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For a long time, the "magic curse" that has plagued the automation of cold storage-the problem of sorting in the warehouse, is now completely resolved by a sorting robot called the "little yellow man".
Recently, the world's pioneer of intelligent sorting robots and a supplier of flexible intelligent sorting solutions, the Xiaohuangren series sorting robots under China Zhejiang Lidiao Robot Co., Ltd., successfully passed the application test in the cold chain logistics center of Puleng International GFS , It solves the problem that the automatic sorting operation under the harsh environment of cold storage has been unable to overcome for a long time in the past.
The "little yellow guys" who became popular a few years ago continue to lead their peers on the road to attract attention and fans.
The "last small step" of cold storage automation: get through the selection
Why does cold storage automation need to completely open up the demolition and zero-selection link?
Understanding this problem will help to understand the significance of the Xiaohuangren sorting robot passing the cold storage application test.
"Efficiency, effectiveness and safety, quality", Xia Huiling, founder and general manager of Dart Robot, uses these keywords to answer this question concisely.
Xia Huiling continued to analyze, “With the development of cold chain logistics, automation is also constantly upgrading as an important infrastructure cold storage. However, the automation of the dismantling and sorting link is developing slowly, and there is almost no breakthrough. This not only restricts The improvement of the work efficiency and benefits of the cold storage also affects the quality control of frozen goods, and the health and safety issues of the cold storage employees remain unresolved for a long time."
"Specifically, it can be divided into two aspects. One is for people, and the other is for things. For people, working in the ultra-low temperature environment of the cold storage for a long time will cause harm to the employees. Therefore, the company will strictly Restrict the continuous working time of staff in the cold storage, generally not more than half an hour. This is for the physical and mental health of the staff, but it does reduce the work efficiency of the cold storage. In addition, the ultra-low temperature working environment also causes the loss and accident rate of the cold storage staff. Higher. These are the old and difficult problems that the cold storage has to face in order to operate efficiently."
It is understood that under such an industry background, cold chain warehousing and logistics companies usually put the sorting and packaging of frozen products outside the cold storage, and after the picking is completed in the room temperature storage, they are transported to the cold storage for freezing. This is the current status of the industry objectively caused by technical constraints.
In the face of this situation, Xia Huiling pointed out the crux of what she believed to be: “This kind of operation method of sorting outside the warehouse and freezing inside the warehouse requires forklifts to fork in and out, and personnel will enter and exit. The cold storage door opens and closes. Close. This will cause two major problems, one is that manual operation at room temperature will bring temperature fluctuations to the frozen products, and the other is that entering and exiting will destroy the strict temperature control conditions of the cold storage and affect the stability of the cold storage environment."
"This not only consumes a lot of labor, but also destroys the original freezing effect, affects the quality of the frozen product, and may also bring additional uncertain factors, such as germs. This involves the second aspect mentioned above. In terms of materials, if the closed and automated operations in the cold storage cannot be realized, it is easy to cause instability in conditions such as temperature control, and the quality and safety of frozen products cannot be more thoroughly guaranteed, and there is no way to talk about consumption upgrades."
Obviously, this defect is fatal for frozen products that require high temperature control, such as high-end food and pharmaceutical products.
"So, this just shows that there is a wide range of requirements for sorting operations in the cold storage. This is also the significance of intelligent sorting robots and other automated equipment in low-temperature scenarios." Xia Huiling said.
The key technological breakthroughs bring about three-dimensional rather than single effects. Facing the interview, Xia Huiling also summed up the "technical effect" in her eyes:
"Breakthroughs in cold storage sorting automation technology can first improve the quality, safety and reliability of stored frozen products, and also bring more possibilities to the circulation of fresh food in different regions; second, through the realization of the sorting process Automation, reducing dependence on manual processes, can solve the shortage of qualified workers faced by many cold storage, and employees can also avoid the harm of harsh environments; third, the efficiency and benefits of cold storage can be improved, and cold storage can optimize value-added service methods. Thereby increasing the profit margin of cold storage; fourthly, from a macro perspective, this technological breakthrough is conducive to promoting industry development and consumption upgrades, and stimulating the development potential of cold storage and cold chains."
Cold storage sorting robot sorting desktop
However, Xia Huiling also admitted that although the market has huge demand for cold storage sorting and the effect of technological breakthroughs is obvious, the research and development and breakthroughs of cold storage sorting technology have not been smooth sailing and achieved overnight.
