Path Planning for High-Density Conveyance Areas in Warehouses / Factories

A study conducted by Hiroya Makino et al. was selected for presentation at the 2024 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS).

In autonomous warehouses and factories, multiple transport robots are required to carry numerous packages to their destinations. The problem of finding collision-free paths for these robots has been widely researched in the field of multi-agent path finding (MAPF). Traditionally, designated passages were allocated for robot movement; however, this approach limits space efficiency due to the need to reserve passages. Allowing package placement even in areas previously designated as passages, we can expect improved space efficiency.

This study defines a new problem of optimizing transport paths in densely packed environments and proposes a method using mathematical optimization to solve it. With this approach, paths can be planned as long as there is enough space for one package, potentially enhancing the operational efficiency of autonomous warehouses and factories.

[Related Article]
Optimizing Item Allocation to Transport Robots in Warehouses and Factories

Title: MARPF: Multi-Agent and Multi-Rack Path Finding
Authors: Makino, H., Ohama, Y., Ito, S.
Appears in: IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems
Presented: October 17, 2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS58592.2024.10803053