TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of warehouse operation and management and specifically to systems and methods that allow an automated extraction and delivery of goods from the warehouse storages.

BACKGROUND
[0002] Background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
[0003] Due to increasing demands and the challenges in it, traditional storage facilities (i.e., Warehouse) are incompatible for the perfectly smooth and convenient operation of the product and services and the cargo stored in it. As a result, a modification in warehousing operations is required.
[0004] Imagine a warehouse that has ambient, chilled, and frozen sections. Imagine that some of the customers that get goods from this warehouse want assurances that the goods they receive have been kept within a prescribed temperature range. They don’t want the goods if the temperature has gone outside a prescribed temperature range.
[0005] There is, therefore, a need to provide an autonomous system for controlled and monitored delivery of verified goods to the customer from the warehouse.

OBJECTS OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE
[0006] Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment herein satisfies are as listed herein below.
[0007] An object of the present disclosure is to provide for a system for managing warehouse operation and automated targeted delivery of goods.
[0008] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a system for ensuring temperature and storage conditions of the goods in the warehouse.
[0009] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a system that enables automated real time tracking and delivery of order to customers.
[0010] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a system to manage the stacking and retrieval of goods from the shelves in the warehouse.
[0011] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a system that removes the storage packaging from the good and packs the goods for dispatch.

