Oh, patents! The Skypod (2)

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Autonomous Exotec Skypods dance their 3D way around warehouses, climbing up and down shelves to towering heights, swiveling around as if mounted on ball-bearings. The following video (viewable only on Youtube) offers a Skypod choreography to the tune of Edvard Grieg’s (1875) orchestral piece for Scene 6, Act II of Henrik Ibsen’s (1867) play Peer Gynt (1).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HoEFcZOiuY

Copyright © Exotec - A three dimensions dance performed by order fulfillment robots : the Skypod

The Skypods also move around with a visible stability, regardless of the presence, absence or position of the load transported in the payload crate. The US family member utility patent US2019263463A1, titled Automatically guided trolley for transporting and/or handling a load, discloses an invention that precisely addresses the load-bearing issue, relative to equilibrium, speed and energy-efficiency, including the corollary issue of swiveling-capacity.

In a nutshell, the invention disclosed replaces the typical 4-wheel drive suspension system of a vehicle. The invention system comprises two frames: one receiving the payload, and the other in contact with the ground, supporting the payload-receiving frame. The supporting frame further comprises two connected walking beams at the front and rear of the Skypod autonomous vehicle (termed automated trolley), connected to two idler wheels and two drive wheels. Translation of the two walking beams is designed to distribute the payload weight, received by the main frame, evenly between all wheels, idle and drive, at the front and rear of the vehicle, as well as left and right. The walking beam system is also much lighter, thus promoting enhanced vehicle performance. both in terms of speed and energy efficiency.

For those skilled in the art, the abstract of this patent, hyperlinked to the complete disclosure of the invention, is included below, together with the patent Figure 1, showing an exemplary embodiment of the invention. In particular, the patent Figure 1 depicts the Skypod vehicle (guided trolley)  10,  comprising a supporting frame 12 and main load-receiving frame 11, idle wheels 18 and driver wheels 16, engine 17, and the two walking beams 13 and 14, connected to the supporting frame 12, with translation arms (132, 142), and (131, 141), contributing to evenly distribute a payload weight to all the wheels. In sum, a new mechanical load-bearing-and-distributing system, enabling the visible stability, and calculated efficiency, of the autonomous Skypod vehicle.

An automated guided trolley for transporting and/or handling a load. The trolley has a main frame for receiving the load and a supporting frame having two walking beams extending respectively towards the front and the rear of the trolley. The walking beams are mounted rotatably with respect to the main frame respectively about a first axis and a second axis and such a walking beam includes elements for securing one arm of one walking beam to one arm of the other walking beam and for supporting the first of these arms on the other arm. [Abstract US2019263463A1]

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(1) Grieg, Suite No 1 Op. 46:IV - In the Hall of the Mountain King. 

Reference

Exotec (website): www.Exotec.com 

Oh, patents! The Skypod (1)

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Within the context of booming eCommerce, resolving issues of warehouse logistics arises as another pandemic-aggravated priority. A priority with many different robotic solutions. The Exotec Skypod solution is a towering, three-dimensional solution, primarily addressing order processing and storage space, including issues of retrieval and accelerated speed. The video below shows the Skypods in action.

The essential components of the Exotec Skypod system are stackable bins and a fleet of autonomous robots, able to navigate the stacks in three dimensions (up, down and across). The Skypods travel 4 meters per second (approx., 13ft/s) to retrieve and deliver merchandise to the operator stations. The robots' activity is synchronized using a software package called ASTAR. Stackable bins, available in 2 sizes, carry up to 30 kilos (approx., 66 lbs) of merchandise. Bins are stackable up to 10 meters high (approx., 33 feet). Thus, operators are able to work at ergonomically-designed stations. They no longer have to walk an estimated 15 km per day (approx. 10 miles/day) in the stacks, where pedestrian accidents occur. Space is optimized, due to vertical stacking. Adding racks, and stacks, does not interrupt the existing flow of activity. The energy footprint of the system is also very small, due to the robots’ recharging capacity.  In sum, the system is super scalable, which also makes the Exotec Skypod system super nimble, customizable, and modular.

Exotec, a French company launched in 2014, has now opened offices in North America. The various mechanical (e.g., robot climbing system), logistics (eg., sorting system) and navigation aspects of the Skypod invention are patented in a series of patent families, including the following French patent family members (with English patent titles in parenthesis):

• FR3072371 A1 - Système de stockage et de transport d'objets entreposés dans des rayonnages d'un entrepôt. (System for storing and transporting objects stored in the racks of a warehouse.)
• FR3065208A1 -  Chariot à guidage automatique pour le transport et/ou la manutention d'une charge. (Automatically guided trolley for transporting and/or handling a load.)
• FR3057258 A1 - Système de préparation de commandes. (Order picking system.)
• FR3048238A1 - Système de tri d'articles et procédé de tri correspondant. (Article sorting system and corresponding sort method.)
• FR3045895 A1 -  Système de preparation de commandes et procédé de préparation d'au moins une partie d'une commande correspondant. (System for preparing orders and corresponding method for preparing at least one portion of an order.)  

The Exotec Skypod system is 3D-warehousing, brought to you from the northern city of Lille, in France. A solution that integrates with existing Warehouse-Management Systems (WMS). 

 References

Skypod– Exotec solutions 

https://www.exotec.com/  (FR)

https://www.exotec.com/en/solutions (ENG)