CONTROLLING AND MONITORING OF A STORAGE AND ORDER-PICKING SYSTEM BY MEANS OF MOTION AND SPEECH
First Claim
1. A storage and order-picking system for storing and picking piece goods, comprising:
- a manually operated work station arranged in a fixed working area, in which an operator manipulates the piece goods with his/her hands in a default manipulation manner, which is communicated to the operator visually, or audibly, wherein the operator moves the piece goods within the working area;
a motion-sensor system configured to detect the operators'"'"'s motions within the working area of the work station, and to convert same into corresponding motion signals; and
a computing unit, which is connected to the motion-sensor system and which is configured to convert the motion signals into corresponding trajectories in a virtual space, which represents an image of the working area in real space, wherein the converted trajectories are compared to reference trajectories, or reference volumina, in the virtual space, which is modeled in accordance with the real space as a reference model, the computing unit being further configured to generate and output control signals, based on the comparison, which indicate a correct or wrong performance of the default manipulation manner to the operator.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Storage and order-picking system for storing and picking piece goods, comprising: a manual work station comprising a defined working area, in which an operator is supposed to manipulate a piece good with his/her hands in a default manner, which is communicated to the operator visually and/or audibly, in that the operator moves the piece good within the working area; a motion-sensor system, which detects motions, preferably of the hands and/or forearms, of the operator within the working area of the work station and which converts same into corresponding motion signals; and a computing unit, which is data connected to the motion-sensor system and which is configured to convert the motion signals into corresponding, preferably time-dependent, trajectories in a virtual space, which is an image of the working area and where the trajectories are compared to reference trajectories, or reference volumina, in the virtual space, in order to generate and output control signals which indicate a correct or wrong performance of the default manipulation manner to the operator.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A storage and order-picking system for storing and picking piece goods, comprising:
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a manually operated work station arranged in a fixed working area, in which an operator manipulates the piece goods with his/her hands in a default manipulation manner, which is communicated to the operator visually, or audibly, wherein the operator moves the piece goods within the working area; a motion-sensor system configured to detect the operators'"'"'s motions within the working area of the work station, and to convert same into corresponding motion signals; and a computing unit, which is connected to the motion-sensor system and which is configured to convert the motion signals into corresponding trajectories in a virtual space, which represents an image of the working area in real space, wherein the converted trajectories are compared to reference trajectories, or reference volumina, in the virtual space, which is modeled in accordance with the real space as a reference model, the computing unit being further configured to generate and output control signals, based on the comparison, which indicate a correct or wrong performance of the default manipulation manner to the operator. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for monitoring and guiding a manual order-picking process, wherein in accordance with an order-picking task a piece good is manually picked up by an operator at a source location and delivered to a target location in real space, the method comprising the steps of:
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assigning an order-picking task to the operator; visually, or audibly, communicating the order-picking task to the operator in the real space; picking-up, moving, and delivering the piece good in the real space by the operator; detecting the actual movement of the operator in the real space by means of a motion-sensor system; converting the detected movements into one of image points and at least one trajectory in a virtual space, which is modeled in accordance with the real space as a reference model and in which the source location is defined as a reference-source volume and the destination location is defined as a reference-destination volume, by means of a computing unit; checking, by means of the computing unit, by comparing; whether the at least one trajectory matches a reference trajectory, wherein the reference trajectory corresponds to a motion sequence in the virtual space in accordance with the communicated order-picking task, or whether the image points are located initially within the reference-source volume and later in the reference-destination volume; and outputting an error notification, or a correction notification, to the operator, if the step of checking has resulted in a deviation between the trajectory and the reference trajectory, or if the step of checking results in that the image points are not located in the reference-source volume and the reference-destination volume. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method for manually determining a dimension of a piece good in a storage and order-picking system, wherein an operator'"'"'s hands, or index fingers, are provided with markers, the method comprising the steps of:
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selecting a basic body shape of the piece good, which is to be measured, wherein the basic body shape is defined by a set of specific basic lengths; sequentially communicating the to-be-measured basic lengths to the operator; positioning the markers laterally to the to-be-measured piece good in the real world for determining each of the communicated basic lengths; and determining a distance between the markers in the virtual world, which is modeled in accordance with the real space as a reference model, and assigning the so-determined distance to the to-be-measured basic length, respectively. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
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25. A method for controlling a storage and order-picking system, which comprises a work station arranged in a fixed working area in real space, comprising the steps of:
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defining a set of gestures, which respectively correspond to one unique motion, or rest position, of at least one of an arm and of at least one hand of an operator and which sufficiently distinguishes from normal motions, respectively, in the context of desired manipulations of a piece good in the working area; generating reference gestures in a virtual world, which is modeled in accordance with the real space as a reference model, wherein at least one working-area control instruction is assigned to each of the reference gestures; scanning the actual motion of the operator in the real world, and converting the scanned motion into at least one corresponding trajectory in the virtual world; comparing the trajectory to the reference gestures; and executing the assigned working-area control instruction if the comparison results in a sufficient match. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification