Proceedings of the IEEE

International Conference on Automation and Logistics

Qingdao, China September 2008

Robotics-Logistics: Challenges for Automation of

Logistic Processes
Wolfgang Echelmeyer, Alice Kirchheim, Eckhard Wellbrock
Bremer Institut für Produktion und Logistik (BIBA)
University of Bremen
Hochschulring 20, 28359 Bremen, Germany
{ech & kch & wel}@biba.uni-bremen.de

Abstract - Robotics-logistics can be understood as the field product life cycle, which add new features to the products by
of activities in which applications of industrial robot-technologies means of value added actions of the production or service
are offered and demanded in order to ensure the optimization of areas. The so called entities of these networks can be
internal material flows. According to a survey conducted by described as logistic factories. From a macroscopic
BIBA in 2007, the area of robotics-logistics has great need for perspective their field of activities and their operational
modernization.
sequences cover three areas: the input of commodities and
Robotics-Logistics activities can be classified in several scenarios
as unloading / loading of goods and palletizing / depalletizing of goods, the provision of value added services (the so called
goods. Possible scenarios for research and development activities through put) and output to the next station of the supply chain.
within theses fields are given. A closer view of a logistic factory shows a variety of different
processes. Business processes significantly characterize the
Index Terms – Robotic-Logistics, Automation operative corporate task of an organization. As a result,
I. INTRODUCTION processes vary in different countries, between different
branches and also between different companies within one
Since 1950 more and more automated applications have
branch. Therefore the efficient implementation of productive
been implemented in the area of logistics. They have taken
business processes is especially important for a strong
over internal tasks such as transport, handling, storage and
competitive position. The term logistic factory describes
packaging, especially in tasks where the intelligence of the
companies that only carry out logistic activities (i.e.
system did not play as important a role [1]. For example
distribution or warehousing) or those with mostly classical
conveying smalls via long ranges or lifting them onto other
production that have logistic functions (i.e. component
levels are typical applications of the early automation.
manufacturing, assembly or food production, etc.) [4].
Further applications were the palletizing of consumer
Within the research institute BIBA at the University of
goods like cans and boxes with simple handling equipment.
Bremen scientists have the vision of the future factory of
Parallel to this the automation in production processes
logistics in which the material flow and information flow of a
proceeded in a faster way. The automotive industry was using
logistic factory is optimized. The future factory of logistics
industrial robots since then for a large variety of tasks. They
has three main areas of activity, which are important for an
took over heavy labor such as welding or moving and placing
institute of any university to give contribution to the objective:
parts. For this reason the focus of industrial robots was on the
• Research and development
automobile and supplier industry until a couple of years ago,
• Consulting
but with progresses in technology in recent years the industrial
• Education of students
robots now offer new possibilities. In the meantime they have
The research and development of the future factory of
found their way into nearly every field including logistics. [2]
logistics is mainly concerned with robotics-logistics and
The increased implementation of industrial robot
informatics-logistics. Robotics-logistics can be understood as
technology in logistics offers great potential for the
the field of activities in which applications of industrial robot-
optimization of transport and handling frequencies as a result
technologies are offered and demanded in order to ensure the
of continuous automation throughout the logistics network
optimization of internal material flows.
[3].
First an overview is given to define the wording for III. ROBOTICS-LOGISTICS
automation in logistics, which starts with logistic networks
Before Robotics-Logistics is focused in detail, it is
and ends with robotic-logistics. In the second section a
necessary to mark Robotics-Logistics off with adjacent
detailed description of the challenges and driving forces to
logistics areas as service logistics and intralogistics.
enforce the automation of logistic processes.
“Service logistics include the complete planning, controlling,
II. ROBOTICS-LOGISTICS IN THE FIELD OF LOGISTICS realization and testing of all institution internal and
overlapping flow of goods and personnel“[5]. It provides
A logistic network describes the way of a product from its
process and customer-oriented solutions and necessary
origins to the finished product and recycling after its use.
potential factors for complete and partial systems for service
Various organizations and companies are involved in this

