techwatch
show me the way
(with apologies to Peter Frampton)
IMAGINE HAVING YOUR OWN PERSONAL POINTER TO SHOW
you the way around a warehouse. Sounds like science fiction, doesn’t it?
But such a visual aid could be available in the not-too-distant future. An
Austrian material handling company is developing a device that provides visual direction to warehouse workers as they go about their daily
storage and retrieval routines.
This new type of visual assistance technology is a form of “
augmented reality,” in which simulated imagery, graphics, or symbols are superimposed on a view of the surrounding environment. The Knapp Group
of Graz, Austria, has been working on logistics-related applications for
the technology since 2008. It initially began developing an optical guidance device as a way to help companies comply with
strict laws and regulations requiring them to track
and verify the lot and serial numbers of items they
ship from their warehouses. The device—dubbed
KiSoft Vision—is intended to assure 100 percent
order accuracy without slowing down the actual fulfillment process.
The KiSoft Vision device, which I tried out at the
recent NA 2010 North American Material Handling &
Logistics Show in Cleveland, resembles a special pair
of glasses outfitted with a tiny camera on the bridge.
When you look through the special glasses, you see
pointers overlaid on the scene. Picture a warehouse
aisle. Now, picture a red arrow indicating what you
should pick from the bin or shelf, and you get an idea
of what it’s like to look through these revolutionary
goggles. The arrows and other kinds of markers would direct a warehouse worker through the distribution center, offering visual prompts as
to where to go and what to retrieve.
Once the worker arrives at the pick location, the camera incorporated
into the unit reads and records the bar-code label in order to capture
data on what the warehouse worker puts away or retrieves. Knapp claims
that the camera will record lot and serial numbers automatically—
there’s no need for the worker to perform any additional steps. It further
claims that this “license plate” tracking provides for “100 percent error-
free picking.”
Knapp plans to test the device this summer in Europe, with the aim of
bringing it to market by year’s end. Robert Engelmayer, business area
manager for Knapp Systemintegration GmbH, says that his company
will conduct a pilot at either a food or pharmaceutical DC—both types
of facilities require automatic lot and serial number tracking.
As for applications, Engelmayer says KiSoft
Vision, which is designed as a manual picking
solution, would be well suited for use in operations where the shape of the product or “the
moving behavior” of the item is a factor in
selection.
In either case, augmented reality technology
can be expected to compete with voice-direct-
ed picking technology,
which also offers hands-free
operation and has earned a
reputation for boosting
accuracy at a relatively low
cost. “Whatever you can
imagine for voice, it can be
used for this,” says
Engelmayer. He adds that
the visual guidance technol-
ogy will be priced “at about
the same level as a voice-
picking project.”
Although voice has been
making headway in the
market lately, success has
been a long time coming for this technology.
Voice-directed systems have been around for a
couple of decades now. In fact, I remember
seeing my first installation of voice technology
back in 1992, at a Boeing facility, where work-
ers in receiving were reading part numbers
into a microphone.
Does that mean it’s likely to take augmented
reality technology two decades to catch on as
well? Although I don’t have a crystal ball, I
don’t think that will be the case. Given its
capabilities and price point, it’s a pretty sure
bet that visual guidance technology will take
hold in the warehouse world much more
quickly than its predecessor did.
