NSERC I2I phase IIB project: A new high-speed warehousing cable robot: prototyping, evaluation,**and commercialization

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There is a large and growing demand for high throughput automated warehousing solutions. This growing demand is coming from online retail and the shift in consumer preferences from shopping at brick and mortar stores to on-line shopping. It is expected that global e-commerce sales will grow from $2.3 trillion in 2017 to $4.9 trillion by 2021, over 110% in 5 years. This explosion of online retail calls for new technologies to provide higher throughput automated warehousing systems to meet e-commerce demands. Our pioneering work in the past 15 years has resulted in a new technology that can significantly increase the speed of automated warehousing systems. In our work, heavy warehousing robots are replaced with cable driven robots where a platform is moved from one place to another to perform any material handlings. ** Based on positive outcomes achieved through our studies and experimental work, one of the global suppliers of advanced integrated supply chain automation technology has licenced our patents and committed to support the development of a full-scale warehousing cable robot (WCR) through this I2I Phase IIb project. In this project, we aim to design, fabricate, evaluate, and test a full-scale prototype of the WCR with a maximum workspace of 50m (L) × 12m (H) with a payload of 150 Kg. This full-scale prototype will be used to evaluate and optimize the performance of the new cable robot in real operations and ultimately bring the new warehousing robot to a pre-production stage. ** The successful launch of this new technology will create significant expansion and employment opportunities in Canada for mechanical and control engineers, software engineers, and service personnel. In addition, the engineers and students working on this project will gain experience in an emerging technology that is being specifically sought by the supporting company and many Canadian automation companies. The development of this project will add substantially to the knowledge base of the university, which will be transferred to students for many years to come.********