Turntable Pallet Profiling With Stationary Cameras for ID Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing warehouse systems face inefficiencies in accurately identifying and storing pallets due to inaccurate or incomplete information, human errors in inspection, and inadequate imaging technologies, leading to potential damage and reduced supply chain efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing a rotating turntable and stationary cameras mounted on a vertical pole, combined with controlled lighting, captures comprehensive images of pallets from multiple angles, enabling automated profiling and accurate identification of unique identifiers, with manual review for uncertain cases.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual inspection by warehouse workers is used to identify pallet characteristics, then flexibility and adaptability are maintained, but inspection accuracy decreases and time consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical inspection by warehouse workers with an automated imaging system consisting of cameras, turntables, and computing devices that automatically capture and analyze pallet images, eliminating human error and time consumption while maintaining measurement precision
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service by allowing pallets to be automatically inspected and profiled without human intervention, where the computing device autonomously processes images, identifies characteristics, and determines storage locations
2Loss of information
If multiple cameras are positioned around the pallet to capture images from all angles, then measurement completeness improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a rotating turntable to dynamically change the relative position between the pallet and the stationary camera, allowing a single camera to capture images from multiple angles as the pallet rotates, thereby achieving complete image coverage without positioning multiple cameras
Solution Approach 2:
The single camera system serves multiple functions by capturing images of different sides and angles of the pallet through the rotation mechanism, replacing what would traditionally require multiple fixed cameras positioned around the entire pallet
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for profiling a pallet in a warehouse can include a turntable that rotates the pallet, conveyor belts that move the pallet, and a vertical profiling structure, having cameras mounted at different locations, in a stationary position proximate to a side of the turntable. A photo booth can also be used to provide uniform lighting. A computing system can instruct a conveyor belt to automatically route the pallet onto the turntable, instruct the cameras to capture image data of the pallet as it rotates on the turntable, receive the image data, and retrieve image-based models of the pallet that were trained using images of pallets having unique identifiers. The computing system can determine, based on applying the image-based models to the image data, whether the pallet's unique identifier is identifiable, and transmit, to a warehouse management system, a notification indicating whether the unique identifier is identifiable.