SUMMARY
[0012] Aspects of the present disclosure pertain to the field of warehouse operation and management and specifically to systems and methods that allow an automated extraction and delivery of goods from the warehouse storages.
[0013] The present disclosure relates to a system to be configured in a warehouse, which is intelligent and uses IoT. The system may include a robotic arm to load and unload packages having product(s) from a storage rack. When a request to purchase a product is received by a controller, the controller may facilitate in instructing the robotic arm to reach to position of product placed in the warehouse by determining the shortest distance using machine learning technique(s) to reach the product. When the robotic arm reaches to its destination, a tag reader/barcode reader may scan the tag fabricated on the product to identify the product and ensure the variety in product. In addition, a set of sensors such as magnetic sensors may be deployed on each of the racks present in the warehouse to detect the total number of packages unloaded from the racks, and the store details of unloaded product on a server. A temperature sensor may be deployed on a package to detect the temperature of product enclosed in the package, and the temperature sensor may be deployed only on essential products. Subsequently, all information related to product may be received and the product is then dispatched. All data may be stored on a server that may facilitate in keeping record of warehouse and may enable a customer to check availability, place an order and get the order delivered autonomously.
[0014] Further, the robotic arm may be configured to detect nearby objects and other robotic arms using computer vision techniques, and prevents collision.
[0015] A robotic arm may be used to load and unload packages containing product(s) from a storage rack. When a controller receives a request to purchase a product, the controller may assist in instructing the robotic arm to reach a product stored in the warehouse by determining the shortest distance to reach the product using machine learning technique(s). When the robotic arm arrives at its destination, a tag reader/barcode reader can scan the product's manufactured tag to identify it and ensure product diversity. Furthermore, a set of sensors, such as magnetic sensors, may be installed on each of the warehouse's racks to detect the total number of packages emptied from the racks and to store details about unloaded merchandise on a server. A temperature sensor can be attached to a package to measure the temperature of the goods within, and the sensor should only be used on critical products. Following that, all product-related information may be received, and the product may be shipped. All data might be saved on a server, making it easier to keep track of the warehouse and allowing customers to check availability, place orders, and have them delivered on their own.
[0016] A system for warehouse operation and control is disclosed. The system comprises, one or more sensors configured with one or more shelves in a warehouse. The shelves may be configured to receive a one or more good for storage. The good may be stored in a storage packaging that may be configured with one or more of a bar-code, an RF Identity tag, a temperature sensor, a magnetic sensor. An automated arm may be configured with the shelves in the warehouse and the automated arm may be configured to retrieve the good stored on the shelves. A controller may be provided to actuate the robotic arm/automated arm on receipt of an order from a customer. The controller may be configured with a server and learning engines to process the order received and accordingly retrieve the good from the shelf. The automated arm may be configured to remove the storage packaging and verify the good. The verification may be made through the bar-code, the RF Identity tag, the temperature sensor, the magnetic sensor that may be configured on the storage packaging of said good.
[0017] In an aspect, the system for warehouse operation and control includes the automated arm that may comprise one or a combination of a bar-code scanner, an RF Identity tag reader, a temperature sensor, a magnetic sensor to detect an identity of the stored good for retrieval.
[0018] In an aspect, the system for warehouse operation and control comprises the robotic arm that may be is configured with an autonomous vehicle controlled by the controller.
[0019] In an aspect, the system for warehouse operation and control comprises the controller, and the controller may be configured with the server, the server may be configured to store a good storage information pertaining to the shelf and the particular good stored on each shelf.
[0020] In an aspect, the system for warehouse operation and control comprises the controller that may be configured to plan a path for the autonomous vehicle based on the good storage information obtained from the server.
[0021] In an aspect, the system for warehouse operation and control comprises the automated arm that may be provided a camera configured with the learning engine to detect presence of obstacles in the path and may navigate to avoid collision.
[0022] In an aspect, the system for warehouse operation and control comprises the controller that may be configured to communicate with the automated arm through one or a combination of wires, a wireless connection, GSM, CDMA, local area network.
[0023] In an aspect, the system for warehouse operation and control comprises the controller that may be configured with the server and one or more of forklifts. The forklifts may comprise tag readers to identify the good delivered and accordingly mount the good onto the shelves.
[0024] In an aspect, a method for warehouse operation and control is disclosed that may comprise, receiving, an order from a customer. Processing the received order may be done by a controller and a learning engine configured on a server to identify a good from the order. The controller may actuate either an automated arm or an autonomous vehicle to retrieve the good that is stored on the shelves in storage packaging. The automated arm may identify the good to be retrieved based on information received from the controller. Verification of the good may be done by scanning one or more of a bar-code, an RF Identity tag, a temperature sensor, a magnetic sensor that may be present on said good. The good may be retrieved after successful verification by the autonomous arm. The storage packaging may then be removed and the good may be dispatched to the customer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0025] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the present disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure. The diagrams are for illustration only, which thus is not a limitation of the present disclosure.
[0026] In the figures, similar components and/or features may have the same reference label. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label with a second label that distinguishes among the similar components. If only the first reference label is used in the specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label irrespective of the second reference label.
[0027] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary layout showing the system for warehouse management in a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
[0028] FIG. 2 illustrates a flow chart indicating the step by step method/process that may be implemented by an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
[0029] FIG. 3 is an exemplary layout of the system for warehouse management in an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0030] Aspects of the present disclosure pertain to the field of warehouse operation and management and specifically to systems and methods that allow an automated extraction and delivery of goods from the warehouse storages.
[0031] The following is a detailed description of embodiments of the disclosure depicted in the accompanying drawings. The embodiments are in such detail as to clearly communicate the disclosure. However, the amount of detail offered is not intended to limit the anticipated variations of embodiments; on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.
[0032] Embodiments of the present invention may be provided with a machine-readable storage medium tangibly embodying thereon instructions, which may be used to program one or more processors to perform a process. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, fixed (hard) drives, magnetic tape, floppy diskettes, optical disks, compact disc read-only memories (CD-ROMs), and magneto-optical disks, semiconductor memories, such as ROMs, PROMs, random access memories (RAMs), programmable read-only memories (PROMs), erasable PROMs (EPROMs), electrically erasable PROMs (EEPROMs), flash memory, magnetic or optical cards, or other type of media/machine-readable medium suitable for storing electronic instructions.
