Student Projects

VG100

Autonomous Parcel Sorting Device

Instructors: Dr. Mian Li, Dr. Irene Wei
Team Members: Haolin Cen, Yinghui He, Yuchen Wang, Yuzhuo Liu, Zhaoyuan Liang

Project Video

Team Members

Team Members:

Haolin Cen, Yinghui He, Yuchen Wang, Yuzhuo Liu, Zhaoyuan Liang

Instructors:

Dr. Mian Li, Dr. Irene Wei

Project Description

Problem

Owing to the underdeveloped sorting technology, manual operation has hitherto been the dominant norm of parcel sorting, thus imposing a lasting negative impact on customers, staffs and the sustainable development of the Chinese express industry.
Multiple solutions have been introduced before, but numerous drawbacks exist.

Concept Generation

This project aims at building a system to sort parcels by their weights. The system contains a robotic vehicle that follows designated tracks by examining the weight of the parcels, and a device that unloads the parcels after reaching a terminal that contains parcels of similar weights.

Design Description

A system coordinating hardware and software is proposed. The hardware contains a robotic vehicle, weight and infrared sensors, and the unloading device. The sensors report the weight and position data to the software part. The software part analyzes the the weight data to determine the target terminal, and utilizes the position data to instruct the robotic vehicle to follow the designated track and reach the terminal. The unloading device unloads the parcel at the terminal.
Fig. 1 The structure of the mechanical arm of the unloading device

Modeling and Analysis

To realize the tracking function, infrared sensors are used to give output data in the form of one and zero, which will be simultaneously processed in the tracking program under the criterion below.
The unloading function is achieved by the structure illustrated below, which consists of a unloading panel and a mechanical arm.
Fig. 2 The structure of the unloading device

Validation

We used sample parcels of three different weights to test the weighing and tracking program.

*Measured weight: the weight measured by our device; Actual weight: the data obtained from a precise electronic scale.
Actual route: the route followed by our device in the test; Expected route: the expected route determined by the actual weight of the parcel.
The measured weights are less than the actual values, which resulted in inaccurate route determination. By analysis, such error is caused by the systematic error of the weight sensors, and deficiency in the weighing program. Further optimization is needed for the weighing program.

Fig. 3 The unloading motion
Table1: Sample Parcels Test Result

Conclusion

The project devises a solution to the problem with a device that performs parcel sorting automatically.
The general technical outcomes are demonstrated below:

  • The device performs route tracking according to the weight detected.
  • The device moves between terminals under the program uploaded.
  • The device can unload the parcels autonomously after each arrival at an individual terminal.
  • The device reaches designated terminals within relatively short time.

Acknowledgement

Dr. Mian Li and Dr. Irene Wei from the UM-SJTU Joint Institute;
Teaching Assistants [Fubo Qi, Hanyang Feng, Sheng Qiao, Xiaoxuan Wang] for VG100 at UM-SJTU Joint Institute.

More project information, please contact: heyinghui@sjtu.edu.cn

UM-SJTU JOINT INSTITUTE