System and method for transporting personnel within an active workspace

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a human transport device and associated system to transport a user within an active workspace. The human transport device may include a platform to support a user, an enclosure coupled to the platform to surround the user, a drive subsystem to power the human transport device, and a control unit to control the movement of the human transport device in coordination with active mobile drive units moving within the workspace. A system implementing one or more human transport devices may include a management module to direct the movement of the one or more human transport devices and designate one or more areas within the workspace as protected areas. Unauthorized objects may be prohibited from entering the protected areas while the human transport device may be allowed within the protected areas.

1 . A method comprising:
 planning a route for a device to follow within a workspace of an inventory-handling system, the device being configured to transport a user along the mute, and the route being planned in relation to a known route of at least one active drive unit within the workspace to avoid a collision between the device and the at least one active drive unit;   directing, by one or more computing devices, movement of the device, while the device is transporting the user, along the route to a destination location within the workspace;   designating an area around the destination location as a protected area;   receiving an indication that an unauthorized object has entered the protected area;   instructing remedial action based at least in part on the indication;   detecting, after an arrival of the device at the destination location, that the device has moved outside of the protected area to a current location; and   re-defining the protected area by increasing a size of the protected area to encompass the destination location and the current location.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, prior to the detecting and the re-defining:
 determining the arrival of the device at the destination location; and   increasing or decreasing the size of the protected area around the destination location.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a request from the user to re-define the protected area; and   increasing or decreasing the size of the protected area around the destination location.   
     
     
         4 . (canceled) 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining the arrival of the device at the destination location;   after the arrival, detecting that the user has exited the device;   determining that the at least one active drive unit is located within a zone of a plurality of zones within the workspace, the zone encompassing the destination location; and   instructing the at least one active drive unit to cease moving.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising directing movement of a plurality of sentinel drive units to respective locations at a perimeter of the protected area, wherein receiving the indication is based at least in part on at least one of the plurality of sentinel drive units detecting that the unauthorized object has entered the protected area. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising causing a first sentinel drive unit of the plurality of sentinel drive units to project a light beam toward a second sentinel drive unit of the plurality of sentinel drive units, wherein detecting that the unauthorized object has entered the protected area is based at least in part on detecting a break in the light beam. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein instructing the remedial action comprises disabling movement of the unauthorized object. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein instructing the remedial action comprises disabling movement of one or more components within at least a portion of the workspace encompassing the destination location. 
     
     
         10 . An inventory-handling system to transport a user within a workspace of the inventory-handling system, the inventory-handling system comprising:
 a device to transport the user within the workspace; and   a management module comprising memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
 planning a route for the device to follow within the workspace, the route being planned in relation to a known route of at least one active drive unit within the workspace to avoid a collision between the device and the at least one active drive unit; 
 directing, by the one or more processors, movement of the device, while the device is transporting the user, along the route to a destination location within the workspace; 
 designating an area around the destination location as a protected area; 
 receiving an indication that an unauthorized object has entered the protected area; 
 instructing remedial action based at least in part on the indication; 
 determining, after an arrival of the device at the destination location, that the device has moved beyond the protected area to a current location, and 
   increasing a size of the protected area to encompass the destination location and the current location.   
     
     
         11 . The inventory-handling system of  claim 10 , wherein:
 the device comprises a control unit to control the movement of the device; and   directing the movement of the device comprises transmitting information regarding the route to the control unit.   
     
     
         12 . The inventory-handling system of  claim 10 , wherein:
 the device comprises a sensor to detect objects within a threshold distance of the device; and   receiving the indication is based at least in part on detecting that the unauthorized object has entered the protected are using the sensor of the device.   
     
     
         13 . The inventory-handling system of  claim 10 , wherein instructing the remedial action comprises disabling movement of the unauthorized object. 
     
     
         14 . The inventory-handling system of  claim 10 , wherein instructing the remedial action comprises disabling movement of one or more components within at least a portion of the workspace encompassing the destination location. 
     
     
         15 . A method comprising:
 planning a route for a device to follow within a workspace of an inventory-handling system, the device being configured to transport a user along the route, and the mute being planned in relation to a known mute of at least one active drive unit within the workspace to avoid a collision between the device and the at least one active drive unit;   directing, by one or more computing devices, movement of the device, while the device is transporting the user, along the route to a destination location within the workspace;   designating a protected area around the device;   causing the protected area to move with the device as the device moves along the route;   receiving an indication that an unauthorized object has entered the protected area;   instructing remedial action based at least in part on the indication;   determining, after an arrival of the device at the destination location, that the device has moved from the destination location to a different location; and   increasing a size of the protected area to encompass the destination location and the different location.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein instructing the remedial action comprises at least one of disabling movement of the unauthorized object, rerouting the device, or disabling movement of one or more components within at least a portion of the workspace encompassing a current location of the device. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein causing the protected area to move with the device as the device moves along the route comprises:
 receiving information regarding a current location of the device; and   updating a location of the protected area based at least in part on the current location.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the information regarding the current location of the device is received from:
 the device; or   a sensor disposed within the workspace that is configured to detect the current location of the device.   
     
     
         19 . (canceled) 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising, prior to the determining and the increasing:
 determining the arrival of the device at the destination location; and   re-defining the protected area by increasing or decreasing a size of the protected area around the destination location.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein designating the area around the destination location as the protected area comprises defining the size of the protected area as a first size that is smaller than a second size of the protected area resulting from re-defining the protected area, the method further comprising increasing the size of the protected area from the first size to an intermediate size upon the arrival of the device at the destination location, the intermediate size being larger than the first size and smaller than the second size. 
     
     
         22 . The inventory-handling system of  claim 10 , wherein designating the area around the destination location as the protected area comprises defining the size of the protected area as a first size that is smaller than a second size of the protected area resulting from re-defining the protected area, the operations further comprising increasing the size of the protected area from the first size to an intermediate size upon the arrival of the device at the destination location, the intermediate size being larger than the first size and smaller than the second size.