Warehouse Robotics
Those who have worked in Warehouses would agree that order picking is a monotonous and tiring job day in day out picking merchandize from the storage shelves either manually or through Forklifts. . Basically it involves taking different products in different quantities from different parts of the warehouse and combining them for an order involving endless walking or travelling on forklifts and lot of human efforts.
Imagine if storage shelves would have been mobile and operators were stationery to save endless walking and movements by humans. In such a scenario storage racks would reach the operator themselves with the ordered items readily available to be picked.
This wishful thinking is now a reality and is no longer a figment of imagination or from a fiction book. Automation in many warehouses inU.S. and Europe has reached such a stage where Robots navigate the warehouse to find the storage unit containing the requested items, lifts the unit up by sliding under it, and bring it to a human worker at a work station. Amazing but true, these dedicated, well designed, and efficient workers in form of Robots provide unparalleled improvements in almost every major industry paving a revolution in form of Robotized warehouses.
Simply put, the racks are brought to the human workers and not the other way around. This system eliminates the need for endless walking. Instead of having many workers work on the same order, the such system allows for a single touch approach. With fewer hands used on each order, productivity increases, errors decrease and the work process is streamlined saving also rising manpower costs.
KIVA Systems is a company inU.S.
The whole process operates basically with the help of following constituents.
Robotics
Robots powered by rechargeable lead-acid batteries, are typically 2 feet by 2.5 feet and stand a foot high, with blue running lights on their orange facades. They weigh 250 pounds apiece and can carry four times their weight. The Robots lift loads, called "pods," which look like stacks of shelves, by raising and lowering a platform like a corkscrew, which they accomplish by spinning in place. On the bottoms of the robots are scanners that read stickers affixed to a concrete warehouse floor. The robots navigate around the warehouse using an onboard camera to read barcode stickers on the warehouse floor. The maximum velocity of a robot is 1.3 meters per second. The Control unit of a Robot consists of Programmable Logic Controllers which are capable of issuing instructions to DC Motors mounted on the Robotic platform to provide the mobility to the Robot while the receiving unit receives digitally coded instructions issued by the Central Computer cluster described below.
Central Computer cluster
This is the main command center and issues directions to Robots to navigate on the floor. Robots continuously communicate their positions to the central computer and are guided by the central computer system.
Wi-Fi communication system
Robots are guided by a very simple grid of stickers attached to the floor. . The stickers form a grid that covers the entire robot operating area
Process Functioning
When an order for an item arrives, it is transmitted wirelessly to above stated Robot, which navigates the warehouse to find the storage unit called Pods containing the requested items, lifts the unit up by sliding under it, and brings it to a human worker at a work station. The worker picks the items needed to fill orders, while the robot returns the storage unit to the warehouse.
Robots hum around the factory floor at the speed of a walking person--3mph--delivering to human packers precisely those items needed to fulfill an order When a Robot sidles up to a human picker, an overhead laser paints a dot on the item on the pod that the human should pick up. An adjacent computer screen flashes the quantity the packer needs to put in a box to fulfill an order.
Automated order picking symphony
The robots navigate the warehouse by pointing cameras at the floor that read two-dimensional bar-coded stickers laid out by hand one meter from each other in a grid. The robots relay the encoded information wirelessly to the central computer cluster that functions both as a dispatcher and traffic controller, To fulfil an order, a human operator stands at a pick and pack station on the perimeter of the warehouse. Robots crisscross the floor. When the robot positions itself in front of a worker, a laser pointer on a metal pole shines a red dot on the product. Once the worker has retrieved the item, the robot departs and another takes its place. Workers watch for the laser dot, pick a product, scan its bar code, throw it in a box and start over again.”
Summary
Robotics warehousing has unleashed a revolution in order fulfilment and Automation technology is enabling it. In response to competitive market pressures for shorter cycle times and greater accuracy, warehouses are increasingly using process control and Automation Technology. Due to clear advantages in terms of cost reduction and improving productivity and safety, Robots shall create a permanent place for themselves in future automated warehouses servicing human beings.
