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Dynamic Picking and Storage Optimization of Robotic Picking Systems

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Abstract

With the development of e-commerce and the improvement of logistics requirements, more and more ‘parts-to-picker’ picking systems begin to replace the inefficient ‘picker-to-parts’ picking systems in various scenarios. As the mainstream ‘parts-to-picker’ system, the robotic mobile fulfillment system has been attracting much attention in recent years. In addition to the customer's changing requirements, the rapid response of the picking system to the order is particularly important. In the above context, to seek a breakthrough in the picking system's picking efficiency without increasing the cost of additional equipment, the storage allocation of the pods becomes very important. This article focuses on the dynamic storage allocation of robotic mobile fulfillment system, which has positive theoretical and practical significance. By analyzing the pod storage process of the robotic mobile fulfillment system, a dynamic pod storage allocation model suitable for the robotic mobile fulfillment system is established with the goal of minimizing the pod handling distance. Two dynamic pod storage allocation strategies are proposed for the system. By simulating the picking systems of different scales, the effectiveness of the dynamic storage allocation strategy is verified, which has a certain reference to the operation of the robotic mobile fulfillment system in practice.

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Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely thanks to Professor Wu of Shandong University for his critical discussion and reading during manuscript preparation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan, China

    Cheng Chi

  2. School of Control Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, China

    Shasha Wu, Delong Xia & Yaohua Wu

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  1. Cheng Chi
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  2. Shasha Wu
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  3. Delong Xia
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  4. Yaohua Wu
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Contributions

The author’ contributions are as follows: Xia and Chi was in charge of the trial; Chi wrote the manuscript; Wu assisted with sampling and laboratory analyses.

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Correspondence to Yaohua Wu.

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Chi, C., Wu, S., Xia, D. et al. Dynamic Picking and Storage Optimization of Robotic Picking Systems. Wireless Pers Commun 128, 1–23 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-021-09190-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-021-09190-9

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