Project Category: Software
Join our virtual presentation!
April 5th, 10:00AM – 12:30PM
About our project
With the rise of online consumption, warehouse management across the globe needs to be modernized. The purpose of the proposed solution is to increase the efficiency of repetitive and simple areas of warehouse management. For the scope of this project, the solution will focus on the sorting of goods and packages, but can be extended to include storage and movement through the warehouse. Sorting and counting merchandise can be very prone to human error which may leave the warehouse management system with wrong values and cause problems for those trying to find non-existent goods. These tasks also take up a considerable amount of time if there are a lot of items coming through the warehouse, in turn leading to large expenses for the company in both time and worker pay that could otherwise be avoided.
Our solution would solve these problems by automating the sorting and counting processes in an extendable way to allow for further automation or expansion. Current solutions use conveyors that can take up a large amount of space and be quite costly to modify when set up, whereas our solution is easily modifiable and will support the space needs of smaller warehouses as well as larger warehouses. Our solution can also seamlessly integrate with other robots or machines to fully automate warehouse storage and retrieval.
User can select to add or remove packages into the system, to be sorted into a destination box
The cost: $500.00 + GST.
Meet our team members
Boma Nkownta
Software Engineering
Frontend Lead: Responsible for the user interface, as well as the communication and messaging with the backend.
Colton Osterlund
Software Engineering
Embedded Software Lead/ Project Manager: Responsible for communication with backend and hardware, managing resources and schedules, ensuring all project deadlines are met.
Ana Chirinos
Electrical Engineering
Hardware Lead: Responsible for all hardware, including PCB design and soldering.
Jeremy Bilic
Software Engineering
Backend Lead: Responsible for the communication and messaging with frontend and hardware, along with storing the current state of the embedded system.
Details about our design
HOW OUR DESIGN ADDRESSES PRACTICAL ISSUES
Now more than ever, with the shift to consumption online, warehouse management requires modernization. With our dynamic sorting system, we can increase the efficiency of repetitive and simple areas of warehouse management, as well as provide a scalable, smart solution that would allow warehouses of any size to compete with the smart warehouse systems of larger companies such as Amazon.
WHAT MAKES OUR DESIGN INNOVATIVE
Our design creates a dynamic and scalable solution for modernizing a warehouse of any size. Our project’s scope includes the first step in this mission, which is to sort packages into smart boxes. The design is easily expandable, and may in the future extend to the use of robots to carry out the sorting in a real-life warehouse scenario.
WHAT MAKES OUR DESIGN SOLUTION EFFECTIVE
Our design solution is effective in sorting different types of packages into available destination boxes, without any package loss during sorting or transportation. This first working prototype is indicative of an easily expandable solution that can work in a warehouse of any size.
HOW WE VALIDATED OUR DESIGN SOLUTION
We have validated our design solution through a series of validation tests, including but not limited to: assessing that no packages are lost during sorting or transportation, the system sorts multiple packages in multiple scenarios in a predictable and timely fashion, and that the system has fully functional messaging protocols (Web-socket, inter-ANT chip, and computer-to-chip).
FEASIBILITY OF OUR DESIGN SOLUTION
Our design solution is cost effective, and easily scalable to adapt to any size of warehouse. Our current scope is very feasible and includes only the sorting of packages, but in the future can be expanded to include storage and movement throughout a warehouse.
Partners and mentors
We want to thank the many people who helped us with this project. Our industry sponsor representative, Harrison Chin from Garmin, guided us through the process with patience and great advice. As well, our professor from the University of Calgary, Dr. Mohammad Moshirpour, was able to steer us in the right direction and provide us with great technical support.
Our photo gallery
References
Ant Basics. ANT Basics – THIS IS ANT. (n.d.). Retrieved April 3, 2022, from https://www.thisisant.com/developer/ant/ant-basics/
Warehouse Automation. (2020, December 23). Amazon built some of the world’s most efficient warehouses by embracing chaos. Warehouse Automation. Retrieved April 3, 2022, from https://www.warehouseautomation.ca/news-notes-1/2020/12/12/amazon-built-some-of-the-worlds-most-efficient-warehouses-by-embracing-chaos-cdw84
Templates – CreativeStudio . University of Calgary. (2021, January 21). Retrieved April 3, 2022, from https://www.ucalgary.ca/brand/download-logos-and-templates
Consumer brand style guide. Garmin. (n.d.). Retrieved April 3, 2022, from https://creative.garmin.com/styleguide/logo/
