Pelican Robotics is a company that originated from the U.S. Department of Defense, specializing in robotic solutions for pick-and-place cargo operations. Currently, the company has integrated the use of the 3D camera, Femto Mega, developed by Orbbec, into its latest mechanical arm depalletizing and palletizing processes. This integration enables a fully autonomous workflow for loading and unloading goods onto pallets, significantly boosting logistics cargo handling efficiency and propelling customers’ warehouse management into the era of AI automation.
Industry Challenges — Efficiency, Safety, and Cost Issues in Logistics Loading and Unloading In the logistics industry
There exist pressing challenges such as low operational efficiency, poor space utilization, and safety concerns during pallet loading and unloading tasks, which result in high labor and time costs, impeding the transformation and upgrading of the freight logistics sector. Palletized goods currently heavily rely on manual operation, with manual handling remaining the industry norm. In fast-paced warehouse transportation environments, labor-intensive and error-prone manual loading and unloading procedures become major bottlenecks for efficiency improvement; moreover, improper stacking of pallets can significantly affect loading capacity, while damage to goods caused by manual handling during loading and unloading processes is an unwelcome sight for both logistics carriers and shippers.
New Approach Offered by Femto Mega To address these issues
Pelican Pack has focused on motion path planning and individual box identification in robotic grasping processes. The Femto Mega serves as a powerful aid within Pelican Pack’s logistics solution:
The Femto Mega, a successor to Microsoft Azure Kinect DK, employs TOF tech endorsed by Microsoft and NVidia® Jetson for advanced real-time 3D spatial data acquisition. With its ultra-wide 120° field of view, it eliminates blind spots and enhances robotic arm precision in cargo handling. To handle the intensive computing requirements of motion planning, it utilizes POE Ethernet for efficient power/data transmission, reducing onboard compute needs while ensuring robust support for complex path computations in robotic arms.
AI Vision + Logistics Solution for Full Automation Pelican Pack seamlessly integrates the robotic arm with the Femto Mega.
The robotic arm uses a flexible end effector to grasp boxes off conveyor belts, while the attached Femto Mega assists the arm in adapting to various box sizes and orientations, performing volume measurements and precise identification of boxes. It calculates the optimal stacking sequence and position of boxes on the pallet. Upon receiving system instructions, the robotic arm autonomously completes the entire process from conveyor belt pickup to pallet stacking, significantly enhancing logistics cargo transfer and handling efficiency.
Distinct from conventional robotic arm automatic picking systems, this solution leverages 3D vision for intelligent motion planning, allowing clients to customize smart solutions in real-time through programming provided by Pelican Pack. The 3D camera’s accurate real-time box recognition capability enables the robotic arm to handle diverse dynamic mixed-container scenarios adeptly, assisting clients in efficiently completing complex tasks like packaging and palletizing. To implement this solution, customers need only make minimal adjustments to their existing equipment to achieve fully automated logistics operations without human intervention.
A representative from Pelican Robotics stated, “3D vision greatly enhances the efficiency and accuracy of robotic arm palletizing. Our showcased AI palletizing technology, compared to previous solutions using the Microsoft Azure Kinect DK camera which could only perform basic palletizing functions, now, through the Femto Mega, we have achieved intelligent box recognition, positional discrimination, and spatial planning capabilities in robotic arms.”
