Optimal path planning for robot palletizing task simulator

Abstract

Palletizing tasks are necessary to increase efficiency in storage and shipping. These tasks, however, involve some of the most monotonous and physically demanding labor in the factory. Thus, many types of robot palletizing systems have been developed. The core of a robot palletizing system, which is different from other robotic systems, consists of palletizing pattern generation and optimal path planning. We propose a new GUI for optimal palletizing pattern generation. To do this, we used the PLP “Fast Algorithm”. The Fast Algorithm can generate an optimal palletizing pattern quickly. In a palletizing system, path planning of the robot is performed at least ten and up to hundreds of times. Therefore, minimizing calculation and working time is important in path planning. We propose a new “Overlap Method” for collision-free path planning. The Overlap Method is specialized for the palletizing task and calculates a solution faster than an A-star algorithm. Furthermore, the solution to the Overlap Method optimizes task time better than the solution of an A-star algorithm. In addition, we develop the 3-D robot-palletizing simulator for verifying the solution of Overlap method.