FUTURE TECHNOLOGIES IN INTRALOGISTICS

AND MATERIAL HANDLING

Aniket Gupta (2K18/PE/007) & Aniket Yadav (2K18/PE/008)

SHORTCOMINGS TODAY’S MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEMS
The decision making process is distributed over
several system levels
The current state of the system is captured via a
manifold of sensors at various locations.
If adaptations of systems are required, they have to be
coordinated across all levels, requiring intricate
knowledge of participating subsystems.
Design patterns of future material handling
systems
What you see is what you get (WYSIWYG)
Plug and play capability
Scalability
Reconfigurability
Inherent safety
Resource efficiency
Self adaptability

Connection Based Systems
Flex Conveyor-It is a modular material handling system with
decentralized control (see Fig.). Each module is identical: a
rectangular right-angle-transfer that is able to transport goods in
the four cardinal directions. Nowadays, different kinds of modules
can be combined. The conveying system can be easily built by the
user by combining the conveying modules, because they are
equipped with wheels and can be connected without any tools.
The connection between neighbors is physical, electronic and
electrical. Each module has its own control and communicates
with its neighbors to take decisions. For each box entering the
system, a route is reserved from source to destination to prevent
opposing routes on
bidirectional
conveying
modules.
Connection Based Systems
Grid Sorter- It is based on the idea of Flex Conveyor. As shown in Fig. , the
system is built of rectangular transfer modules , each being able to
communicate with its neighbors and to take decisions. The difference with
Flex Conveyor concerns the system task and the density of the conveying
network. The main task of Grid Sorter is to sort goods, i.e. to transport goods
to different destinations based on case-specific, known criteria. In order to
reach a high module- and space-efficiency, the conveying network is built as
densely as possible: the result is a grid-like network topology . The topology
may have any form and the sources and destinations can be at any side
module of the conveying network.. With this control, deadlocks occur if high
throughput is required and if order input is not controlled accordingly.
 Connection Based Systems
Grid Pick- Grid Pick is a special implementation of Grid Store. Items are retrieved and
replenished on the same side of the grid in order to supply items of one order to a picker
(see Fig. ). In comparison to commonly used flow racks, the walking distance of a picker
and therefore the pick time of one order can be reduced. To enable movements in all four
cardinal directions, the “Virtual Aisles” algorithm has been adapted to balance the
number of items per row.

Grid Sequence –It uses a dense network of transfer modules with decentralized control.
The system task is to establish a certain sequence within the set of retrieved items (see
Fig.). The “Virtual Aisles” algorithm has been adapted by assigning an intermediate
destination to each item depending on its sequence number
 Trip Based Systems
KARIS PRO- KARIS PRO is a transportation system that
consists of many AGVs with decentralized control. The
vehicles coordinate themselves by negotiating with each
other about which order is transported by which vehicle.
Thus, a central control unit is obsolete. The system is very
flexible: By using natural landmarks for localization, KARIS
PRO only needs a communication infrastructure and energy.
This allows quick and easy implementation. One vehicle can
move boxes, pallets or trolleys.
Even though KARIS PRO
is a trip based system, the
vehicles can cluster to build a
temporarily connection based
conveyor system.
 Trip Based Systems
FiFi- FiFi is a gesture controlled transportation robot. It uses data
from a 3D-camera to detect people and gestures and supports
different modes of operation (see Fig.): In Following Mode, FiFi
follows a moving user by keeping a constant distance.
Maneuvering Mode allows exact positioning of FiFi while
following the movement of the users’ hands. In Cluster Mode
several vehicles follow the user one after another to transport
higher quantities of goods. For longer static transport routes
without user-interaction, Line Following Mode allows FiFi to
follow an optical track using a
line-tracking camera.
 Main Functions in Trip & Connection Based
Systems
1) Mapping and Topology Recognition

In today’s systems, the topology of a system i.e. the graph has to be

modeled manually during installation of the system. This means
that the position of sources and destinations and the routes
between these points is predefined. Also, the position of other
relevant points like charging stations is manually defined. This
causes a high workload for modeling the system topology and
keeping it up to date. In future material handling systems, the user
should be able to change the setup of the system dynamically,
which requires the system itself to recognize and model the current
topology.
2) Path Planning
In today's material handling systems, path planning is usually done
during installation manually. This means that a uni-directional
network of fixed paths is defined, in connection-based as well as
in trip-based systems. Therefore, during operation no decision
on path planning is necessary any more if a load or a vehicle
needs to move from A to B. In Fig., this corresponds to the left
category of routing: the forwarding of loads or vehicles on a
defined path.
3) Deadlock Handling
It is necessary if moving objects, i.e loads or vehicles might block
each other in such a way that no object is able to move anymore.
New deadlock handling strategies have been developed for
connection based material handling systems with decentralized
control. In some systems deadlocks are allowed to occur but are
subsequently detected by the modules, which have strategies to
recover. Avoiding deadlocks require intensive communication and
complex decision making during transport.
4) Hardware Control

The hardware control is responsible for the control of sensors and

actuators and is the lowest control level. Therefore, its main
responsibility is to control the movement of loads or vehicles
while sensing its environment. In today’s systems, the system
control is strictly hardware-dependent: It is not possible to
exchange single hardware components, for example a motor, or to
change the transport tasks of a module without a significant effort
to adapt the complete system control as described in the first
section. In future material handling systems, we also apply the
principle of Plug & Work capability to the hardware and control
components of one module or vehicle. Therefore, we need the
same design patterns: modularity, function integration and
standardized physical and information interfaces
5) Load Handover and Identification

Load handover and the identification of the load is needed if two

material handling devices interact with each other or if a load
needs to be handed over to the environment. Generally, there exist
different cases:
• The load is handed over from one active material handling device
to another active device.
• There is only one active device handing over the load to a passive
device, for example a storage location.
• A human worker is responsible for the load handover.
If both devices are active, an exact synchronization of different
controls is required, which results in a high installation effort in
today’s systems. In addition, the load handling devices in today’s
systems are usually specialized for a certain kind of load carrier, i.e.
for a special range of size, weight and shape of boxes or products.
 Conclusion
 Developments in automation for production and logistics system have been
increasingly dynamic in recent years. Especially in the field of AGVs, many
different companies have responded to the increasing demand of flexible
material flow in the future smart factory.
 The development of flexible automated systems has received quite some
attention in recent years. In addition, in the development of several
connection-based and trip-based systems, based on these design patterns, in
which the increasing complexity of each single function raised challenging
design questions.
 In our opinion, digitalization and automation of factories needs further
innovative and extensive research and development. If material handling
systems should be able to efficiently perform any transport task, they need to
be more adaptive to different types of loads and load handover and changing
requirements. In short, material handling systems should become more
human-like: better interaction with humans and machines, self-sensing and
self-adaptation to any requirement.
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