In a busy warehouse, product damage due to the incorrect alignment of the forks in the forklift with the pallet bag occurs very frequently. This operation of pushing and pulling the pallet can lead to "mistakes" and ultimately lead to downtime or dangerous situations.
The need for speed usually means that the pallet may deviate from the normal angle, slightly inclined or placed perpendicular to the aisle, and there is no clear guide to insert the fork into the pallet pocket. Both of these situations pose a challenge to a fully autonomous forklift (AFT) that follows a pre-programmed path from the reserve area to the rack, tape and rack reflector. Pallet inspection technology (machine vision or computer vision) provides AFT with a way to "see" the rack, which can significantly reduce the racks pushed in and damaged goods, which may trap AFT in the aisle for hours .
Machine vision improves overall equipment efficiency (OEE), which is the gold standard for measuring production productivity and is based on equipment availability, performance rate, and quality rate.
AFT customers have a variety of sensing options that can be loaded and unloaded, and each technology has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Commercially available automated pallet detection systems (PDS) use a variety of remote sensing technologies. The cutting-edge solid-state embedded time-of-flight (ToF) solution provides the speed of a stereo system without higher cost and additional computer requirements, while providing a complete 3D sensing function in the entire field of view.
Unlike lidar scanning systems that only provide 3D cross-sections of racks or pallets and present aiming challenges at high heads, PDS can perceive the complete shape of stacked 3D pallets or racks. The useful data of the lidar system can be further reduced by calculation algorithms that filter out reflectors and other abnormal data points caused by high reflectivity materials (such as plastic shrink wrap paper), resulting in data for reliable AFT guidance Less, and may reduce OEE indicators.
PDS based on the ToF camera has other advantages, such as the function of the lighting system, which can penetrate shiny materials such as plastic shrink wrap better than lasers. They are not affected by ambient light, which is another problem with traditional machine vision AFT sensing systems.
Software that stays smart
The final part of the PDS puzzle is to add intelligent software to the AFT sensory system. The development and optimization of PDS detection algorithms can use actual warehouse test suite environments with hundreds of different pallet types, conditions and configurations.
ifm engineers transferred their development from the laboratory to the warehouse test suite, which quickly expanded its pallet training library from a small number of samples to more than 300 pallets. From there, the test suite has grown to more than 1,000 pallet types, conditions and variations.
The PDS software needs to be able to quickly locate any pallet bag, whether it is on a GMA or CHEP pallet, US CHEP or Australian CHEP pallet, or on a damaged pallet or skid. And because the pallet and the pallet mix are always changing, the software needs to be adjusted to adapt to the changing pallet size and differentiate the pallet structure from other configurations.
For example, PDS needs to be able to distinguish between two recesses on a single pallet with a unique size and the appearance of a unique pallet created by the recesses of adjacent pallets. Such a situation will quickly overwhelm the local AFT sensing solution. Therefore, ifm works with partners in actual warehouse scenarios to improve the stability of PDS warehouse intelligence.
In order to develop a powerful PDS algorithm that can improve OEE without interrupting existing operations, ifm cooperates with a number of large distribution companies. As the test kits increase from 300 to 500, 700 and far more than 1,000 pallets, The pallet types and pallets have perfected their PDS algorithm. condition. Moreover, ifm continues to be added to the test suite.
The time required to develop a powerful PDS solution and millions of choices have made many customers realize that what they are looking for is not a technology or solution, but a partner for automated warehouse optimization.
Solving PDS solutions from all angles not only helps to develop robust algorithms, but also improves overall system efficiency and reduces the cost of ownership. ifm has designed an algorithm that can run directly on the O3D3O3 camera at the core of PDS. This highly integrated embedded solution runs faster than competitors' solutions because all processing is done on AFT, which reduces the need for robots to communicate with remote servers and guidance systems. Highly optimized embedded solutions run faster than solutions based on PC hosts and AFT controllers, thereby improving OEE indicators and reducing maintenance requirements, because embedded hardware and operating system support time is longer than consumer-level The solution is longer.
Choosing AFT PDS requires not only familiarity with 3D sensing systems and mobile robots. A partner who needs to understand the environmental challenges of modern warehouses.
Ifm's unique position in the industrial electronics, machine vision, robotics and warehouse industries for more than 50 years has given its engineers a 360-degree understanding of the challenges that warehouse and plant managers are trying to find higher productivity from their material handling systems. Taking into account both picking and shelving, ifm's solid-state PDS solution provides the right number of functions at the right price, and has the sturdiness and reliability required for warehouse operations.
