SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR USE OF A MATERIALS HANDLING VEHICLE IN A WAREHOUSE ENVIRONMENT

• Main Authors: GARMANN, Gregory S, OTTO, Matthew J, ADDISON, Mark E
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 03.01.2024
• Subjects: CONVEYING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL; HAULING; HOISTING; HOISTING, LIFTING, HAULING OR PUSHING, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDEDFOR, e.g. DEVICES WHICH APPLY A LIFTING OR PUSHING FORCEDIRECTLY TO THE SURFACE OF A LOAD; LIFTING; PACKING; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS; SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS; STORING; TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING ORTIPPING; TRANSPORTING

A materials handling vehicle comprises a vehicle body a plurality of wheels supporting the vehicle body, a traction control unit, a braking system, and a steering assembly, each operatively coupled to one or more of the wheels. A fork carriage assembly having a picking attachment secured thereto are provided. One or more vehicular controllers are in communication with the traction control unit, the braking system, the steering assembly, and the picking attachment. A hand-held drive unit comprises a user interface and an operational command generator responsive to the user interface. The hand-held drive unit is configured to send operational commands generated in response to user input at the user interface to the vehicular controller(s) to control operational functions of the traction control unit, the braking system, the steering assembly, the picking attachment, or combinations thereof. One of the vehicular controller(s) comprises a picking controller configured to control operational functions of the picking attachment to control movement of the picking attachment in response to operational commands received from the hand-held drive unit. The materials handling vehicle further comprises a camera, coupled to the fork carriage assembly, configured to send image data representing objects within its field of view to the hand-held drive unit, which is configured to display the image data representing objects within the field of view of the camera. The field of view of the camera extends beyond the field of view of an operator, and the hand-held drive unit is configured to allow the operator to view images of the picking attachment and send operational commands to the picking controller to control operational functions of the picking attachment.