journal article·2021-12-20Open access

Intelligent Robotic Palletizer System

Jeng-Dao Lee, Chen-Huan Chang, En-Shuo Cheng, Chia-Chen Kuo, Chia-Ying Hsieh

Applied Sciences· Volume 11· Issue 24

Abstract

In the global wave of automation, logistics and manufacturing are indispensable and important industries. Among them, the related automatic warehousing system is even more urgently needed. There are quite a few cases of using robotic arms in the current industry cargo stacking operations. Traditional operations require engineers to plan the stacking path for the robotic arm. If the size of the object changes, it will take extra time to re-plan the work path. Therefore, in recent years, quite a lot of automatic palletizing software has been developed; however, none of it has a detection mechanism for stacking correctness and personnel safety. As a result, in this research, an intelligent robotic palletizer system is developed based on a self-developed symmetrical algorithm to stack the goods in a staggered arrangement to ensure the overall structure. Innovatively, it is proposed to check the arrangement status and warnings during the visual stack inspection to ensure the correctness of the stacking process. Besides, an AI algorithm is imported to ensure that personnel cannot enter the set dangerous area during the work of the robotic arm to improve safety during stacking. In addition to uploading the relevant data to the cloud database in real time, the stacking process combined database and vision system also provide users with real-time monitoring of system information.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Advanced Manufacturing and Logistics Optimization · Optimization and Packing Problems · Vehicle License Plate Recognition

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Department of Automation Engineering, National Formosa University, Yunlin County 632, Taiwan

Funding

Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan

References (10)

Show source-provided references
1. (2018, October 12). Uniqlo Replaced 90% of Staff at its Tokyo Warehouse with Robots. Available online: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/10/uniqlo-replaced-90-of-staff-at-its-newly-automated-warehouse-with-robots.
2. (2021, September 01). Warehouse Robotics Market by Type (Mobile, Articulated, Cylindrical, SCARA, Parallel, Cartesian), Software, Function (Pick & Place, Palletizing & Depalletizing, Transportation, Packaging), Payload Capacity, Industry, and Region—Global Forecast to 2022. Available online: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/warehouse-robotic-market-128876258.html%20.
3. A literature review on the pallet loading problem
4. A heuristic algorithm for optimal placement of rectangular objects10.1016/0020-0255(82)90037-8 ↗
5. An exact depth-first algorithm for the pallet loading problem, European Journal of Operational Research10.1016/S0377-2217(97)00272-5 ↗
6. Generating unconstrained two-dimensional non-guillotine cutting patterns by a Recursive Partitioning Algorithm10.1057/jors.2011.6 ↗
7. Wu, R.H., and Lin, H.Y. (2001). System Analysis and Design-Theory and Application, Bestwise Publishing Co.
8. (2021, September 01). What is TM Palletizing Operator?. Available online: https://www.tm-robot.com/zh-hant/tm-palletizing-operator.
9. (2018, September 28). CMD Yaskawa Motoman Robotic Palletizer. Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhBqc6ocBeY&ab_channel=YaskawaAmerica%2CInc.
10. (2020, March 19). A Strong Partner in Automation—KUKA Robot Makes Medium-Sized Malaysian Company Fit for the Future. Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTL_PS04AZ4&t=16s&ab_channel=KUKA-Robots%26Automation.