In today’s fast-paced environment, warehouses are pushed to perform at record productivity levels due to growing pressure to meet high customer demand for fast and accurate shipments. On top of speedy delivery, customers require real-time visibility into orders to track the status as soon as the order is placed. These e-commerce trends have pushed warehouses to find innovative ways to transform its operation to stay competitive in the market.
Achieving Warehouse Optimization
Warehouses are driven by significant amounts of data. Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) are used to pick and transport products in a warehouse, but before any picking occurs, these robots need to know what product to retrieve and where it is located. This begins with the Warehouse Management System (WMS), which contains a database of every product’s location. As orders are placed, the WMS sends the location data to the AMR, usually through wireless communication like Wi-Fi.
Once the location data is received, the robot autonomously navigates through the warehouse using sensors and vision software to locate shelves with the necessary pick item. As the robot finds the designated location, it uses a screen to display the pick information. A human will pick the displayed item, scan the barcode to ensure an accurate pick, drop it into the appropriate box on the AMR, and send the robot on its way to the next location. This process saves the manual workload from humans and allows the AMR to do the traveling. These robots, often referred to as collaborative robots (cobots), work side-by-side with humans. They differentiate from traditional robots as they have direct interaction with humans in a shared workplace without conventional safeguards like fenced off areas.
After the picking process is complete, the robot updates the WMS on its status to keep inventory management in check. It uses Wi-Fi to communicate if the pick was successful, the time taken for the pick, and if any errors occurred. The WMS processes this data to update inventory levels and plan the next task. An AMR transports the picked items to its next destination, such as a packing station or staging area. It uses LiDAR and ultrasonic sensors to continuously measure the robot’s speed, direction, and position to avoid any obstacles for collision. This data is relayed in real-time to the WMS to monitor the robotic fleet’s movements to plan routes and avoid any accidents or blockages.
Wireless Connectivity Solutions
In a modern warehouse, the WMS uses Wi-Fi to provide real-time communication to robots on tasks, location, and other pertinent information. Laird Connectivity’s SonaTM IF573 utilizes Wi-Fi 6/6E which supports orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA), allowing multiple robots to transmit data simultaneously with less latency to the WMS. It also supports bi-directional MU-MIMO (Multi-User, Multiple-Input, Multiple Output) reducing overall volume of interference in warehouses noisy environment. The SonaTM IF573 is a robust industrial IoT module that is rugged, small, and globally certified to integrate into sensors, cameras, and robotics. Numerous AMRs can upload their data (like location, battery, completed tasks) to the WMS with the help of the 6GHz band from Wi-Fi 6E.
The data from on-board sensors that the AMR processes is complex. The sensors are capable of 3D imaging, which includes depth information, contours, and any distinguished features of the product. After recognition, the robot must determine the grip, path, and force needed to physically grab the object through a series of advanced processing steps which requires significant computational power. Utilizing a powerful SOM (System on Module) like Laird Connectivity’s Nitrogen8M Plus SMARC in the AMR enables high-performance with machine learning capabilities. The Nitrogen8M Plus uses Cortex-M7 microcontroller that can run Linux and an RTOS on dedicated subsystems. These features help enable real-time control tasks, such as motor control, and high-performance computing tasks like data and image processing.
Throughout the AMR’s journey, continuous wireless connection is needed for navigation and real-time monitoring of the robot’s status. As an item is picked, the AMR uses Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to communicate back to WMS that the pick was successful with additional information like pick speed, grip orientation, and if any errors occurred. Use of the Lyra 24 Bluetooth module, which uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), supports robots’ navigation to effectively track and monitor beacons throughout the facility. BLE helps the battery-powered beacons extend their battery life while identifying which aisles have human workers that can pick the necessary items. Wi-Fi is commonly used in AMRs due to the support of high data rates. AMRs often collect vast amounts of data, which can be sent to an edge computing device for processing, relying on the extended bandwidth supported by Wi-Fi.
In the coming years, using the latest wireless communication will help optimize warehouses to remain competitive in the ever-changing industry.