# How Overhead Robots Pick Items in a Warehouse > This patent describes a warehouse system where robots suspended from overhead rails move across tall storage racks to pick and place containers for customer orders, making order fulfillment faster. - **Patent:** US 11738949 - **Original title:** Order fulfillment systems and methods - **Owner:** Target Brands - **Granted:** 2023 - **Status:** Active - **Times cited:** 0 - **Field:** consumer_electronics, software, ecommerce, mechanical ## What it does The patent outlines an order fulfillment system that uses robots moving on overhead rails to manage inventory. The system includes many fixed storage units, like tall shelves or racks (Claim 2), each holding multiple containers of items (sellable unit containers). Robotic actuators, which are like robotic arms, hang from these overhead rails (Claim 1). When a customer places an order, a central control system tells a robot to go to a specific shelf, grab a container with the requested item, and move it to a designated spot for further processing (Claim 1). For orders with multiple items, different robots can work simultaneously to retrieve various containers (Claim 5). The system can also provide instructions on how to pack the individual items from these retrieved containers into a final outbound box, even suggesting an efficient loading sequence for retail store stocking (Claims 6, 7, 8). ## What it does NOT cover - Does not cover systems where robots move on the floor to retrieve storage units. The robots are "suspended from the respective overhead rail" (Claim 1). - Does not cover systems where the storage units themselves are mobile and move to a picking station. The patent specifies "static storage units" (Claim 1). - Does not cover robots that pick individual items directly from shelves. The robots "couple with a first sellable unit container" (Claim 1). - Does not cover manual picking processes where humans retrieve items from shelves. The system relies on "robotic actuators" (Claim 1). ## The clever bit The novelty lies in combining vertically expanded, static storage with overhead, suspended robotic actuators. This allows robots to access items stored high up without needing to navigate aisles on the ground, effectively increasing storage density and throughput in a smaller footprint. ## Real-world examples 1. Automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) 2. Micro-fulfillment centers 3. Warehouse automation by companies like Dematic or Swisslog 4. E-commerce fulfillment centers (e.g., Amazon, Walmart) ## Why it matters This patent addresses a core challenge in modern retail and e-commerce: efficiently fulfilling a high volume of diverse orders. By using overhead robots and vertically expanded storage, it aims to maximize warehouse space and speed up the "picking" process, which is a major bottleneck. This approach can reduce the physical effort for human workers and improve delivery times for customers, making supply chains more responsive. ## Frequently asked questions ### What does How Overhead Robots Pick Items in a Warehouse cover? This patent describes a warehouse system where robots suspended from overhead rails move across tall storage racks to pick and place containers for customer orders, making order fulfillment faster. ### Who owns patent US 11738949? Target Brands owns this patent, granted in 2023. ### When does this patent expire? This patent is expected to expire on January 11, 2042, when the invention enters the public domain. ### What problem does this patent solve? This patent addresses a core challenge in modern retail and e-commerce: efficiently fulfilling a high volume of diverse orders. By using overhead robots and vertically expanded storage, it aims to maximize warehouse space and speed up the "picking" process, which is a major bottleneck. This approach can reduce the physical effort for human workers and improve delivery times for customers, making supply chains more responsive. ### What does this patent NOT cover? Does not cover systems where robots move on the floor to retrieve storage units. The robots are "suspended from the respective overhead rail" (Claim 1). **Full plain-English explainer:** https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/11738949/order-fulfillment-systems-and-methods **Original patent:** https://patents.google.com/patent/US11738949 --- _Source: PatentBrief — https://patentbrief.org. Patent facts are from public records; the plain-English explanation is PatentBrief's._ ## Related patents Semantically similar inventions in the PatentBrief corpus: - [How Robots and Mobile Shelves Fulfill Orders in Warehouses](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/10947045/warehousing-and-order-fulfillment-systems-and-methods) — Target's patent describes an automated warehouse system where mobile robots bring shelves and shipping containers to a central robot that picks items directly into orders, all without human hands. - [How Warehouses Sort Items with Magnetic Levitation Shuttles](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/12077385/systems-and-methods-for-high-speed-warehouse-order-sortation) — This patent describes a warehouse system that uses magnetic levitation shuttles to quickly sort individual items for customer orders, guided by a control system that directs shuttles based on item type and order needs. - [Automated System for Emptying and Sorting Items from Shipping Containers](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/11648589/systems-and-methods-to-enhance-the-utilization-of-order-sortation-systems) — This patent describes an automated system for quickly emptying items from shipping containers, like totes, by inverting them onto a conveyor belt for scanning and sorting into customer orders. - [How Warehouses Plan Pallet Stacks for Incoming Shipments](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/11767169/warehousing-systems-and-methods) — This patent describes an automated warehouse system that plans how to stack incoming items onto pallets to perfectly fit available storage racks, and automatically sorts out incorrect items. - [Robots That Grab Objects Without Knowing Their Exact Spot](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/20190084152/robotic-gripping-device-system-and-method) — Ocado's patent describes a robotic gripping system that can precisely manipulate objects of varying sizes and positions, even when the robot doesn't know the object's exact starting location.