Project description
A safe robotised warehouse environment
The European e-commerce market has witnessed rapid growth, with a 16 % surge in 2014 alone. To keep up with the demand and internationalisation of distribution chains, efficient logistics has become key. This has led to the construction of numerous warehouses, with a growing need for automation. However, current automation solutions, which strictly separate humans and robots, fail to ensure the efficient operation of large warehouses. To address this issue, the EU-funded SafeLog project will develop a holistic and certifiable safety concept based on innovative safety vests. It will ensure a safe coexistence of humans and robots in a flexible warehouse system. SafeLog also encompasses the algorithms that allow for real time coordination of human and robot workforces, and AR-based interaction strategies.
Objective
The European market for e-commerce is growing rapidly, with more than 16% just in the year 2014. With the internationalization of distribution chains, the key for success lies within efficient logistics. In such facilities, goods for the end-user or products in the B2B sector are stored, commissioned and shipped. To manage the supply chains, many new warehouses have been erected and more will follow. With the growing markets, the need for larger warehouses and their automation increases. To advance the position of the European trade sector, technical restrictions on the size of warehouses should be avoided and new automation paradigm should be implemented to ensure their efficient operation. Therefore the European robotic and automation companies should be able to provide appropriate solutions, making scalable systems and scalable software mandatory. Current automation solutions based on strict separation of humans and robots cannot provide such efficient operation of large warehouses. SafeLog aims to overcome this issue by enabling much more efficient warehouse concepts joining human and robot workforce. Given that, the overall objective of SafeLog is the conception and implementation of a large-scale flexible warehouse system which enables safe and efficient collaboration of humans and robots in the same area and at the same time.
On the way to reach this objective SaveLog will develop, integrate and test: (1) a holistic and certifiable safety concept based on the safety vest, which allows the collaboration of robots and humans in a flexible warehouse system, (2) planning and scheduling algorithms for a heterogeneous fleet manager, which allow the adhoc reactive planning and scheduling for human and robot workforce in a flexible warehouse system, and (3) augmented reality based interaction strategies to support workers in a robotized warehouse system with information about their current task and environment.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensorsoptical sensors
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligencemachine learningreinforcement learning
- social sciencessociologyindustrial relationsautomation
- engineering and technologymaterials engineering
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftwaresoftware applicationsvirtual reality
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
76131 Karlsruhe
Germany