Rack-Mounted Robot Elevator for Flexible Warehouse Throughput
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Solution Overview
Problem
Automated robotic warehouse systems face scalability issues as their throughput is fixed, making it difficult to increase the movement of items beyond their designed capacity, leading to inefficiencies and wasted time for human pickers in locating and verifying bins.
Innovation Solution
A hybrid system that combines robotic pre-staging of items and human intervention, using robots to position containers efficiently and humans to transfer items, with features like motion detection and augmented reality guidance to streamline the picking process, allowing for dynamic instruction and confirmation of transfers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If a completely automated robotic distribution system is designed, then automation efficiency is improved, but scalability and throughput flexibility deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the mix of automated and manual operations based on throughput requirements. Robots can be repositioned between automated picking stations and manual assistant stations, allowing the system to flex between high-automation modes and high-scalability modes as needed
Solution Approach 2:
The distribution system is segmented into independent robotic units that can operate autonomously or be assigned to assist human pickers. This modular architecture allows selective deployment of automation resources to maintain flexibility while improving overall efficiency
2Device complexity
If the maximum throughput is fixed in an automated system, then system design simplicity is improved, but scalability to higher throughput deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system maintains simple base design while adding dynamic reconfiguration capabilities. Robots can be dynamically reassigned between automated and manual assistance roles, enabling throughput scaling without fundamentally redesigning the entire system architecture
Solution Approach 2:
Robots are designed with multi-functionality, capable of performing both fully automated picking tasks and manual assistance tasks. This universal capability allows the same robotic units to serve different throughput levels, eliminating the need for separate systems for different capacity requirements
3Adaptability or versatility
If human pickers manually locate and verify bins, then system adaptability is improved, but time consumption and efficiency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by having robots pre-locate and stage bins before human pickers arrive. This advance preparation eliminates the time humans would otherwise spend searching for and verifying bin locations, while maintaining the adaptability of manual picking operations
Data Source
AI summary
An elevator system can include an elevator car comprising an elevator floor, the elevator car connected to a control system, wherein the elevator floor is configured to enable a rolling device to roll from a floor level onto the elevator floor, an elevator wireless communication module connected to the control system, an elevator framework in which the elevator car is configured and an elevator motor configured to raise and lower the elevator car as instructed by a mobile robot and as controlled by the control system according to instructions to the elevator system received via the elevator wireless communication module. The elevator system can be attached to a rack of shelves and be used to autonomously move mobile robots up and down to or from respective shelfs and/or a floor level.