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providers and their networks. A noticeable growth has been
registered in the logistic service market (3.5 percent) and also
in the whole logistics market (2.1 percent) [6].
”Intralogistics includes [...] the organization, control,
realization and optimization of internal material flow and
logistics, information flow and stock turnover for industry,
commerce and public institutions” is the official definition by
the Industrial Union of Material Handling and Logistic
Systems and of the intralogistics forum of the VDMA [7].
This area includes a variety of technologies and the market
shows that the turnover of German intralogistic manufacturers
has increased by 8.3 percent in 2006 in comparison with the
previous year [8].
To resume, the robotic-logistics market is a field of
application that both demands, and provides the service of
industrial robot technology for the purpose of internal material
flow optimization.
According to a survey conducted by BIBA in 2007 [9],
the area of robotics-logistics has great need for modernization.
Automation solutions are needed desperately and the
determination to invest in this area is high. The RoboScan
study also shows a central meaning for new technologies.
Technical components, for example image processing,
automatic identification of objects and the combination of
robotics with advanced sensor technology, are required.
The knowledge is widespread that robot-technologies
can be used for the optimization of internal material flow in
comparison to the application of robot-technologies.
Participants of the study have given insight to their logistic
processes:
1. 41 percent of the questioned logisticians are making use
of robot systems in their working field, mainly due to non-
existing market solutions.
2. Keeping the future in mind, more than 60 percent of the
logisticians plan to implement robot solution, which shows a
broad utilization field for research and development activities,
as well as for the services of suppliers and advisors.
3. The demand for full automation is rather small, only a
quarter of the interviewees view fully automation in single
areas as a possible option.
4. Discussions in reference to innovation ability such as a
trigger for a long term change of processes as well as a
precursor in technology applications only play a secondary
role in the overall valuation of the application of robot-
technology.
5. 42 percent of the interviewees stated that automation
plays a very important role and furthermore, 91 percent of the
logisticians indicate that they are already using automation
solutions in their field of work.
The results clearly show that industrial robot-
technologies are the driving force behind a number of events:
1. The standardization of packaging as well as of processes,
which in turn makes it a driving force for the application of
new decentralized controlling systems.
2. The optimal use of technologies and resources within
logistics, as these processes can only be used most ideally in a
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combination of different information- and operation
technologies.
3. The rearrangement of resources which leads to a
humanization of workstations.
A. Potentials of Robotics-Logistics
Regarding the increasing competition and ever scarcer
resources, industrial robot technology can be an instrument to
exhaust innovation potentials. For service logisticians it offers
further potential in connection with other technologies, for
example progressive value added services. Furthermore, the
implementation of robot systems can lead to an innovative
company image which can provide a competitive advantage in
the long run.
Besides the increase in process efficiency the industrial
robot technology can make work places more humane and
enable a redistribution of resources. In theory robots can be
implemented in areas involving tasks with extreme physical
strain. They relieve the worker by continuously moving heavy
loads or operating in awkward environments or working
conditions for example in cold or dangerous areas.
Consequently this would result in a higher efficiency and a
greater flexibility, better ergonomic working conditions and a
minimisation of salary and operating expenses.
IV. ACTIVITIES WITHIN ROBITIC-LOGISTICS
As stated in section 1 robotics-logistics is part of the
research activities within the future factory of logistics. This
section shall give an overview of the subareas in robotics-
logistics.
Automation of logistic processes is mostly concerned
with handling of goods, which can be classified by the shape
and properties of the goods [10]:
1. Palletized goods: handled with a fork lifter which is
driven directly into the container or swap body. Further
processing is either depalletizing or direct transfer into swap
bodies or containers for redistribution.
2. Not standardized: goods are unloaded manually. Their
processing is in dependence of their properties (shape, size,
weight) and is therefore individual.
3. Loose standardized mass goods: which are mainly
consumable goods, and goods, which are transported in jute or
sisal sacks e.g. coffee beans, are unloaded manually. After
unloading they are often processed on conveyor belts or
palletized.
Therefore, handling of loose, standardized mass goods
has a high potential for being automated as on the on hand the
packaging is standardized and the subsequent processes are
similar. Robotics-Logistics is mainly focused on the
standardized mass goods.
Furthermore, unloading of palletized goods with a fork lifter
is already very efficient and unloading of not standardized
goods is impossible by means of universal technical systems.
In order to ensure the optimization of internal material flow
Robotics-Logistics activities can be classified in several
scenarios.
A. Scenario 1: Unloading
In regard to the Status Quo of the automation in logistics,
over 50 percent of the market participants declared that the
areas of incoming and outgoing goods are already partially
automated.
Nowadays consumable goods are mainly produced in
Asia. The transportation of these goods leads to an increasing
flow of goods. Mostly they are packed in standardized
packaging and loaded in standardized carriers as containers,
swap bodies and ULDs.
The demand of ergonomic working places and the
pressure to provide efficient processes, causes a request of
technical systems for automatic unloading of containers. At
first glance, it may be surprising that a container filled with
loosely stored parcels poses a challenge for a robot. But in the
classic area of robot application, which are production
processes in the automotive industry, robots are involved in
repetitive activities and work with exactly the same parts. The
different sizes and composition of packages make it extremely
difficult to introduce automation in this area. Hence, most
packages are still unloaded and transshipped by humans. Over
the past six years a consortium from business and research