[0033] Exemplary embodiments will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. These embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those of ordinary skill in the art. Moreover, all statements herein reciting embodiments of the invention, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof. Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include both currently known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in the future (i.e., any elements developed that perform the same function, regardless of structure).
[0034] The present disclosure relates to a system to be configured in a warehouse, which is intelligent and uses IoT. The system may include a robotic arm to load and unload packages having product(s) from a storage rack. When a request to purchase a product is received by a controller, the controller may facilitate in instructing the robotic arm to reach to position of product placed in the warehouse by determining the shortest distance using machine learning technique(s) to reach the product. When the robotic arm reaches to its destination, a tag reader/barcode reader may scan the tag fabricated on the product to identify the product and ensure the variety in product. In addition, a set of sensors such as magnetic sensors may be deployed on each of the racks present in the warehouse to detect the total number of packages unloaded from the racks, and the store details of unloaded product on a server. A temperature sensor may be deployed on a package to detect the temperature of product enclosed in the package, and the temperature sensor may be deployed only on essential products. Subsequently, all information related to product may be received and the product is then dispatched. All data may be stored on a server that may facilitate in keeping record of warehouse and may enable a customer to check availability, place an order and get the order delivered autonomously.
[0035] Further, the robotic arm may be configured to detect nearby objects and other robotic arms using computer vision techniques, and prevents collision.
[0036] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary layout showing the system for warehouse management in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
[0037] Referring now to FIG.1, a system (100) for warehouse operation and control is disclosed. The system may comprise one or more sensors (112) configured with one or more shelves in a warehouse. The shelves may be configured to receive a one or more good for storage. The good may be stored in a storage packaging that may be configured with one or more of a bar-code, an RF Identity tag, a temperature sensor, a magnetic sensor. An automated arm (118) (Also referred to as robotic arm or arm) may be configured with the shelves in the warehouse (102) and the automated arm (118) may be configured to retrieve the good stored on the shelves. A controller (104) may be provided to actuate the robotic arm/automated arm (118) on receipt of an order from a customer (110). The controller (104) may be configured with a server (106) and learning engines to process the order received and accordingly retrieve the good from the shelf. The automated arm (118) may be configured to remove the storage packaging and verify the good. The verification may be made through the bar-code, the RF Identity tag, the temperature sensor, the magnetic sensor that may be configured on the storage packaging of said good.
[0038] In an embodiment, the system (100) for warehouse operation and control includes the automated arm (118) that may comprise one or a combination of a bar-code scanner, an RF Identity tag reader, a temperature sensor, a magnetic sensor to detect an identity of the stored good for retrieval.
[0039] In an embodiment, the system (100) for warehouse operation and control comprises the robotic arm (118) that may be is configured with an autonomous vehicle controlled by the controller.
[0040] In an embodiment, the system for warehouse operation and control comprises the controller, and the controller may be configured with the server, the server may be configured to store a good storage information pertaining to the shelf and the particular good stored on each shelf.
[0041] In an embodiment, the system for warehouse operation and control comprises the controller that may be configured to plan a path for the autonomous vehicle based on the good storage information obtained from the server.
[0042] In an embodiment, the system for warehouse operation and control comprises the automated arm that may be provided a camera configured with the learning engine to detect presence of obstacles in the path and may navigate to avoid collision.
[0043] In an embodiment, the system for warehouse operation and control comprises the controller that may be configured to communicate with the automated arm through one or a combination of wires, a wireless connection, GSM, CDMA, local area network.
[0044] In an embodiment, the system for warehouse operation and control comprises the controller that may be configured with the server and one or more of forklifts. The forklifts may comprise tag readers to identify the good delivered and accordingly mount the good onto the shelves.
[0045] Referring now to FIG. 2, which illustrates a flow chart indicating the step by step method/process (200) that may be implemented by an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In an embodiment, a method for warehouse operation and control is disclosed that may comprise, receiving (202), an order from a customer. Processing the received order (204) may be done by a controller and a learning engine configured on a server to identify a good from the order. The controller may actuate (206) either an automated arm or an autonomous vehicle to retrieve the good that is stored on the shelves in storage packaging. The automated arm may identify (208) the good to be retrieved based on information received from the controller. Verification of the good (210) may be done by scanning one or more of a bar-code, an RF Identity tag, a temperature sensor, a magnetic sensor that may be present on said good. The good may be retrieved (212) after successful verification by the autonomous arm. The storage packaging may then be removed and the good may be dispatched to the customer (214).
[0046] In an embodiment, the magnetic sensor in the system can ensure the total number of goods unloaded in the storehouse, the RFID tags can enable the tag readers to identify the type of goods received, and the barcode can ensures the variety in the goods. The robot process automation can be inbuilt with the sensor and the tag reader and the barcode sensors can receive the output from the sensors.
[0047] The tag readers and the barcode scanners can be configured to recognize the product types and behave as the autonomous tugger's and the forklifts to load them in the appropriate rack, the sensors fitted to the rack intimates the count over Wi-Fi to the nearest PC to be monitored by the workers and the production unit.
[0048] Cloud storage can be provided to help provide stock availability for the customers.
[0049] The temperature sensor can be embedded in cartons or pallets used as storage boxes. These sensors can show the temperature of goods by time period for the entire duration of the trip to the customer’s site.
[0050] A robotic arm may be used to load and unload packages containing product(s) from a storage rack. When a controller receives a request to purchase a product, the controller may assist in instructing the robotic arm to reach a product stored in the warehouse by determining the shortest distance to reach the product using machine learning technique(s). When the robotic arm arrives at its destination, a tag reader/barcode reader can scan the product's manufactured tag to identify it and ensure product diversity. Furthermore, a set of sensors, such as magnetic sensors, may be installed on each of the warehouse's racks to detect the total number of packages emptied from the racks and to store details about unloaded merchandise on a server. A temperature sensor can be attached to a package to measure the temperature of the goods within, and the sensor should only be used on critical products. Following that, all product-related information may be received, and the product may be shipped. All data might be saved on a server, making it easier to keep track of the warehouse and allowing customers to check availability, place orders, and have them delivered on their own.
[0051] While the foregoing describes various embodiments of the invention, other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof. The scope of the invention is determined by the claims that follow. The invention is not limited to the described embodiments, versions or examples, which are included to enable a person having ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention when combined with information and knowledge available to the person having ordinary skill in the art.

