With every advance in robotics, we get closer to being able to order stuff from Amazon and have no human being participate in its delivery. Key step in this dream: warehouse robots, smart forklifts able to control and inventory and entire warehouse full of pallets, without the meat community getting involved. [Thomas Risager] designed just such a system as part of his Masters Thesis in Software Engineering. It consists of five LEGO Mindstorms robots working in concert (video embedded below), linked via WiFi to a central laptop. Mindstorms’ native OS doesn’t support WiFi (!!!) so he reflashed the EV3’s ARM9 chip with software developed using Java and running under LeJOS. On the laptop side [Thomas] wrote a C++ application that handles the coordination and routing of the forklifts. We can see a lot of weary forklift drivers ready to kick back and let a robot have the full-time job for a change.
The robots use WiFi to a central laptop. Mindstorms’ native OS doesn’t support WiFi (!!!) so [Thomas] reflashed the EV3’s ARM9 chip with software developed using Java and running under LeJOS. On the laptop side he wrote a C++ application that handles the coordination and routing of the forklifts. [Thomas] is sharing his forklift design.
Now to scale up — maybe with DIY forklifts like we published earlier? We can see a lot of weary forklift drivers ready to kick back and let a robot have the full-time job for a change.
perfect timing – I just saw this about forklift accidents:https://www.impomag.com/blog/2017/11/these-10-forklift-accident-videos-show-why-training-so-crucial?et_cid=6178483&et_rid=45561501&location=top&et_cid=6178483&et_rid=45561501&linkid=https%3a%2f%2fwww.impomag.com%2fblog%2f2017%2f11%2fthese-10-forklift-accident-videos-show-why-training-so-crucial%3fet_cid%3d6178483%26et_rid%3d%%subscriberid%%%26location%3dtop
One question: Does Mindstorms’ native OS support WiFi?
According to the article it does not. Third party ones do.
Someone is reading the articles :)
But clearly no one ever proof-reads them. (Just take a sec before you hit save and read what you wrote.)
It does, but only has drivers for one particular USB adapter (Netgear N150 aka WNA1100). Modified firmware with additional driver support is required for other adapters.
I’m getting a subtle feeling it doesn’t (!!!)
[Clifford Stoll] uses a tiny robotic forklift to access his klien surfaces.
Does he have a full size one for his gross surfaces?
Here’s the video for anyone interested
https://youtu.be/-k3mVnRlQLU
This paragraph is duplicated in the article.
“Mindstorms’ native OS doesn’t support WiFi (!!!) so he reflashed the EV3’s ARM9 chip with software developed using Java and running under LeJOS. On the laptop side [Thomas] wrote a C++ application that handles the coordination and routing of the forklifts.”
It’s a glitch in the matrix
“We can see a lot of weary forklift drivers ready to kick back and let a robot have the full-time job for a change.“
Copy/paste error. Just sayin’.
For bonus points have the LEGO forklift recreate the Staplerfahrer Klaus video.
Ludicrous gibs!
Idea of robotizing everything seems very appealing… until you leave university, get a job and realize that at least 80% of the population is simply uncapable of doing creative jobs like engineering, arts or coding.
Why use this complicated pattern? It makes one robot to to the side and wait till tne other one has passed. A nice grid would give more ways to pass each other
I would say because of turning circles and taking up less space for the robots and more space for products is better. If anything they really need to be able to be omni directional and not have to turn around.
” Key step in this dream: warehouse robots, smart forklifts able to control and inventory and entire warehouse full of pallets, without the meat community getting involved. ”
AS/RS and a move towards (https://www.techinasia.com/jd-x-logistics-unmanned-warehouses) “dark warehouses” some of which can reach impressive vertical heights.
Reminds me of a blender animation of a lego car factory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NSsSj6qXYU
I was hoping the last two robots to finish a car would “fist bump” after applying the wheels.