Amazon Technologies, Inc.

Benjamin Lee Farrow

Kimberly Anne Lewis

Jamie Marie Holland

Adrian Christopher Quan

Wesley Scott Lauka

Kristopher William Bell

An inventory system employs self-illuminating inventory management containers. A self-illuminating container can include a container body, an illumination element, and a signal receiver for receiving instructions to illuminate the container. The self-illuminating inventory management containers can be illuminated to assist in locating the containers in the system broadly, or locally, and to assist in inventory processing operations.

Illuminating containers in an inventory system

Features are disclosed for using location awareness, bin capacity, and environmental cues to provide in context guidance to the associate when stowing items such as at a fulfillment center. In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, the associate may scan an item he or she may want to stow. In response, lights on the bins in the associate's vicinity are illuminated to indicate bins in which the item can be stowed (e.g., because the item fits in the bin) without breaking stow etiquette. For example, in order to prevent mix up, stow etiquette may indicate that two types of erasers should not be stored in the same bin. As yet another example, stow etiquette may indicate that an item should not be stowed in a bin, even if it fits and there is room, so that a total weight for the bin is not exceeded.

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Sammamish, WA, United States of America

Benjamin Lee Farrow