equipped with a driving wheel mounted on a vertical axis: when the driving wheel is turned around this vertical axis, it pivots just enough to change the rolling directly, without turning the chassis of the robot, which can thus change direction of movement almost on the spot.
• such robots do not only move in 2D on the ground, but can also move in 3D, leaning on the warehouse shelves to rise in height along these shelves, to retrieve a storage container or a collection container stored there.
• container designates any device capable of being transported by a robot and of containing one or more articles, objects or products.
• the term “container” can designate a bin, a basket, a crate, a chest, a box, etc.
• the terms “articles” and “products” can replace one another. They simply designate an object, in particular a commercial object, stored in a workshop, a store or a warehouse, intended to be delivered to a final customer having placed an order, alone or in association with one or more other items.
• the temporary storage zone can be a zone intended to store orders waiting to be delivered at a “drive”, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.
• Figure 1 illustrates a robotic distribution warehouse 10 of an online commerce company. This warehouse is organized into three areas: a storage area 11, an order preparation area 12 equipped with order preparation stations 12i and a shipping area 13 equipped with a package creation and shipping station 13i .
• the storage area 11 comprises a plurality of shelving 14 formed of shelves on several levels supported by uprights 15, and organized in successive parallel rows.
• Storage containers 16 which can contain all similar items or a plurality of different items from the same range of products are stored on these shelves. Furthermore, it should be noted that some of these shelves are reserved for the storage of collection containers, intended to collect the various items constituting an order, before their transport to the shipping station 13i.
• a second fleet of automatically guided trolleys 18 ensures the transport of collection containers:
• This second set 18 therefore groups together a second set of self-guided trolleys capable of rolling on the ground, intended to transport collection containers containing at least part of the articles of the same order from an order preparation station 12i to a shipping station 13i of the order, to a temporary storage area or to a conveyor connected to a shipping station of the order.
• a robot 17 or 18 is used both to transport storage bins 16 to an order preparation station 12i and, intermittently, to transport collection bins to the 13i dispatch station or vice versa, depending on changing needs and the availability of other robots in these fleets at any given time.
• the second set of carriages may be a subset of the first set of carriages or vice versa.
• a collection container is associated with it, an identifier of which is recorded in a centralized management system in association with an order number;
• this trolley 18 transports the collected collection container to an order preparation station 12i, where it is positioned on a first parking location facing the position of an operator or a robotic arm.
• a storage container containing at least one item of the order or the order part is associated with a cart of the first set 17, by recording in association in a centralized management system an identifier of the cart and an identifier of the storage container.
• the trolley 17 takes the storage container associated with it from the shelves, and transports it to a second parking location of the order preparation station 12i, which is adjacent to the first location on which the storage container is placed. collection, and which also faces the position of an operator or a robotic arm.
• the operator or the robotic arm can then take one or more items from the order from the storage container which has taken place in the second parking space, and place it(s) in the collection container which has taken place. place in the first parking space adjacent to it.
• the collection container If all the items in the order have been placed in the collection container, it can be transported by the trolley 18 to a shipping station or on a conveyor to this shipping station, or towards a shipping box closing device in the case where the collection container is a cardboard box.
• Such an order preparation technique advantageously allows several orders consisting of articles stored in different storage locations in the workshop, the store or the warehouse, to be carried out simultaneously and in a reduced time, as will be better understood on reading the description of Figures 2 to 4 below.
• Figure 2 shows in detail an order preparation station 12i in a perspective profile view.
• This order preparation station 12i is equipped with a robotic arm 26 known per se, which could also be replaced by a human operator.
• the base 26i of the robotic arm is fixed or rotates around a fixed axis relative to the ground.
• the storage containers 16 are transported to this order preparation station 12i by trolleys 17 of the first set of self-guided trolleys which take an inclined access ramp 21, for example from the left side.
• the carriages 18 of the second set of self-guided carriages leave the inclined access ramp 21 from its right side, in this particular embodiment of the invention.
• the access ramp 21 is an elevation ramp which allows the robots 17, 18, which move by rolling on the floor of the warehouse from the storage area 11 to the preparation area order 12, to rise to the order preparation station 12i.
• the inclined access ramp 21 could also allow the robot to descend, from this upper floor, to the order preparation station 12i.
• the inclined access ramp 21 comprises two distinct zones: a zone referenced Z1 circulation of carts;
• the temporary storage zone Z2 is substantially horizontal and makes it possible to temporarily store at least two carts, for example a cart from the first set 17 and a cart from the second set 18. It can also be dimensioned to allow the simultaneous storage of a larger number of carts, as needed.
• This zone Z2 may include means for charging a battery of the trolleys 17, 18, during their temporary stop in zone Z2.
• These may, for example, be induction charging modules, also called “pads”, which allow the batteries of the trolleys to be charged when they are parked on the ramp. We then realize a saving in time and space, because it is not necessary to provide additional charging stations or at least we can reduce the capacity and/or the number of other charging stations.
• These charging means can also be positioned in the circulation zone Z1. For example, charging pads 28 are provided on each of the edges of the ramp 21 to recharge the batteries of the robots 17 or 18.
