Store Shelf Imaging for Real-Time Empty Slot Restocking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current stock keeping methods struggle to accurately and efficiently track stock levels within stores, particularly during peak traffic periods, leading to inefficiencies in restocking and potential losses due to empty or incorrectly stocked slots.
Innovation Solution
A method utilizing a robotic system to image shelving structures during peak traffic periods, processing images to identify empty slots and their assigned products, and generating real-time restocking prompts based on product values or slot values, with a global restocking list compiled for asynchronous handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual inventory tracking is used, then operational simplicity is maintained, but tracking accuracy and real-time monitoring capability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic system autonomously performs inventory tracking without human intervention. It navigates store aisles, captures images of shelving structures, and automatically processes data to identify empty slots and generate restocking prompts, enabling the system to serve itself in monitoring stock levels
Solution Approach 2:
Manual mechanical inventory checking is replaced with an automated robotic system equipped with imaging sensors and computer vision algorithms. The robotic system uses optical fields and image processing to detect product presence and slot occupancy, substituting human labor with automated technological systems
2Loss of time
If inventory scanning is performed during peak traffic periods, then real-time restocking capability is improved, but system complexity and operational difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic system is dispatched during peak traffic periods to proactively identify empty slots before they lead to lost sales. By performing inventory scanning and generating restocking prompts in real-time during high-demand periods, the system prepares restocking actions in advance rather than reacting after stockouts occur
Solution Approach 2:
The robotic system dynamically adapts its operation during peak traffic periods by navigating around customers, adjusting its scanning schedule to prioritize high-value products, and processing images in real-time. The system flexibly manages operational complexity through dynamic route planning and prioritization algorithms
3Reliability
If comprehensive restocking prompts are generated for all empty slots, then inventory completeness is improved, but processing time and computational load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies different processing quality levels to different slots based on product value. High-value products receive immediate restocking prompts with priority processing, while lower-value products are included in batched global restocking lists. This localized quality approach ensures inventory completeness while optimizing processing efficiency according to product importance
Solution Approach 2:
The restocking prompt generation is segmented into two categories: immediate prompts for high-value products during the scan cycle, and batched prompts for lower-value products in global restocking lists. This segmentation divides the comprehensive restocking task into manageable segments with different processing priorities and timeframes
Data Source
AI summary
One variation of a method for tracking stock level within a store includes: dispatching a robotic system to image shelving structures within the store during a scan cycle; receiving images from the robotic system, each image recorded by the robotic system during the scan cycle and corresponding to one waypoint within the store; identifying, in the images, empty slots within the shelving structures; identifying a product assigned to each empty slot based on product location assignments defined in a planogram of the store; for a first product of a first product value and assigned to a first empty slot, generating a first prompt to restock the first empty slot with a unit of the first product during the scan cycle; and, upon completion of the scan cycle, generating a global restocking list specifying restocking of a set of empty slots associated with product values less than the first product value.