Dynamic pick wall/put wall

1 . A dynamic storage wall comprising:

a shelf comprising a plurality of storage locations in spaced arrangement, each of said storage locations comprising a repositionable divider defining a boundary of each of said storage locations of said shelf;

a sensor array at said shelf and adjacent to said storage locations, wherein said sensor array is configured as an elongate strip having integrated therewith a plurality of time of flight (ToF) sensors and a plurality of lights extending along said strip, and wherein said ToF sensors are adapted to measure a position of said repositionable divider; and

a control system comprising a computer in communication with said ToF sensors and said lights via said strip of said sensor array, said control system adapted to update a map of said storage locations when one or more of said repositionable dividers has been moved based on information received from said ToF sensors of said sensor array, and wherein said control system is configured to associate said lights with said storage locations based on said map such that selected ones of said lights are associated with individual ones of said storage locations for indicating which said storage locations items are to be retrieved from or placed at; and

wherein said sensor array is configured to transmit a confirmation signal to said control system when an item has been retrieved from or placed at one of said storage locations.

2 . The storage wall of claim 1 , wherein said elongate strip of said sensor array comprises a plurality of confirmation buttons in communication with said control system, and wherein said control system is configured to associate said confirmation buttons with said storage locations based on said map such that selected ones of said confirmation buttons are associated with individual ones of said storage locations, and wherein said confirmation buttons are configured to be pressed by an operator to transmit the confirmation signal to said computer when an item has been retrieved from or placed at an associated said storage location.

3 . The storage wall of claim 1 , wherein said ToF sensors are configured to detect when an item has been retrieved from or placed to a storage location, and wherein said sensor array is configured to transmit said confirmation signal based thereon.

4 . The storage wall of claim 3 , wherein said ToF sensors comprise touchless confirmation sensors configured to recognize a physical gesture from an operator acknowledging that an item retrieval or placement operation has been successfully completed at an associated said storage location and, upon recognition of the physical gesture, said touchless confirmation sensors are operable to communicate said confirmation signal to said control system.

5 . The storage wall of claim 4 , further comprising a confirmation indicator configured to, upon said control system receiving said confirmation signal, provide a confirmation alert to the operator alerting the operator that said touchless confirmation sensor has recognized the completion of the operation.

6 . The storage wall of claim 1 , wherein said strip of said sensor array comprises a flexible elongate strip.

7 . The storage wall of claim 6 , wherein said strip of said sensor array comprises a printed circuit board material.

8 . The storage wall of claim 7 , wherein said lights of said strip comprises light emitting diodes, and wherein each of said light emitting diodes are individually addressable by said control system.

9 . The storage wall of claim 1 , wherein said shelf defines a length and said strip of said sensor array extends the length of said shelf.

10 . The storage wall of claim 9 , wherein said control system is adapted to illuminate a subset of said lights of the strip to indicate a location along said shelf to which said repositionable divider is to be moved to.

11 . A method of monitoring retrieval and/or placement of items from storage locations and a position of a repositionable divider provided at a shelf within a storage facility having a workflow control system comprising a computer, the repositionable divider positioned as to provide a divider between two storage locations of the shelf, said method comprising:

providing, at the control system, an initial position of the repositionable divider relative to the shelf;

moving the repositionable divider from its initial position at the shelf to a different position along the shelf;

measuring the different position of the repositionable divider with a sensor array that is disposed at the shelf and in communication with the control system, wherein the sensor array is configured as an elongate strip extending along the shelf and having integrated therewith a plurality of time of flight (ToF) sensors and a plurality of lights extending along said strip and in communication with the control system, and wherein said ToF sensors are adapted to measure a position of the repositionable divider;

determining with the control system that the repositionable divider has been moved based on information received from the sensor array;

associating with the control system selected ones of said lights with each of said storage locations based on the determined position of the repositionable divider whereby the lights are configured for indicating which said storage location items are to be retrieved from or placed at; and

