Mobile assembly apparatus

Abstract

A mobile assembly apparatus and a method of assembling a retail product utilizing a retail assembly are discussed. The mobile assembly apparatus may include a cabinet structure, an expandable work surface, a frame, wheels, an articulated arm, outrigger supports, a power supply, sensors, a hardware dispenser, and a computing device. The mobile assembly apparatus scans a machine readable identifier and retrieves assembly instructions for an item associated with the identifier. The computing device controls the outrigger supports and extendable surface based on the instructions. The computing device monitors the progress of the assembly of the time and validates the assembly based on assembly data from the sensors.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A mobile assembly apparatus comprising:
 a cabinet structure including:
 a frame having an interior, 
 an expandable work surface that is configured to extend and retract, and 
 a plurality of wheels disposed at distal corners of a bottom side of the cabinet structure; 
   an articulated arm coupled to the cabinet structure;   a plurality of outrigger supports coupled to the frame disposed at distal corners of the frame, wherein the outrigger supports are configured to extend from the frame and retract to the frame, at least one controller controlling the positioning of the outrigger supports;   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 corresponding to a plurality of types of items; and   a computing device equipped with a processor and communicatively coupled to the at least one controller and 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, 
 sends instructions to the at least one controller to adjust a position of the outrigger supports based on the identification of the item; 
 monitors progress of an assembly of the item using assembly data received from the plurality of sensors related to a step of assembly, and 
 validates the assembly step based on the assembly data and the assembly instructions. 
   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the hardware dispenser is configured to release assembly hardware corresponding to a hardware containment pods corresponding to the identified item upon a receipt of instructions from the computing device. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the hardware dispenser is configured to release a subset of assembly hardware upon the receipt of instructions from the computing device based on an input from the plurality of sensors. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the computing device is configured to provide at least one of an auditory or visual notification of an improper assembly of the identified item. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the outrigger supports are configured to further extend based at least in part of a weight of product part for the identified item grasped by the articulated arm. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the power supply comprises a rechargeable battery configured to provide electricity to the computing device, the plurality of sensors and a plurality of electrical assembly tools. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the mobile assembly apparatus further includes a compressor. 
     
     
         8 . A method of assembling a retail product utilizing a mobile assembly apparatus comprising:
 receiving scan data from a scanning device of a scan of a machine-readable identifier associated with an item being assembled,   identifying an item being assembled from a plurality of items based on the scan data,   receiving assembly instructions for the identified item,   sending instructions to at least one controller to adjust a position of a set of outrigger supports based on the identification of the item,   sending instructions to the at least one controller to adjust a position of an expandable work surface based on the identification of the item,   monitoring progress of an assembly of the item using assembly data received from the plurality of sensors related to a step of assembly, and   validating the step of assembly based on the assembly data and the assembly instructions.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 scanning, by the plurality of sensors, an intermediate state of assembly of the identified item,   determining a subset of assembly hardware required to complete a next step of assembly of the identified item,   dispensing, by a hardware dispenser, the subset of assembly hardware required,   scanning, by the plurality of sensors, a next intermediate state of assembly of the identified item,   comparing, by the computing device, the next intermediate state of assembly of the identified item to a reference state of the identified item, and   presenting, by the computing device, a notification indicative of a delta relative to a threshold of deviation based on the comparing of the next intermediate state of assembly to the reference state.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the notification comprises at least one of an auditory or visual notification. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8  wherein deploying a plurality of outrigger supports comprises:
 receiving a weight of the identified item based on the scan data, 
 determining a center of gravity based on the weight and a location of an articulated arm disposed on the retail assembly support device, and 
 extending a subset of the set of outrigger supports on a distal side of the retail assembly support device from the location of the articulated arm based on the determined center of gravity. 
 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9  wherein dispensing the subset of assembly hardware required comprises:
 querying a database of retail products for assembly information based on the scan data, 
 identifying the subset of assembly hardware required to assemble the identified item to the next intermediate state of assembly; and 
 releasing the subset of assembly from the hardware dispenser. 
 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the determining a subset of assembly hardware required further comprises:
 identifying a number of hardware components associated with an assembly of the identified item,   determining an amount of the hardware components within the hardware dispenser,   comparing the number of hardware components against the amount of hardware components within the hardware dispenser; and   presenting, by the computing device responsive to the comparing, a second notification indicative of a deficiency of the number of hardware components.   
     
     
         14 . A non-transitory computer readable medium for assembling a retail product utilizing a retail assembly support device, having stored thereon, instructions that when executed in a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:
 receiving scan data from a scanning device of a scan of a machine-readable identifier associated with an item being assembled,   identifying an item being assembled from a plurality of items based on the scan data,   receive assembly instructions for the identified item,   sending instructions to at least one controller to adjust a position of a set of outrigger supports based on the identification of the item,   sending instructions to the at least one controller to adjust a position of a set of an expandable work surface based on the identification of the item,   monitoring progress of an assembly of the item using assembly data received from the plurality of sensors related to a step of assembly, and   validating the step of assembly based on the assembly data and the assembly instructions.   
     
     
         15 . The medium of  claim 14 , the instructions further comprising:
 scanning, by the plurality of sensors, an intermediate state of assembly of the identified item,   determining a subset of assembly hardware required to complete a next step of assembly of the identified item,   dispensing, by a hardware dispenser, the subset of assembly hardware required,   scanning, by the plurality of sensors, a next intermediate state of assembly of the identified item,   comparing, by the computing device, the next intermediate state of assembly of the identified item to a reference state of the identified item, and   presenting, by the computing device, a notification indicative of a delta relative to a threshold of deviation based on the comparing of the next intermediate state of assembly to the reference state.   
     
     
         16 . The medium of  claim 15 , wherein the notification comprises at least one of an auditory or visual notification. 
     
     
         17 . The medium of  claim 14 , wherein the instructions for deploying a plurality of outrigger supports comprises:
 receiving a weight of the identified item based on the scan data,   determining a center of gravity based on the weight and a location of an articulated arm disposed on the retail assembly support device, and   extending a subset of the set of outrigger supports on a distal side of the retail assembly support device from the location of the articulated arm based on the determined center of gravity.   
     
     
         18 . The medium of  claim 15  wherein the instructions for dispensing the subset of assembly hardware required comprises:
 querying a database of retail products for assembly information based on the scan data, 
 identifying the subset of assembly hardware required to assemble the identified item to the next intermediate state of assembly; and 
 releasing the subset of assembly from the hardware dispenser. 
 
     
     
         19 . The medium of  claim 15 , wherein the instructions for determining a subset of assembly hardware required further comprises:
 identifying a number of hardware components associated with an assembly of the identified item,   determining an amount of the hardware components within the hardware dispenser,   comparing the number of hardware components against the amount of hardware components within the hardware dispenser; and   presenting, by the computing device responsive to the comparing, a second notification indicative of a deficiency of the number of hardware components.