Abstract: Autonomous vehicle inventory inspection and management is provided for a GPS-denied indoor warehouse with the objective of achieving fast, yet accurate warehouse inventory assessment. The warehouse stores inventory organized in a distributed and substantially parallel fashion. Passive identification markers are located on the racks for aiding navigation of the autonomous vehicle. Travel paths for the autonomous vehicle are predefined. They are relatively straight paths in between the racks, substantially constant and lateral first distance relative to at least one of two racks along its row, a substantially constant first height relative to a warehouse floor and a substantially constant speed for the autonomous vehicle. These requirements are important to attain the objective of faster, yet accurate inventory inspection and management. During travel, acquisition systems capture information of the inventory, which is synchronized with a digital management system.

Abstract: Tracking and digitization method and system for warehouse inventory management is provided to greatly increase the visibility of the events at a warehouse, provide a comprehensive cataloging of every single event, compare that event against the expected event, and report any discrepancies immediately so that they can be fixed prior to causing costly mistakes. Further, it reduces the need for costly quality control personnel in the warehouse. Embodiments of this invention greatly enhance the accuracy of inventory, at a vastly reduced cost. In an indoor environment, GPS cannot be used to track the location of the forklifts or vehicles in the warehouse because most warehouses have metal constructions and present a “GPS denied” environment. Hence one must resort to vision, lidar, or inertial, or a combination of such sensors to accurately track location.