With the rapid development of China's economy, enterprises have an increasing demand for logistics warehousing. As an important part of the logistics chain, warehouse efficiency directly affects the operating costs of enterprises and customer satisfaction. In recent years, the rapid development of the robotics industry has provided new opportunities for warehouse efficiency improvement. In this paper, we will discuss how to utilize robotics to improve warehouse efficiency from the perspective of picking system.

Overview of picking system

Definition of picking system

The picking system is an operational system that realizes fast, accurate, and efficient picking of commodities by automated equipment in the warehouse. It is an operational system that realizes fast, accurate, and efficient selection of commodities in a warehouse through automated equipment. It mainly includes three parts: hardware equipment, software system and operators.

Picking system classification

Based on the different modes of operation, the picking system can be divided into three types: manual picking, automated picking and intelligent picking.

(1) Manual picking: relies on manual picking of goods, applicable to warehouses with many varieties and small batches.

(2) automated picking: the use of automated equipment to complete the selection of goods, suitable for a small number of varieties, large batch warehouse.

(3) Intelligent picking: combining artificial intelligence technology to realize automatic identification, positioning and grasping of commodities, applicable to all kinds of warehouses.

Application of robotics in picking system

Automatic Guided Vehicle (AGV)

Automatic Guided Vehicle (AGV) is a kind of transportation robot with the functions of autonomous navigation, obstacle avoidance and charging. In the picking system, AGV can replace manual labor to complete the handling of goods and improve the efficiency of warehouse transportation.

Intelligent shelves

Intelligent shelves realize real-time collection and transmission of commodity information by carrying sensors, cameras and other equipment. During the picking process, smart shelves can work with robots to improve picking accuracy.

Unmanned forklift

Unmanned forklift is equipped with autonomous navigation, loading and unloading of goods, and other functions, and it can be used for stacking, handling, and other operations in the warehouse. The application of unmanned forklifts helps to reduce labor costs and improve the efficiency of warehouse operations.

Picking robots

Picking robots combine visual recognition, deep learning and other technologies to realize automatic identification, positioning and grasping of goods. Compared to manual picking, picking robots have the following advantages:

(1) Improve picking speed: Robots can operate 24 hours a day without interruption, improving warehouse throughput.

(2) Reduce labor intensity: robots replace manual labor for high-intensity, repetitive operations, reducing the burden on employees.

(3) Reducing errors: robots have a high recognition accuracy rate, reducing the picking error rate.

The application of robotics in the picking system provides a strong support for the improvement of warehouse efficiency. With the continuous development of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and other technologies, I believe that in the future, robots will play an important role in more fields, helping enterprises to achieve intelligent and efficient operations.