BACKGROUND

1. Field

The exemplary embodiments generally relate to automated logistic facilities, and more particularly, to collaborative transportation of logistic goods in automated facilities.

2. Brief Description of Related Developments

Generally, there are many conventional automated transportation and storage systems that utilize autonomous guided vehicles to maintain warehouse facilities and transport goods between two or more locations within the facility. In general, the large quantities of goods being shipped and received at these warehouse facilities demands that a significant portion of the facility be dedicated not only to storage but also to the transport operation which requires numerous truck docking bays and the associated floor space for loading and unloading goods to the transport vehicles.

The conventional warehouse facilities usually employ autonomous guided vehicles to deliver palletized goods from production to storage and also to retrieve palletized goods from inventory and deliver them to picking stations. The goods are picked by human pickers before a forklift operator loads the picked pallets into transport vehicles (e.g., trucks) while the autonomous guided vehicles return to inventory to retrieve additional palletized goods.

It would be advantageous to have a collaborative facility and method which reduces the necessity and dedicated floor space for pickers and additional manual driven forklifts by collaboratively loading trucks at loading bays directly carried on the autonomous guided vehicles that retrieved the goods.

