Once goods have been packaged, they’re ready for sorting and storing prior to despatch. There are numerous robotic solutions aimed at making modern warehouses more efficient. This has become even more vital as e-commerce booms and labour shortages intensify. Pick-and-place robots are static which means they can be powered by a mains supply, don’t need to see where they’re going and generally are tasked with only one job. Robotic systems for warehouses have different challenges to contend with.
We’re now quite familiar with seeing Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and even more advanced Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) whizzing around warehouses. These are sometimes used at the fulfilment stage, or to move goods around storage facilities further on in the logistics lifecycle. Steatite has designed and built custom batteries for a manufacturer of logistic AGVs and can now make this power solution available to other customers. For this project, the need to operate within a chilled environment as well as maximising uptime were key requirements. Detailed knowledge of cell chemistry and battery management system requirements ensured that the Steatite team were able to eliminate any form of cell heating thus increasing the life of each battery charge cycle. Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) are also hugely important in logistics – these are the software platforms that coordinate stock levels, inventories and supply chain operations to maximise efficiency and simplicity across the supply and distribution network.
Often requiring multiple third-party software integrations and reliable 24-7 operation, these systems tend to be very compute-heavy and must, by nature, be robust and low maintenance. They can be used to control static or mobile robotic systems and have become essential in digitised logistic operations. Steatite’s range of industrial computers are well suited to running such platforms, including AI-enabled edge solutions, fanless industrial PCs and larger rack-mount systems. Our computers are tested to rigorous environmental standards to withstand high levels of dust, humidity and extremes of temperature and many of them meet military, marine, rail and medical EMC standards, proving just how rugged they are.
With multiple I/O features and a range of expansion interfaces, modules can be customised by our engineers to offer maximum flexibility. Locating and sending the right goods to the right place at the right time has been made easier by the use of barcodes and RFID tags – machine-readable, data-rich 1D or 2D labels. Many of our toughest tablets and panel PCs are available with optional RFID and barcode readers.
These feature a range of CPU options, user replaceable components for simple field repairs and upgrades, and either P-CAP or resistive touchscreens. The required specifications for these should be carefully considered at an early stage in any systems integration project as they form a fundamental element of any automated warehouse system.