determining when an item has been retrieved from or put to a storage location based on information received from the sensor array.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein said providing an initial position of the repositionable divider comprises measuring a position of the repositionable divider from a known location within the storage facility with the sensor array and determining the initial position of the repositionable divider with the control system based on information received from the sensor array.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the elongate strip of the sensor array further comprises a plurality of confirmation buttons in communication with the control system, and wherein the control system is configured to associate selected ones of said confirmation buttons with each of said storage locations based on the determined position of the repositionable divider, and wherein said confirmation buttons are configured to be pressed by an operator when an item has been retrieved from or placed at an associated said storage location for said determining when an item has been retrieved from or put to a storage location.

14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the ToF sensors comprise touchless confirmation sensors, and wherein said determining when an item has been retrieved from or put to a storage location comprises:

an operator acknowledging that an item retrieval or placement operation has been successfully completed at a storage location of the shelf by making a physical gesture to the touchless confirmation sensor;

recognizing the physical gesture with the touchless confirmation sensor; and

upon recognition of the physical gesture, the touchless confirmation sensor communicating a completion signal to the control system.

15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of lights comprise operation indicators, and said method further comprises providing a visual cue to an operator with selected ones of the operation indicators to instruct the operator that an operation is required at at least one of the storage locations.

16 . The method of claim 11 , wherein said strip is mounted to said shelf and each of the lights is individually addressable by the control system, and wherein said method further comprises illuminating a subset of the lights with the control system to indicate at least one chosen from i) a width of one of the storage locations of the shelf and ii) a location along the shelf to which the repositionable divider is to be moved to.

17 . A method of monitoring widths of storage locations of a shelf of a dynamic storage wall by determining a position of a repositionable divider of the shelf and representing a width of each storage location with a lamp strip mounted adjacent the shelf, said method comprising:

providing a default map of each storage location along the shelf;

illuminating corresponding lights on the lamp strip adjacent each storage location to indicate the default map of storage locations to an operator, each storage location delineated with a different light pattern;

monitoring the storage wall with a time of flight (ToF) sensor array;

determining if the divider has been moved along the shelf to a new position with the time of flight (ToF) sensor array;

if it is determined that the divider has been moved, determining the new position of the moved divider by measuring, with the ToF sensor array, a distance from a known location to the new position of the moved divider;

updating the map of storage locations based on the new position of the moved divider; and

illuminating corresponding lights on the lamp strip adjacent each storage location to indicate the updated width of storage locations to an operator, each storage location delineated by with a different light pattern.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein said determining if the divider has been moved comprises an operator manually gesturing to the ToF sensor array that the divider has been moved.

19 . The method of claim 17 , wherein said determining if the divider has been moved comprises automatically determining that the divider has been moved with a workflow control system in communication with the ToF sensor array, wherein said method furthering comprises the control system recognizing when the divider has been moved by comparing the default map of storage locations with a measurement of the moved divider from the ToF sensor array.

20 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the shelf is disposed in a storage facility comprising a workflow control system and each of the storage locations of the shelf including a physical confirmation button, a touchless confirmation sensor for recognizing a physical gesture from an operator, and an item movement detection sensor for recognizing movement of an item into or from the corresponding storage location, each of the physical confirmation button, the touchless confirmation sensor, and the item movement detection sensor are in communication with the control system, and said method further comprising confirming that a pick or put operation has been completed at a required storage location of the shelf, said confirming that a pick or put operation has been completed comprising:

illuminating, with the control system, an indicator light adjacent a storage location to indicate to an operator that a pick or put operation is required at that particular storage location;

the operator performing the pick or put operation at the storage location;

confirming, with the control system, that the pick or put operation is completed by either chosen from i) the operator pressing the physical confirmation button, and ii) the operator performing a confirmatory gesture in proximity to the touchless confirmation sensor; and

determining, with the movement detection sensor, that the item has been placed into or retrieved from the storage location.