US 11,860,605 B2
Mobile assembly apparatus
Jason Bellar, Bella Vista, AR (US); Jeremy L. Velten, Bella Vista, AR (US); and Amy Savaiinaea, Bentonville, AR (US)
Assigned to WALMART APOLLO, LLC, Bentonville, AR (US)
Filed by Walmart Apollo, LLC, Bentonville, AR (US)
Filed on Jan. 13, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/575,455.
Application 17/575,455 is a continuation of application No. 16/530,572, filed on Aug. 2, 2019, abandoned.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/714,210, filed on Aug. 3, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2022/0137590 A1, May 5, 2022
Int. Cl. G05B 19/406 (2006.01); G06F 16/903 (2019.01); G05B 19/4155 (2006.01)
CPC G05B 19/406 (2013.01) [G05B 19/4155 (2013.01); G06F 16/90335 (2019.01); G05B 2219/31031 (2013.01); G05B 2219/31061 (2013.01)] 23 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A mobile assembly apparatus comprising:
a cabinet structure including:
a frame having an interior,
a work surface that is configured to support assembly of items thereon, and
a plurality of wheels disposed at a bottom side of the cabinet structure;
a power supply coupled to the cabinet structure;
a plurality of sensors including at least one imaging device and at least one scanning device;
a hardware dispenser coupled to the cabinet structure and configured to store a plurality of hardware containment pods with hardware for assembly of a plurality of items suitable for assembly at the cabinet structure, each of the plurality of items being assembled with hardware from the hardware dispenser from unassembled component parts to form an assembled item constituting a retail product; and
a computing device equipped with a processor and communicatively coupled to the plurality of sensors and configured to execute an assembly validation module that when executed,
receives scan data from the scanning device from a scan of a machine-readable identifier associated with an item being assembled,
identifies the item being assembled from among the plurality of items based on the scan data,
receives assembly instructions for the identified item to form an assembled item from its unassembled component parts,
instructs the hardware dispenser to dispense assembly hardware based on the assembly instructions for the identified item,
monitors progress of an assembly of the item using assembly data received from the at least one imaging device related to a step of assembly, and
validates the assembly step based on the assembly data and the assembly instructions.