Augmented Reality for Humans-Robots Interaction in Dynamic Slotting "Chaotic Storage" Smart Warehouses

Nowadays, smart warehouses mostly use Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) controlled through magnetic or painted paths. This approach is suitable for “static slotting” warehouses, and for places where humans do not cross paths with mobile robots. Therefore, fixed-path AGVs are not an optimal solution for dynamic slotting “chaotic storage” warehouses, where picking and delivery paths are often changing. Hence, it is important to create an environment where AGVs have planned their path, and storekeepers can see their paths, and mark restricted areas by virtual means if needed, for these mobile robots and humans to move and stand safely around a smart warehouse. In this paper, we have proposed an Augmented Reality (AR) environment for storekeepers, where they can see an AGV planned path, and they can add virtual obstacles and walls to the mobile robots’ cyber-physical navigation view. These virtual obstacles and walls can be used to determine restricted areas for mobile robots, which can be seen for example as safe areas for humans’ and/or robots’ stationary work. Finally, we introduce the system architecture supporting the proposed AR environment for humans-mobile robots safe and productive interaction.