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Motorized Inventory Robot Patent
Mountz, Michael C, et al. Inventory system with mobile drive unit and inventory holder. U.S. Patent 7,402,018, filed October 14, 2004, issued July 22, 2008.

December 1st is Cyber Monday, a day created by marketing companies to persuade people to shop online the first Monday after Thanksgiving. Employees returning to their desks after the holiday, stuffed full of turkey, are considered prime to shop on their high-speed internet connections at work. Warehouses, such as Amazon, are stocked to the brim with merchandise, and according to the Wall Street Journal, its order-fulfillment plans for this year’s holiday season will involve 10,000 robots. “Hugging the floor like a Roomba, and about the size of a big suitcase, these bright-orange bots lift and carry shelf-stacks of merchandise to warehouse workers who pack items for shipping. The idea is that it’s easier for the humans to stay in one place rather than tromp around a cavernous facility.”1, 2

Kiva Systems, now owned by Amazon Inc., has been engineering automated guided vehicles (AGVs) since the early 2000s.3 But as early as the 1970s, robotic lifts were being developed. In 1976, a self-propelled “Wheeled vehicle adapted to turn on the spot” with a load-carrying body or platform was issued by the US Patent Office.4

Basic components of an electric forklift. Source: en.wikipedia.org
Basic components of an electric forklift. Source: en.wikipedia.org

However, before the days of high tech, and still widely used, manual and motorized fork lifts move heavy items from one place to another. The first fork truck was the two-wheeled hand truck made of wrought iron axles and cast iron wheels Then, “in 1906, an official of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Altoona, Pennsylvania added storage battery power to a baggage wagon, producing what was probably the first powered platform truck. The controls were placed so that the operator had to walk out in front.” Between 1913 and 1919, trucks were engineered to lift small cranes both horizontally as well as vertically and forks and rams were introduced.”6

The Industrial Truck Association represents the manufacturers of powered and non-powered industrial trucks (forklifts) who do business in the United States, Canada and Mexico. It assumes responsibility for the Safety Standards for Low and High Lift Trucks as well as the Safety Standard for Driverless, Automatic Guided Industrial Vehicles and Automated Functions of Manned Industrial Vehicles.7,8

References

1 “Amazon’s Warehouse Robots, at Work and Play,” by Rob Walker. Yachoo! Tech, November 20, 2014.

2 “Amazon Robots Get Ready for Christmas,” by Greg Bensinger. The Wall Street Journal, November 19, 2014.

3 Mountz, Michael C, et al. Inventory system with mobile drive unit and inventory holder. U.S. Patent 7,402,018, filed October 14, 2004, issued July 22, 2008. Source: Google Patents

4 Folco Zambelli Gian Matteo, “Wheeled vehicle adapted to turn on the spot.” U.S. Patent 3,938,608, filed January 18, 1974, issued February 17, 1976. Source: Google Patents

5 “History of the Fork Truck” by Rick Leblanc. Packaging Revolution, October 17, 2011.

Excellence in Warehouse Management book cover6 Emmett, Stuart. Excellence in warehouse management : how to minimise costs and maximise value. Chicheser, West Sussex, England : Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2005. Engineering Library HF5485 .46 2005

7 Safety Standard for Low Lift and High Lift Trucks. ANSI/ITSDF B56.1-2012 (Revision of ANSI/ITSDF B56.1-2009) (PDF)

8 Safety Standard for Driverless, Automatic Guided Industrial Vehicles and Automated Functions of Manned Industrial Vehicles. ANSI/ITSDF B56.5-2012. (Order from ITSDF.org)

9 Steering a New Course” by Jack Maxwell. Standardization News, ASTM International.