communities have developed a parcel robot. This robot was
put into daily service in the spring of 2007.
The parcel robot is the first intelligent system that
automatically unloads containers and swap bodies that are
filled with loose parcels (Fig. 1). In the past, this work was
always done manually. Once a parcel robot has a container
positioned in front of it, it independently works out the best
unloading sequence. It removes the parcels one after the other
and places each onto a conveyor belt. In principle, it is similar
to the job performed by a human worker.
Fig. 1: Parcel Robot
The parcel robot consists essentially of the following
components: a chassis, a telescopic conveyor belt, a 3-D laser
scanner and an interchangeable gripping system - consisting
of an articulated arm and a grabber.
B. Scenario 2: Loading
A significant amount of containers are unloaded and
loaded within the harbour areas. Loading and unloading of
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containers is a relocation of piece good handling from the
harbour into the surroundings of the harbour. Piece goods,
which have been stored manually in nets into the hatchway,
are nowadays stored in Container Freight Stations.
Packing of bulky and heavy piece good is done often
with fork lifters, which possibilities to manoeuvre inside of a
container are small as containers have their opening on the
slender side. This causes time consuming loading and
suboptimal utilization of container space.
The main idea for part-automatic loading of containers is
to compose and secure the complete content of the container
before loading. Therefore, the container content is put on a
loading device in front of the container, the content is secured
and afterwards it is pushed into the container. The loading
device is lowered and pulled out of the container when it
reaches the bottom. The loading device, which is going to be
designed, developed and built as a prototype in one of BIBA’s
research projects is the basis for optimized processes within
the area of container loading.
The optimization of the material flow gives the
opportunity for fast reaction times due to the possibility of
buffers for complete freight. This has an effect on the
processing time in combination with higher quality of storing.
Another advantage of using a loading device is the possibility
to put the goods from all sides onto the device. Furthermore,
the storage capacities are used better and the time of the
containers at the loading places is reduced. New opportunities
from the loading device arise the need of an appropriate
software system.
The software shall take dynamic loading planning into
account. To achieve this, the loading device is equipped with
sensors to acquire data from incoming goods. The acquired
data, which could be freight consolidation or information for
subsequent production processes, are used for the planning of
the loading process. Furthermore, the data are integrated in
control systems for container loading, which is responsible for
sending data to subsequent processes. This results in
optimized overall processes, i.e. short term break-down of
planned goods or incoming but not scheduled goods. By
having a flexible software system these events can be
integrated into the loading plans dynamically. The impuls for
computing a new loading plan might be implemented either
event-based or in predefined cycles.
Event-based adaption of loading processes might be in
dependence of product types, which are only loaded if a
defined amount of goods is reached. In contrast to event-based
adaption of loading processes time-based adaption of loading
processes is similar to existing solutions.
C. Scenario 3: Palletizing
In the intralogistics robots are mainly used for palletising
and packaging (Fig. 2). Especially the branches of food and
beverage industry with layer handling, the chemical and
pharmaceutical industry with handling of chemicals, the
plastics industry with demoulding of castings and the wood-
working industry with handling of bulk goods are typical
users of robot-based systems for supporting the internal flow
of materials. Portal robots are typical solutions for the
requirements to the packaging, high speed palletising and
handling of heavy loads. One the other hand more and more
specialised solutions are available on the market; a couple of
robot provider offer special palletising and packaging robots.
ABB for example offers a very fast pick&place robot or
robots with four axes, aluminium arms, high load and high
range for loading of trays, bottles and bags.
On the other hand there is still the question whether
special solutions are really necessary. For most of the
applications standardised designs can be installed in a cheaper
way. Often the work space of a 6-axis vertical articulated arm-
robot can be increased by a seventh axis. On the other hand a
Cartesian robot is not only adequate but offers in plenty cases
a lot of advantages; mostly its cubic workspace conforms to
the problem if the arrangement of the pallets is parallel or
rectangular to the conveyor. The moved elements are placed
above its work spaces. This way the robot does not obstruct
itself. A Cartesian robot can move across its workspace and
reaches every position directly.
The fact is, that portal robots are the cheapest solutions
for conventional material handling. If the complexity of the
tasks increases to labelling or packaging, or the flexibility has
to increase because of a larger variety of goods is handled
with the same system, a combination of the speed of the
Cartesian robots and the flexibility 6-axis vertical articulated
arm-robots has to be combined.
Fig. 2: Typcial scenario for palletizing mass good
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Fig. 3: Robot Cell light
D. Scenario 4: Depalletizing
A special scenario is smalls rolled in euro palettes. In
general they are depalletized manually. This work done
implies a physical strain due to stereotype rotating
movements. The Robot Cell Light intends to substitute this
work and increase the humanity of work. The construction of
the cell is optimized and reduced to the basic requirements of
the task. The combination of simple and reliable components
of robotic technology demonstrates a novel principle of robot
systems. The system will be produced cost-efficient. The
cieompact character of the cell generates a high mobility of it
(for instance by a fork lifter) and the universal gripping
system creates a multifunctional application.
This and the fact of needing only an electric power supply
allows the system to be integrated in a lot of different
companies very fast.
V. CONCLUSION
Though automation of production processes is already
proceeded very far, there are still many fields in which
automation of logistic processes is not achieved with standard
solutions. We have presented the field of activity for robotic-
logistics each illustrated with an example.
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