• the trolley circulation zone Z1 comprises at least two arrival lanes and at least two departure lanes of the trolleys, symbolized by arrows in Figure 2, to allow great fluidity of movement of the trolleys 17, 18, and therefore the simultaneous management of the preparation of several orders.
• the inclined ramp 21 has a width greater than or equal to the width of four carts, preferably greater than or equal to the width of six carts to allow multiple crossings, and simultaneous ascents and descents of carts 17, 18 on the access ramp 21.
• a cart 17 carrying a first storage container and a cart 18 carrying a first collection container can simultaneously climb onto the access ramp 21 to access the order preparation station, where preparation begins of the order with which they are associated, while a cart 17 carrying a second storage container and a cart 18 carrying a second collection container descend simultaneously, because the preparation of the order with which they are associated is completed.
• the order preparation station also includes a parking zone referenced Z3, to which the carts 17, 18 access from the inclined ramp 21.
• the upper end of the ramp 21 is surmounted by a grid 27 separating the zone parking Z3 of circulation zones Z1 and temporary storage Z2 of trolleys 17 and 18.
• An opening 29 is also formed in this grid to allow access of trolleys 17 and 18 to the parking spaces of this parking zone Z3, within reach of the robotic arm 26.
• a parking zone Z3 is shown comprising exactly two parking spaces, and the opening 29 is therefore dimensioned to allow the simultaneous passage of two carts .
• the parking area can however include a larger number of parking spaces, for example four or six, depending on the width of the ramp 21.
• the opening 29 in the grid 27 is of course adapted to allow the simultaneous passage of four or six trolleys, depending on the number of parking spaces.
• the robotic arm 26, mounted on a fixed base 26i is intended to pick up an item from a storage container 16 conveyed by a cart 17 to a predetermined parking location 25 at the end of the ramp 21 (materialized by dotted lines in Figure 2 and in Figure 3, which is a front view of the order preparation station 121) and depositing it in an article collection bin 24 transported by a cart 18 to a location predetermined parking space 23 at the end of the ramp 21 (shown by dotted lines in Figures 2 and 3).
• the first parking location 25 and the second parking location 23 of the robots being advantageously adjacent and facing the robotic arm 26, the movements of the arm 26, for each item handled, are limited to taking an item from the storage bin.
• storage 16 a rotation of the arm to position the arm above the collection bin 24, the deposit following a substantially vertical movement of the article in the collection bin 24 and a return to its initial position, which allows to repeat these operations at a high rate. It is the same in a configuration with three, four or six adjacent parking spaces, only the range of movement of the arm then being increased.
• the first parking space 25 and the second parking space 23 are formed of two substantially adjacent flat surfaces which constitute the parking zone Z3 forming an extension portion of the upper part of the ramp 21.
• the zone Z3 is in the form of an inclined flat surface which is an extension of the upper part of the ramp, and whose width corresponds substantially to the width of four or six trolleys, depending on the number of parking spaces.
• the articles to be collected can thus be easily placed at the height of an operator, which also makes their placement in the collection containers easier.
• the parking zone referenced Z3 is inclined relative to the horizontal.
• this parking zone Z3 has in particular an angle of inclination relative to the horizontal of sign opposite to that of the access ramp 21.
• the locations of respective parking spaces 23 and 25 of the robots 18 and 17 are located on an inclined side 31, which facilitates access of the robotic arm 26 to the articles in the storage containers 16 and their deposit in the collection containers 24.
• the respective parking locations 23 and 25 of the robots 18 and 17 can be adjustable in height, or be at different heights, so as to adapt to the dimensions of storage and collection containers. It is thus possible to independently adapt the height of the upper opening of the storage containers and of the upper opening of the collection containers, for example to place these openings substantially at the same level if the storage containers and the collection containers have dimensions in different heights. This is particularly advantageous for the parking space intended to receive the collection container, in the case where this collection container is directly the shipping box of the order, of which it is easy to understand that the dimensions can vary from order to order. to the other, depending on the number of items ordered by the customer, or their size.
• the cart of the second set 18 leaves room on the first parking location 23 for another cart of the second set 18 carrying a second collection container for the preparation of a second order and transports the first collection container in which part of the articles has been deposited of the first order in temporary storage zone Z2, while waiting to finalize the first order.
• Preparation of the second order can then begin, by asking the operator or the robotic arm to deposit items from the second order contained in storage containers brought to the level of the order preparation station 12i by trolleys. of the first set 17 in the second collection container. Once all or part of the items from the second order have been placed in the second collection container, the latter can be sent to temporary storage zone Z2 (if the preparation of this second order is not completed, for example because an item is missing), to a shipping station (if the preparation of this second order is completed) or a conveyor connected to a shipping station.
• Example 1 preparation of a “simple” order consisting of a single item
• this cart transports the storage container to the order preparation station 12i: it circulates, via the circulation zone Z1 from the access ramp 21, to the parking zone Z3, in which he parks on the second predetermined parking location 25.
• the operator or a robotic arm 26 picks up the item and places it in a container of collection located on the first predetermined parking location 23.
• This collection container was transported by a trolley of the second set 18 of trolleys, through the circulation zone Z1, to the parking zone Z3.
