Mobile Robot Tote-Array Putaway Without Warehouse Presorting
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Solution Overview
Problem
The inefficiencies in warehouse stocking and putaway operations, particularly in large warehouses where items are dispersed and require extensive human travel for sorting and routing, lead to labor-intensive and time-consuming processes, impacting the overall efficiency of order fulfillment.
Innovation Solution
A dynamic putaway selection system utilizing a mobile robot with a tote-array that allows cooperative robot-operator interaction, enabling the robot to determine optimal routes for item placement without presorting, using data from a warehouse management server to dynamically sort and route items efficiently, minimizing upfront effort and maintaining operator efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If human operators manually sort and place items in large warehouses, then items can be stocked, but extensive travel and time are required reducing efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
A mobile robot acts as an intermediary carrier between the item receiving area and storage locations. The robot transports totes containing items, allowing operators to work at a fixed station rather than traveling throughout the warehouse. This mediator eliminates the need for operators to physically move between dispersed storage locations, significantly reducing travel time while maintaining putaway productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system brings the storage locations to the operator by moving totes on a mobile robot platform, effectively changing the spatial dimension of the putaway process. Instead of operators moving through three-dimensional warehouse space to reach items, the robot delivers items to the operator's fixed workspace, collapsing the spatial distance and eliminating travel time.
2Productivity
If items are presorted before placement, then routing efficiency improves, but upfront effort and time are increased
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically determines the optimal sequence of storage locations based on the robot's current position and the destinations of items in the totes. Rather than presorting items into fixed sequences, the routing sequence is flexibly adjusted in real-time as the robot moves through the warehouse, optimizing the path without requiring upfront sorting effort. The routing is dynamic and adapts to the actual state of items needing storage.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary routing planning by determining the optimal sequence of storage locations before the robot begins transport. The warehouse management system calculates an efficient route that minimizes travel distance based on the destinations of items in the totes. This preliminary routing optimization achieves routing efficiency without requiring physical presorting of items, as the computational routing plan is established in advance.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 3
AI summary
Processes are provided for dynamically sorting and storing items in a warehouse without the need for presorting items and without delaying or negatively impacting the efficiency of operators in the warehouse. Items are individually scanned and placed in totes of a tote-array provided on a mobile robot. An optimized route is calculated based on the items in the tote-array, and the robot navigates to a first location on the route. When the item has been put away, a replacement item is placed in the just-emptied tote of the tote-array, and an updated route is calculated. A robot capable of navigating to predefined locations for storing items is a warehouse is provided.