ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,398,029, issued on Aug. 26, was assigned to Symbotic LLC (Wilmington, Mass.).
"Autonomous transport vehicle" was invented by Akram Zahdeh (Wilmington, Mass.) and Todd Kepple (Wilmington, Mass.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An autonomous transport vehicle includes a frame forming a transport payload area of the vehicle. The payload area includes a payload contact support surface that defines a payload support plane that supports the payload. The payload area further includes an articulated underpick end effector that engages and underpicks the payload with respect to the support plane, and extends and retracts with respect to the payload...