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Foster-Miller designed and developed for a Fortune 100 food company a system of mobile robots for use in existing flow-through storage applications. The robots include on-board embedded controls so they can perform tasks as semi-autonomous workers distributed within a centrally controlled network. These are interchangeable units for input and output sides of the storage bins. On the input side, boxes are identified by bar codes and placed into pre-assigned flow-through bins. On the output side, orders are forwarded to the robots from a central order processing station via a floor controller, and boxes are picked from designated bins in proper sequence to permit direct loading onto trucks for shipping.
Because of the need to maintain high system availability, a distributed control strategy is used. This system permits robot responsibilities to be dynamically reassigned if an individual unit fails. On-board health diagnostics and condition monitoring are used to maintain high reliability and availability of the overall system that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Since the box handler system was designed for use in a refrigerated facility, it had to be an all-electric system (hydraulic fluids are not permitted) capable of operating at 32°F and lower. The plant system includes up to 40 robots (depending on facility throughput) that transfer up to 60,000 boxes per day containing different products into and out of the flow-through system. The robot system was designed to be scaleable as volumes change within a single facility and to permit the system to be applied to other facilities.
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