The little yellow guy challenged Frost and broke through the two technical bottlenecks of cold storage sorting
The use of intelligent and automated robots is nothing new. Why can't cold storage automation be able to get through the picking link? How did the Xiaohuangren break through the existing technical bottleneck?
The operation of sorting robots in the cold and ultra-low temperature cold zone has always been a technological breakthrough that AGVs all over the world are looking forward to. According to market surveys, although AGVs have accumulated a certain amount of technology in the cold storage, due to the current popular battery and navigation technology, they have not been able to achieve long-term, continuous, stable, and uninterrupted low-temperature operation conditions, making the intelligent sorting robot in the cold storage. The field has not been able to be promoted on a large scale.
First of all, the battery problem.
When AGV enters the cold storage, the biggest challenge is the battery, which is quite similar to our experience of driving an electric car in winter. The person in charge of the cold storage test of the Dart Robot stated that the high-current batteries such as ternary lithium batteries and lithium phosphate batteries that are conventionally used in the industry at low temperature below minus 18 ℃ consume a lot of energy and have extremely short working hours, so start charging It is also difficult, and the use of ultra-low temperature gel storage batteries and lithium titanate batteries will cause the cost to soar and it is difficult to promote on a large scale.
"Of course, the Xiaohuangren also faces such a problem. However, the low-temperature battery control technology we have developed has enhanced the low temperature adaptability of the battery. According to the current test situation, the Xiaohuangren can be normal in the low temperature cold storage of minus 18℃. In theory, it can also work normally in an ultra-low temperature environment of minus 30 ℃. This is due to the fact that the battery can be automatically charged and discharged in the cold storage without heating. In addition, the small yellow body is light and its own energy consumption is low. In addition, the stand The dart intelligent sorting robot system also shows good durability at low temperatures, ensuring the same sorting efficiency as at room temperature." said the person in charge of the dart cold storage test. Members of the R&D team of Lidart tested in a cold storage environment
Next is the navigation problem.
Due to factors such as ice, fog, water vapor and other factors inside the cold storage, the accuracy of the navigation camera will be affected, which will lead to deviations in the automatic navigation of the robot. The traditional two-dimensional code and laser navigation systems are very poor in the cold storage environment.
If robots cannot navigate automatically and accurately, then automation, unmanned, or dehumanized can only be a matter of paper.
According to the reporter's on-the-spot understanding, facing these problems, the dart robot uses the independently developed "magic carpet" navigation technology to solve it-that is, to lay a layer of robot-specific runway made of special materials in the sorting operation area. The robot only needs to run on the special runway of this kind of plastic block, and it can solve the problem of ice fog and water vapor in the cold storage that affect the accuracy of the navigation camera, and the problem that the steel platform is easy to freeze and slip in the humid environment of the cold storage. In addition, it can also realize the barrier-free operation under the conditions of lights out in the cold storage, almost not affected by the surrounding environment, and the small yellow people's high-precision, high-speed automatic navigation and sorting.
The relevant person in charge of the cold storage test of Lidart also told the reporter that the Lidart robot provides a flexible and intelligent sorting solution, which is customized according to the needs of different scenarios. From the ground to the desktop to the air, different spatial levels are set up with different points. The space layout of the sorting operation system is very flexible. For example, it can realize multi-layer platform operation and effectively save space. This has strong applicability in the cold storage scene of "inch of earth and money".
"Flexible storage is a trend," Xia Huiling concluded in one sentence.
Manipulator grabbing goods in cold storage
Only when it can be promoted on a large scale can it "make the world more efficient"
"Make the world more efficient", this is the vision of the dart robot.
With the breakthrough of the two major technical bottlenecks, intelligent sorting robots will be able to be extended to cold storage on a large scale. The improvement of cold storage work efficiency and the reduction of cold storage sorting costs have become within reach.
This breakthrough is a technical boon for the entire industry; for dart robots, it is conducive to forming a first-mover advantage for large-scale expansion.
According to the reporter's understanding, as soon as the news of the successful application test came out, many companies in the cold chain industry paid great attention to the intelligent sorting solution of the dart robot, and they hoped or invited dart to come up with the integrated automatic sorting of cold storage as soon as possible. Pick the plan.
Xia Huiling confidently and proudly told reporters: "At present, the minions who set up darts should be the most economical and scalable cold storage sorting robot in the market. They can be sorted automatically throughout the cold storage, or It can move sorting across temperature zones. It will be very attractive for high-end cold chains. In addition to the food and fresh food industries, it is also very suitable for medicine, blood, vaccines, etc. Therefore, this is not only related to economic benefits, but also related to people's Medical health and safety issues."