Automatic Warehouse Control and Packaging by Image processing and three dimension Printer

Project Title

Automatic Warehouse Control and Packaging by Image processing and three dimension Printer

Project Area of Specialization 3D/4D PrintingProject Summary

 It is the era of automation and machine learning and every process industry is now changing their dimensions by adopting new technique for fast and efficient process. Nowadays online shopping is the best solution for everyone to access product of different brands and countries through the internet. But the main problem faced by these online stores is the efficient packing system due change in technology, availability of raw material, expensive packing material and low quality.

Currently the industries mostly use cardboard boxes, which are expensive, take larger place to store, expensive as these boxes are provide by other box manufacturing companies. These boxes or packaging material mostly are of fix sizes so if we have to pack a small item, it’s difficult to get box for only that particular item, as a result there will be wastage of material. 

Our idea to develop a intelligent machine that will take online order through internet than figure out the exact dimension of the ordered good by using image processing feature and design a 3D printed box according the exact size of the item.  This idea will maintain the packing quality, packing material quality as well as require very less man power to operate the machine as the whole machine is automatic. Every time the box print according to particular size of item and save the storing area as well as there is no need to get boxes form box company because the boxes are now design in same industry. The material use can be use to print box can be change according to the need as well as the garbage material can be recycled and use as printing material.

Project Objectives

The objective of this project is to make a smart industrial goods packaging system that perfrom more than one task at a time. Our idea is to design a machine that operate through the internet by using internet of things (IOT) feature, through IOT we can check out the status of our warehouse i.e. quantity of items, check their availability and place online order.

Now the main task is to identify the accurate dimension of that ordered item through image processing and than feed the dimension to 3D printer to design the package for only that particular item.

As in this project our objective is to introduce the 3D printer at industrial level.

Project Implementation Method

The warehouse management is a need in large industries also it’s an era of internet world so everything here is online. Our idea is take online order by using internet of thing (IOT) feature and manage the items stored in warehouse by maintaining a data base record of ordered goods, their quantity and availability. Here we implement the IOT system and design an online application that will take order and show the status of available items at same time. 

As the order is placed the item drop on line for further processing. Here we are using the image processing technique to find out the exact size and dimension of the particular item that is ordered or needed to be packed. This will be implementing by using image processing through Raspberry pi controller feature of computer vision (Open CV) and deep learning, as this process is using worldwide to make artificial intelligence based computer system. Now the dimension measure will feed as a input to 3D printer. We are designing our own 3D printer that is cost effective and easy to use. We are using Arduino for this purpose.

The printer print the box of exact dimension. After printing the whole box, there is robotic clamp that pick item and place in box by taking care of fragility of item, box is than palletize and ready to deliver.

Benefits of the Project

This project is use as the initial idea to introduce 3D printing solution at industrial level. Many well known brands are working in this direction to use 3D printer for packaging system. 

Key benefit achieve from this project are;

• Increased percentage in profits.
• Less investment on human labor.
• Can be delivered in less time than average time.

As the whole machine is almost automated so barely need employees for operation this will affect the manufacturing cost . 

The users are provided an online application through which they can check the inventory list and easily order their required item.

Through 3D printing technique the material and quality of package can be selected according to the type of item that need to be packed. In this way the material can be save and moreover there is further place for using recycled printing material according to need.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

Our project start with an online application that is the domain for user so that they can order. The application caontain the feature that will provide full graphics user interface support to the user. It also display the inventory list and quantity of items. once order placed the system drop item on conveyor belt controlled by PLC.

Now as the item reached under the camera the conveyor stop. The image processing section of our project is based on raspberry pi controlling system in which we are using machine learning technique to extract the dimension of particular object. The computer vision (open CV) feature of rapsberry pi is the key component to find the dimension of object.

OpenCV (Open Source Computer Vision Library) is an open source computer vision and machine learning software library supported by Python. OpenCV was built to provide an artificial intelligence system for computer vision applications and to advance the use of machines in the commercial products. Being a BSD-licensed product, OpenCV makes it easy for businesses to utilize and modify the code.The library has more than 2500 optimized algorithms.

When the object place under the camera the object is detected by the controller and process the real time image, we will implement different image processing tool to smooth the image and then apply open CV approach to detect the dimension and exact size of object.

Once the dimensions achieve then we feed that in 3D printer to print the exact dimension box.The 3D printer in our project is the core part of the system. 3D printer allow to produce parts and concept models rapidly at low cost and allow rapid prototyping of many designs from the comfort of their desk. 3D printing technologies are explored for a good vary of applications as well as artificial intelligence, automobile parts, firearms, medicine, space, etc. We are making 3D printer by using Arduino controller with Marline firmware. Marlin is an open supply code for the RepRap family of replicating fast prototype’s popularly called “3D printers.” Marlin is licensed under the GPLv3 and is free for all applications. Once the box printed now it's time to pack the item. So for this we will impliment a robotic clamp that put the item in box and send the box to next stage.

The conveyor belt and robotic arm is controlled by PLC and are synchronized with each other. The PLC is also connected with raspberry pi for completing the whole chain batch process.

Final Deliverable of the Project Hardware SystemType of Industry Manufacturing Technologies Artificial Intelligence(AI), Internet of Things (IoT), 3D/4D PrintingSustainable Development Goals Decent Work and Economic Growth, Responsible Consumption and ProductionRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	59100
Raspberry pi	Equipment	1	6000	6000
Arduino Mega	Equipment	1	1000	1000
Rep Rap Ramps 1.4	Equipment	1	1000	1000
Stepper motors	Equipment	5	900	4500
3D printer overall hardware	Equipment	1	7000	7000
Raspberry pi Camera	Equipment	1	1000	1000
PLC	Equipment	1	20000	20000
Esp Node MCU	Equipment	1	600	600
servo motors	Equipment	4	2000	8000
motor for conveyor belt	Equipment	2	1000	2000
Conveyor belt system hardware	Equipment	1	8000	8000