“Warehouse of the Future” (WoF) project, new intelligent, connected, flexible and efficient systems for the warehouse of the future
In the age of mass customization, OEM production centers register a massive flow of components to supply and feed the assembly lines. In this context, the Smart Warehouse paradigm emerges, which, although complex in configuration and implementation, is based on emerging technologies to provide full automation, integration and digitization of logistical and intralogistic flows.
In this way, RARI structured a complete consortium that proposes to develop innovative intelligent, highly flexible, connected and efficient systems, with a view to establishing a new paradigm of the Warehouse of the Future based on the sensoring of people, equipment and inventories, as well as on automation and real-time management of processes of stabilization, picking and movement of materials/components. Seeking to implement specific use cases, which aim to demonstrate the technologies from a “living lab” perspective, in an industrial context (e.g., on the PSA Mangualde factory floor), the project comprises the R&D of three distinct solutions, namely:
- New seamless wireless pick-to-light system, with high autonomy, flexibility and sensory capacity, inducing a fully traceable picking process, in line with the 4.0 Industry and production paradigms based on high levels of flexibility.
- New robotic solutions for automatic picking, including the automatic manipulation and movement of parts and kits, through the fusion of artificial vision techniques and collaborative robotics with 5G-ready communication technology.
- Systems for monitoring and optimizing the stabilization of materials and their automatic movement, integrating research into an accelerator process for the stabilization of green materials and the development of an advanced sensor component for rigorous monitoring of the material’s stabilization state, as well as an
integrated solution for the automatic handling of considerable cargo.