Written by
Professor Akhil Chandra
Those who have worked in Warehouses would agree that order picking is a monotonous and tiring job day in day out picking merchandize from the storage shelves either manually or through Forklifts. . Basically it involves taking different products in different quantities from different parts of the warehouse and combining them for an order involving endless walking or travelling on forklifts and lot of human efforts.
Imagine if storage shelves would have been mobile and operators were stationery to save endless walking and movements by humans. In such a scenario storage racks would reach the operator themselves with the ordered items readily available to be picked.
This wishful thinking is now a reality and is no longer a figment of imagination or from a fiction book. Automation in many warehouses in
Simply put, the racks are brought to the human workers and not the other way around. This system eliminates the need for endless walking. Instead of having many workers work on the same order, the such system allows for a single touch approach. With fewer hands used on each order, productivity increases, errors decrease and the work process is streamlined saving also rising manpower costs.
KIVA Systems is a company in
The whole process operates basically with the help of following constituents.
Robotics
Robots powered by rechargeable lead-acid batteries, are typically 2 feet by 2.5 feet and stand a foot high, with blue running lights on their orange facades. They weigh 250 pounds apiece and can carry four times their weight. The Robots lift loads, called "pods," which look like stacks of shelves, by raising and lowering a platform like a corkscrew, which they accomplish by spinning in place. On the bottoms of the robots are scanners that read stickers affixed to a concrete warehouse floor. The robots navigate around the warehouse using an onboard camera to read barcode stickers on the warehouse floor. The maximum velocity of a robot is 1.3 meters per second. The Control unit of a Robot consists of Programmable Logic Controllers which are capable of issuing instructions to DC Motors mounted on the Robotic platform to provide the mobility to the Robot while the receiving unit receives digitally coded instructions issued by the Central Computer cluster described below.
Central Computer cluster
This is the main command center and issues directions to Robots to navigate on the floor. Robots continuously communicate their positions to the central computer and are guided by the central computer system.
Wi-Fi communication system
This is used by Robots to communicate wirelessly with the computer servers that run order-processing software and deliver directions. Conventional Wi-Fi routers, mounted in the warehouse rafters, broker these communications.
Sticker guidence system attached to the floorRobots are guided by a very simple grid of stickers attached to the floor. . The stickers form a grid that covers the entire robot operating area
Process Functioning
When an order for an item arrives, it is transmitted wirelessly to above stated Robot, which navigates the warehouse to find the storage unit called Pods containing the requested items, lifts the unit up by sliding under it, and brings it to a human worker at a work station. The worker picks the items needed to fill orders, while the robot returns the storage unit to the warehouse.
Robots hum around the factory floor at the speed of a walking person--3mph--delivering to human packers precisely those items needed to fulfill an order When a Robot sidles up to a human picker, an overhead laser paints a dot on the item on the pod that the human should pick up. An adjacent computer screen flashes the quantity the packer needs to put in a box to fulfill an order.
Automated order picking symphony
The robots navigate the warehouse by pointing cameras at the floor that read two-dimensional bar-coded stickers laid out by hand one meter from each other in a grid. The robots relay the encoded information wirelessly to the central computer cluster that functions both as a dispatcher and traffic controller, To fulfil an order, a human operator stands at a pick and pack station on the perimeter of the warehouse. Robots crisscross the floor. When the robot positions itself in front of a worker, a laser pointer on a metal pole shines a red dot on the product. Once the worker has retrieved the item, the robot departs and another takes its place. Workers watch for the laser dot, pick a product, scan its bar code, throw it in a box and start over again.”
Summary
Robotics warehousing has unleashed a revolution in order fulfilment and Automation technology is enabling it. In response to competitive market pressures for shorter cycle times and greater accuracy, warehouses are increasingly using process control and Automation Technology. Due to clear advantages in terms of cost reduction and improving productivity and safety, Robots shall create a permanent place for themselves in future automated warehouses servicing human beings.
Written by
Professor Akhil Chandra
