What else to automate for the logistics industry?

Robot Picking for E-Commerce (© Hand Plus Robotics 2020)

A recent DHL Insights & Innovation article has highlighted three use cases of robotics for the logistics supply chain:

1) Container unloading

2) Outdoor goods movement within a warehouse compound

3) Sorting - although perhaps robot arm manipulators may not be suitable for this kind of work due to the high throughput

I would like to add a few more to this list:

4) Item random packing (after picking and before shipping)

5) Box kitting

6) Reshelving

7) Tight item packing

Based on what I have witnessed in warehouses, packing lends itself to robotic automation because at this stage, items from an order basket are simply transferred to a poly mailer bag or carton box before shipping. At this stage waybill is verified by scanning the items before they are packed.

Box kitting is a more challenging form of packing since products are placed in tight configuration (usually in some sort of a mold) inside a box. This kind of robotic motion requires higher precision motion and even force control.

For e-commerce fulfillment centers reshelving is as tedious as picking. Reshelving is not simply replenishment of the shelves. In reshelving, items have to be placed properly on a shelf. While a picking robot may be suitable to be used for reshelving, the need for pre-picking tasks such as the opening of carton boxes could make this problem even more difficult than kitting. 

And the most challenging problem of all -- tight item packing. When a group of items of varying shapes, sizes, and properties are to be packed tightly in a box or bag, ordered placing becomes paramount. Items cannot just be dropped into the box, they have to be laid down carefully, ensuring that the rest of the ordered would fit in and that the whole box is packed such that it will survive transport handling. 

My company, Hand Plus Robotics, specializes in making picking easy for robots. If you'd like to see how we solve the use cases shared above, reach out to me at acauso@handplusrobotics.com.

/ First posted at www.acauso.com

XDBot: eXtreme Disinfection Robot

Robots for disinfection have proliferated recently in the fight against COVID-19. These robots can address the risk reduction and cleaning manpower shortage problems. Through the start-ups, Transforma and Hand Plus, this is my small contribution to the fight against COVID-19.

XDBot being tested at NTU. Photo by NTU.

NTU has created a nice video about XDBot: https://youtu.be/ABotcF6YeoM

How to use phone or tablet as travel camera: is it really a good substitute to point-and-shoot or DSLR?

On this trip to Australia, I decided to not bring a camera with me. Instead, I opted to use my iPhone 4S and my iPad mini as travel camera.  I have never owned a DSLR or a mirrorless camera, even when I had the money to buy one. I have borrowed friends' DLSR and mirror-less camera before and it felt good to use them and I was also able to shoot better photos.

However, considering how much additional gadgets I would have to lug around when I use those cameras (battery, charger, extra lenses, flash, etc), I thought it was not worth the hassle especially since I like traveling light.

I am not an aspiring photographer anyway (never had the illusion). I realized long time ago that I wanted to take photos, especially during travels, so that I could document and make it easier for me to tell stories. I also want proof of odd or interesting things I find. Making photos look good is not really my goal.

So what's my verdict? Yes, you can use a smartphone or tablet as travel camera. After all, the best camera is the one you have when you needed it. Here are some of the reasons why I said yes:

1) It's lightweight and easily available. Just pull it out of your pocket. That said, battery life might be an issue. So in my case, I used my iPad as my main camera since it has longer battery life, and used my iPhone as a back-up.

2) It's not so goofy using an iPhone to take photos. I thought I'd look stupid, but then again I didn't really care about what other people would say. And I don't really block other people when I take photos. Whether you are using a tablet or a DLSR, you are bound to block someone's lens if you stand between him and the object he is trying to shoot.

3) Smartphone and tablets are multitasking -- I was able to take photos, videos, panoramic shots, selfies (no tripod needed!), edit photos, and upload photos! Also, when internet is available, I can share photos in social media immediately.

4) You don't need a lot of accessories, making it easier to bring along! No extra chargers, no extra cables. The only issue is, if your phone has small storage capacity, then you have to transfer the photos from your phone to another media or online storage.

There are limitations, of course. But I think I can live with them:

1) Low quality -- some phones are good with night shots, some phones have better lenses. But all in all, I just try to adjust my expectations. In the situation where taking photo is not advisable, I take videos instead. The point is, I could still capture the moment, just not in still.

2) Battery anxiety - when I saw my iPad's battery drop to 20%, I started heading back to the hotel to recharge. Well, that's the reason I had my iPhone as a back-up in case I couldn't recharge my tablet in time.

3)  Usage problems - dirty or cloudy lense, finger covering the lense, shaky hands, etc

4) It takes practice to get good selfie!

Anyway, here are some photos I took during my recent trip, using my iPad mini or iPhone:

Lastly, here are some tips I found online that might help you use your iPhone as a travel camera:
1) http://www.adventurejo.com/turn-your-iphone-into-the-ultimate-travel-camera/
2) http://connect.dpreview.com/post/2863436371/leaving-my-dslr-at-home-iphone-experiment
3) http://iphonephotographyschool.com/light-sources/
4) http://iphonephotographyschool.com/focus-tips/
5) http://iphonephotographyschool.com/travel-photography/

To sum it up, let me quote a statement from one of the articles above:

Using a phone camera freed-up my head. No settings to fuss over, no gear to shepherd. It became about seeing pictures, rather than creating pictures. When I saw good things, I got good pictures. When I didn’t, there was no technical wizardry to save the day. - Dean Holland

Robots in a dairy farm

I saw this video from Bloomberg about the use of robots in dairy farms. It's always a challenge to work in an environment that constantly changes such as a farm. However, that didn't stop the company in the video to create 3 robots for tasks that used to be the domain of human workers:

• Feed moving
• Dung cleaning
• Milking

Of the three tasks above, I consider milking the most challenging as it involves a moving creature with non-rigid body. Issues such as force control (to prevent cow discomfort or injuries) and dynamic visual servoing (to catch the moving udders) are some of the control issues that come to mind. Other engineering problems would be the robustness of the robots, battery life or power (for the mobile robots), and cost.

The robotic solutions doesn't come cheap (USD 200K per robot).

Maybe full automation is not really necessary? If the goal is to increase productivity, would providing farm workers with tools that could assist in executing his job at high speed be more cost-effective?

The irony of social media -- as pondered by Simon & Garfunkel 50 years earlier

A video is going around social media titled, "Look Up". The video essay speaks of how social media (mobile phone?) actually makes people unsocial. With eyes glued to mobile phones, opportunities to connect to one another just pass us by. It's a call to pry ourselves away from our phones, hence, the title.

Half a century ago in 1964 the duo Simon and Garfunkel, through their song The Sound of Silence also warned of technology that could cause isolation -- television.

I learned about the real meaning of this song in a poetry class in university,  32 years after the song was released. I couldn't relate to the song because I grew up in a generation when watching television is a norm (even necessary for some as it is one of the cheapest forms of entertainment). It felt like what the singing duo warned about didn't really take place or maybe it did, but a fish wouldn't really know what water is.

Humans in general would adapt to any given situation. Whether it's for the worse or the better is a matter left to future generations to find out. As for mobile phones, I think we just have to remember, "too much of something is bad enough".