Analysis and Design of Rack-Climbing Robotic Storage and Retrieval Systems

Wanying Chen (), René De Koster () and Yeming Gong ()
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Wanying Chen: School of Management and e-Business, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 30018, China
René De Koster: Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, 3062PA Rotterdam, Netherlands
Yeming Gong: Emlyon Business School, 69130 Ecully, France

Transportation Science, 2022, vol. 56, issue 6, 1658-1676

Abstract: Warehouses are becoming increasingly robotized. Autonomous rack-climbing robots have recently been introduced in e-commerce fulfillment centers. The robots not only retrieve loads from any level in a rack but also, roam the warehouse and bring the loads to order picking stations without using conveyors or lifts. This paper models and analyzes this system under both single and dual commands with different robot assignment (dedicated versus shared) and storage location assignment (class-based and random) policies. We study these policies in the presence of robot congestion. We evaluate the impact of two blocking protocols, a wait-outside-aisle policy and a block-and-recirculate policy, on the order throughput time. The system is modeled using semiopen queuing networks (SOQNs) for the different operating policies. The analytical models are validated using simulation. We also use this model to compare this system with a shuttle-based system. The results show that (1) the choice of the wait-outside-aisle policy or the block-and-recirculate policy mainly depends on the number of the robots in the system and the throughput requirement and that (2) the dedicated robot assignment policy can be an attractive policy, especially for a large system.

Keywords: warehousing; facility logistics; robot; queueing networks; blocking; assignment policy; storage policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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