Automated Warehouse System

The online e-commerce industry has a huge untapped potential in Pakistan. However, due to manual operations in warehouses, the reliability of e-commerce in Pakistan is unsatisfactory from a general consumer point of view. The project aims to solve problems of high operational cost of the war

Project Title

Automated Warehouse System

Project Area of Specialization

Electrical/Electronic Engineering

Project Summary

The online e-commerce industry has a huge untapped potential in Pakistan. However, due to manual operations in warehouses, the reliability of e-commerce in Pakistan is unsatisfactory from a general consumer point of view.

The project aims to solve problems of high operational cost of the warehouse industry by introducing automation in these sectors. The project will help warehouse industries in earning more revenue and add value to their services. The robust and flexible design of the product will also make it useful at solving different unaddressed issues faced in the industries.

We have an automatic lifting mechanism that is capable of moving alongside the racks to store, retrieve, and sort boxes on the racks automatically. Whenever a box is placed at the picking area, the lifting mechanism runs along the horizontal rails and picks up the box and stores them at specific racks - all automatically. The status of filled spaces on racks is updated automatically and can be viewed on the touchscreen interface. Moreover, a user can retrieve any stored box using the touchscreen interface, which the lifter will pick up and place it at the receiving area. This is a prototype capable of lifting up to 2 Kg boxes of 20cm x 20cm x 20cm of side lengths.

Project Objectives

The basic objective of this project is to automate the warehouse industry within Pakistan in order to keep up with newer consumer demands, operate at a lower running cost,  reduce errors, and operate smoothly. The traditional warehouses are completely manual, where a worker operates the forklift to store, retrieve, and sort goods stored in racks. This means that the work-flow is slow and discontinuous, and there are always chances of disastrous human-errors. The manual warehouse is very inefficient at dealing with newer demands from the e-commerce industry. Our project aims to solve the problems of efficiency of manual warehouses, and facilitate the warehouse industry to adopt cost-effective, automated systems that not only improve the day-to-day operations, but aid in newer consumer demands in the form of online stores that require complex and robust storage and retrieving patterns. Moreover, our system can be integrated with renewable sources, making it a greener option compared to the fossil-fuel based forklifts that are currently utilized.

Project Implementation Method

Firstly, the mechanical system will be built, supporting linear motion in all the three directions. Chain mechanism will be used for the vertical and horizontal mechanism while a screw mechanism will be used for the forks in/out mechanism.

After the mechanical system is built, the racks will be built based on the amount of movement provided by the mechanical system. The racks will have 3 rows and 4 columns, supporting up to 12 boxes. The movement provided by the system will cover all  the 4 columns horizontally, 3 rows vertically, and additional distance for the in-between dividers.

The motors will be selected based on the amount of working load experienced by the horizontal, vertical, and in/outward movements, along with the specific motor driver capable of properly driving the motors at their rated currents.

For controlling the system, Arduino Mega board with multiple input-output pins will be used.

The system will be equipped with multiple ultrasonic sensors for the x-y displacement of the platform in order to give feedback to the motors and provide precise control. For precise feedback, multiple sensing modalities will be incorporated using IR sensors and limit switches.

A 7 inches user interface will be used to enable the user to identify vacant rack positions and to keep track of all the operations carried out during the pick and place.

Finally, final touches to the mechanism will be made for aesthetic purposes and for smooth operation of the mechanical parts.

Benefits of the Project

Pakistan is one of the largest untapped market for E-commerce in the world. This project is suited to help businesses grow their sales at online stores by equipping them with automated warehouses that are suited for that purpose. The lifting mechanism that we are designing will operate 24/7 smoothly and will instantaneously respond to orders being placed in real-time. It will avoid human errors and increase accuracy in order picking. This will increase customer satisfaction as the orders will be processed quickly and will be accurate. It will also increase worker safety as they would be relieved from performing dangerous forklift operations. Automating warehouses will improve brand image of the company as it will appear more innovative. Since manual forklifts require additional space between shelves, it utilizes more area per box. With the automated system, more goods can be stored at the same area, increasing storage capacity. Since less workers will be required, the running cost of these warehouses will be lower, which will allow the products to be sold at a lower cost in the competitive online market. Finally, the automated system operates on electricity, meaning that our system has the capability of running on renewables, which would further reduce running costs and improve brand image.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

Overview:

The project involves a system that stores boxes onto a rack. As soon as the system detects a box present at a designated 'picking area', it will automatically pick up and store that box at a particular empty area on the rack, which it will automatically select. The state of each space on the rack will be updated onto a touchscreen. Through touch input, a user can choose a box that needs to be retrieved, which the lifter would automatically pick up and place it at a 'receiving area'.

Rack:

 The rack is of 3 rows and 4 columns, with a depth of a single box. The boxes to be stored will be cube-shaped, with each side measuring 20cm. One of empty spaces will be used to designated a 'picking area'.

Wooden pallets are used to support the boxes.

Lifter:

 The whole lifting mechanism is built with modularity in mind. There are two metallic plates, one of which is connected to the horizontal rails (called the 'horizontal' plate). The other plate, which moves vertically, is connected with the vertical rails (called the 'vertical' plate). The vertical rails are supported by the horizontal plate. A 12V DC gear motor is connected at the top of the lifter. There is a vertical chain that is connected to the motor at the top. The vertical plate is connected to the chain, which moves when the chain is moved. The other end of the chain is connected to the sprocket at the bottom plate.

The fork mechanism is installed on the vertical plate, consisting of two sliders, a screw-rod with one end connected to a 12V DC motor and the other to a bearing, and the ball-screw is moved freely through the rod when the motor rotates the screw-rod. The ball-screw is connected to the sliders, so that when the ball-screw moves in-out, the sliders move with it, performing the 'fork action', which is used to get the box in and out of the racks.

There is another 12V DC gear-motor that moves the lifter horizontally on the horizontal rails. The motor is located at one end, and a chain sprocket at the other end of the horizontal railing. The horizontal chain is connected with the horizontal plate, so that when the chain moves, the horizontal plate moves, causing the whole lifter supported on top of it to move with it horizontally.

Sensor:

Two ultrasonic sensors are used to measure the horizontal and vertical distance of the lifter in order to stop at proper area of the racks. In addition to the ultrasonic sensor for distance measurement, IR sensors or limit switches might be used to get accurate stoppage points.

Controller:

Two Arduino Mega will be used to control the touchscreen and the motors. This will be the controlling backbone of the system and will measure sensor readings and provide relevant feedback to the motor driver. The Arduino's will be linked with each other so that the touchscreen can give inputs to the other Arduino.

Three motor drivers will be used to drive the mechanism in the three directions.

A 7” touchscreen will be used to retrieve boxes, and view filled spaces in the racks.

Final Deliverable of the Project

HW/SW integrated system

Core Industry

Manufacturing

Other Industries

Core Technology

Robotics

Other Technologies

Sustainable Development Goals

Decent Work and Economic Growth, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com