ADVANTAGES OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE
[0052] Some of the advantages of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment herein satisfies are as listed herein below.
[0053] The present disclosure provides for a system for managing warehouse operation and automated targeted delivery of goods.
[0054] The present disclosure provides a system for ensuring temperature and storage conditions of the goods in the warehouse.
[0055] The present disclosure provides a system that enables automated real time tracking and delivery of order to customers.
[0056] The present disclosure provides a system to manage the stacking and retrieval of goods from the shelves in the warehouse.
[0057] The present disclosure provides a system that removes the storage packaging from the good and packs the goods for dispatch.
[0058] The present disclosure provides for a system for managing warehouse operation and automated targeted delivery of goods.

Claims:

1. A system for warehouse operation and control, said system comprising,
one or more sensors configured with one or more shelves in a warehouse, said shelves configured to receive a one or more good for storage, said good being stored in a storage packaging configured with one or more of a bar-code, an RF Identity tag, a temperature sensor, a magnetic sensor;
an automated arm configured with the shelves in said warehouse, said automated arm being configured to retrieve the good stored on the shelves;
a controller to actuate said robotic arm on receipt of an order from a customer, said controller being configured with a server and a learning engine to process the order received and accordingly retrieve the good from the shelf;
the automated arm configured to remove the storage packaging and verify the good, said verification being made through the bar-code, the RF Identity tag, the temperature sensor, the magnetic sensor configured on the storage packaging of said good.

2. The system for warehouse operation and control as claimed in claim 1, wherein the automated arm comprises one or a combination of a bar-code scanner, an RF Identity tag reader, a temperature sensor, a magnetic sensor to detect an identity of the stored good for retrieval.

3. The system for warehouse operation and control as claimed in claim 1, wherein the robotic arm is configured with an autonomous vehicle controlled by the controller.

4. The system for warehouse operation and control as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller is configured with the server, said server storing a good storage information pertaining to the shelf and the particular good stored on each shelf.

5. The system for warehouse operation and control as claimed in claim 2, wherein the controller plans a path for the autonomous vehicle based on the good storage information obtained from the server.

6. The system for warehouse operation and control as claimed in claim 3, wherein the automated arm comprises a camera configured with the learning engine to detect presence of obstacles in the path and navigates to avoid collision.

7. The system for warehouse operation and control as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to communicate with said automated arm through one or a combination of wires, a wireless connection, GSM, CDMA, local area network.

8. The system for warehouse operation and control as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller is configured with the server and one or more of forklifts, said forklifts comprising tag readers, to identify the good delivered and accordingly mount the good onto the shelves.

9. A method for warehouse operation and control, said method comprising,
receiving, an order from a customer;
processing, by a controller and a learning engine configured on a server, to identify a good from the order;
actuating, by the controller, either an automated arm or an autonomous vehicle to retrieve the good;
identifying, by the automated arm, the good to be retrieved based on information received from the controller;
verifying, the good, by scanning one or more of a bar-code, an RF Identity tag, a temperature sensor, a magnetic sensor present on said good;
retrieving the good, by the autonomous arm, on successful verification of the good;
removing, by the autonomous arm, a storage packaging and dispatching the good to the customer.