Next Generation Packaging, Kitting, and Palletizing: Can One Robot Do It All.

摘要

In the material handling community, three disparate subgroups exist in the areas of kitting, packaging, and palletizing. Currently, these operations are performed by a mix of automated and manual systems with very limited market penetration of automated systems into small- and mid-sized companies. Lack of automation is due to difficulties in using todays generation of robots for tasks that include requirements such as small lot sizes and product variability. In addition, infrastructure requirements and high levels of required expertise make them prohibitively expensive. A major contributing factor is that current manufacturing robots have little or no understanding of the world around them and no capability to dynamically change their actions if the environment or task changes. This restricts them to operate in highly constrained environments and makes it difficult to change from one task to another. A seminar titled Next Generation Packaging, Kitting, and Palletizing: Can one robot do it all, was held on February 9th 2012 at the Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) MODEX show in Atlanta, GA. The seminar primarily focused on whether systems that are capable of modifying their behavior by generating and adapting plans will overcome the aforementioned limitations and if these systems will require detailed knowledge of and a consistent representation for both the manufacturing environment and the plans. The seminar also explored ways to exploit the significant similarities in packaging, kitting, and palletizing in the way their requirements are represented, and in how their performance is evaluated.