High-Bay Rack Robot Arm Coupling for Automated Goods Transfer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing logistics systems for transferring and supplying goods within high-bay racks are inefficient and require significant personnel, especially in the context of agricultural foodstuff production, such as vertical farming.
Innovation Solution
A logistics system comprising a high-bay rack with a robot arm having adjustable links and joints, featuring a coupling device that allows the robot arm to be automatically locked and releasable to the rack, enabling efficient transfer and supply of goods with minimal personnel intervention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If manual operations are used for transferring and supplying goods within high-bay racks, then personnel can perform tasks flexibly, but productivity is low and personnel requirements are high
Solution Approach 1:
The robot arm is equipped with an automatic coupling device that enables it to autonomously couple to and decouple from the robot arm carrier on the high-bay rack without external assistance. The coupling device includes automatic locking and unlocking mechanisms that operate independently, allowing the robot arm to service multiple racks sequentially without requiring personnel intervention for each transition, thereby significantly improving productivity while maintaining high automation.
2Productivity
If multiple robot arms are deployed to serve multiple high-bay racks, then productivity increases, but device complexity and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The robot arm is designed as a universal, mobile unit that can couple to and operate on multiple different high-bay racks sequentially. The coupling device with automatic locking/unlocking mechanisms enables a single robot arm to service multiple racks without requiring dedicated robot arms for each rack. This multi-functionality increases productivity while reducing the total number of robot arms needed, thereby decreasing device complexity and associated costs.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the robot arm is permanently fixed to one high-bay rack, then connection reliability is high, but adaptability to serve multiple racks is low
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling device incorporates dynamic locking and unlocking mechanisms that provide stable, reliable connections when coupled to a high-bay rack, yet allow for controlled decoupling and recoupling to different racks. The automatic locking mechanism ensures connection reliability during operation, while the ability to automatically decouple and recouple enables adaptability to serve multiple racks. This dynamic design resolves the contradiction between fixed stability and mobile flexibility.
Data Source
AI summary
A logistics system includes a first high-bay rack, at least one further high-bay rack, and at least one robot arm with a plurality of links and joints connecting the links for relative adjustment. One of the links is a bottom link of the robot arm which forms a base. The first high-bay rack has a first robot arm carrier with a first coupling device which, in a state in which the robot arm is coupled to the first robot arm carrier, interacts with a counter-coupling device of the bottom link of the robot arm in such a way that, in a first configuration of the logistics system, the bottom link of the robot arm is connected to the first robot arm carrier in an automatically locked and automatically releasable manner. The further high-bay rack has a further robot arm carrier with a further coupling device which, in a state in which the robot arm is coupled to the further robot arm carrier, interacts with the counter-coupling device of the bottom link of the robot arm in such a way that, in a second configuration of the logistics system, which is different from the first configuration, the bottom link of the robot arm is connected to the further robot arm carrier in an automatically locked and automatically releasable manner.