• the collection container can then be transferred to a temporary storage area (for example, awaiting “drive” collection of the order by the end customer) or to a shipping station.
• several collection containers can also be positioned in several adjacent locations in the parking zone Z3, with the storage container containing the single item ordered .
• the operator or robotic arm picks up the item and places it successively in each of the collection containers, which can then be transferred to a temporary storage area or to a shipping station.
• the preparation of the order takes place in a manner substantially similar to example 1.
• the order comprising several articles, here several trolleys of the first set 17 are provided to collect the storage containers each containing one of the articles of the order, after having each associated one of the storage containers to be removed, and to present them one after the other at the second predetermined parking location 25.
• An operator or a robotic arm 26 then successively removes the different items from the order and deposits them in a collection container located on the first predetermined parking location 23, brought by a trolley from the second set 18 of trolleys.
• a first trolley 17 transporting a first storage container for a first item of the order rises on the access ramp 21 via the circulation zone Z1 and accesses parking zone Z3.
• the first article is picked up by the robotic arm 26 and placed in the container collection located on the location 23 directly adjacent to the parking location 25 of this first trolley 17.
• This first trolley can then directly descend the inclined ramp 21, via the circulation zone Z1 which it has taken from the ascent, or by another descent route of this traffic zone Z1.
• the trolley can easily pass from one lane to another by moving in a direction perpendicular to the direction of these traffic lanes, for example by rotating its drive wheel on the spot.
• a second trolley 17 transporting a second storage container for a second item of the order rises on the access ramp 21 using a free circulation path of the access ramp 21
• the raising and lowering of the two trolleys can be carried out simultaneously, which ensures a substantial saving of time for preparing the order.
• the second carriage 17 can move in a direction perpendicular to its direction of ascent, until you find yourself opposite your parking space. It then pivots again by 90° to advance to its parking location, in a direction parallel to its direction of ascent on ramp 21;
• the robotic arm 26 picks up the second item in the order from the storage container parked in the parking location 25 and places it in the collection container parked in the adjacent parking location 23.
• the second trolley 17 can then leave the parking zone Z3, to leave, via the circulation zone Z1, towards the storage area 11 where it will replace the storage container on the shelves 14. It can also leave the parking zone Z3 to go to another order preparation station where the items it contains are required for the preparation of another order. He can finally leave parking zone Z3 and park temporarily in temporary storage zone Z2, in the event that the items it contains can be used for another order preparation planned soon at this same order preparation station. 12i. Indeed, in this case, it is advantageous for the cart to remain at the order preparation station, to avoid any unnecessary movement and therefore reduce the order processing time. It is therefore interesting that the temporary storage zone Z2 can store several trolleys, if all of them can be useful for preparing a next order.
• the collection container associated with it can be transferred to a temporary storage area or to a shipping station.
• the parking zone Z3 has more than two parking spaces, it is possible to park simultaneously in this zone a collection container transported by a trolley 18 and different storage containers transported by trolleys 17 of the first set and each containing an item from the order.
• the order processing time is then further accelerated, since the different items can be taken successively and quickly by the robotic arm from each of the storage containers and placed in the collection container.
• the trolley which transports it can leave the ramp to give way to another trolley.
• the preparation of an order C1 begins according to the sequence of example 2. If another order C2 becomes a priority, the transfer of the articles from the order C1 currently being prepared into the container is interrupted. collection at the level of the parking zone Z3, and this collection container is transported on the trolley of the second set 18 which carries it into the temporary storage zone Z2. This frees the first predetermined parking location 23 for a cart of the second set 18 carrying the collection container associated with the order C2 which has become priority and the preparation of the order C2 which has become priority can begin by transporting storage containers containing items from the control C2 using trolleys from the first set 17 of trolleys to the second parking location 25.
• the cart 18 associated with the command C1 temporarily parks in the temporary storage zone Z2.
• the carts 17 transporting the storage containers for the items of the order C2 circulate via the circulation zone Z1 to successively access the parking zone Z3.
• the robotic arm 26 has taken an item from the order C2 of one of these carts 17, the latter can leave the ramp 21 via the circulation zone Z1, while the next cart 17 goes up, in parallel, by another ramp access route.
• the cart 18 associated with the order C1 leaves the temporary storage zone Z2 to return to the parking zone Z3, where the preparation of the order C1 can resume.
• Carts can move from one access lane to another, or from the circulation area to the temporary storage area, or from the temporary storage area to the parking area, by moving in at least two perpendicular directions, namely a direction parallel to the access routes and a direction perpendicular to the access routes.
• the robots 17 are advantageously positioned in line one behind the other on the ramp 21 in waiting for the space in one of the parking spaces 25 to be freed by the cart preceding them after the item(s) of the order have been taken from the storage container supported by this cart by the robotic arm 26, in deviating to the side to go back down the ramp via a descent route parallel to the ascent route.
• patcitl US2018/0305123A1 (publication number); patcit2: US2019/0270591 (publication number); patcit3: US2021/0221615A1 (publication number); patcit4: W02023001449A1 (publication number);

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• 2022
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