Folding Side-Wall Container for Automated Picking Vision
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing distribution containers require substantial manual labor for automated loading due to their design, leading to inefficiencies and safety issues like pinched-finger injuries, as automated pickers need to lift and move heavy goods and have limited vision into four-sided open-top containers.
Innovation Solution
A folding side-wall container design with a pivotable front wall and top lid, allowing for enhanced vision and reduced weight handling, where the front wall can fold open for easy access and the top lid secures with an engagement lip, facilitating automated filling and reducing the need for heavy lifting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If a four-sided open-top container design is used, then automated pickers can access goods from above, but the picker must lift entire weight of goods and has limited vision into the container
Solution Approach 1:
The container is segmented into a base and a removable front wall section. The front wall can be detached or folded open to create an open front configuration, allowing the automated picker to access goods from both the top and front directions, thereby improving vision and reducing the need to lift entire weights.
Solution Approach 2:
The front wall is designed to be dynamically reconfigurable between closed and open positions. This dynamic structure allows the container to adapt its configuration based on whether manual storage or automated picking is required, optimizing both vision capability and weight handling efficiency.
2Reliability
If a hinged lid with interlocking mechanism is used, then the container can be securely closed, but it causes pinched-finger injuries
Solution Approach 1:
The interlocking mechanism is extracted from the hinged lid design and replaced with a snap-fit closure system. The engagement lip on the lid fits into corresponding recesses on the container body, providing secure closure without the pinching hazard of traditional interlocking hinges.
Solution Approach 2:
The mechanical interlocking system is replaced with a simpler snap-fit mechanism that relies on elastic deformation rather than mechanical interlocking. This substitution eliminates the pinched-finger injury risk while maintaining container security through the engagement lip design.
3Productivity
If the automated picker lifts goods from wholesale containers, then goods can be transferred to distribution containers, but substantial grabbing and weight lifting capacity is required
Solution Approach 1:
The access point to the container is extended from only the top dimension to include the front dimension. By opening the front wall, the automated picker can access goods from the front, allowing for more efficient picking operations that require less vertical lifting force and enable sliding or pushing motions instead of full weight lifting.
Data Source
AI summary
The folding side-wall container (10, 62, 66) provides for efficient loading and unloading of the containers appropriate for retail re-supply of goods (52, 64, 90). Use of the containers as a distribution container (62) and a wholesale goods container (66) within an automated system (60) for automated transfer by a robotic picker (68) of goods (64) from the wholesale container (66) to the distribution container (62) minimizes labor costs in distribution of the goods (64). The container (10) includes a folding wall (22) that is releasably secured in a closed position by a top lid (34) having an engagement lip (42) that secures a top edge (46) of the folding side or front wall (22). Opening the top lid (34) and then folding down the front wall (22) permits efficient loading and unloading of the container (10).