DRONSTORE
Indoor autonomous drones with vision and artificial intelligence for incident monitoring in logistics warehouses
DronStore is the name of this project that develops a navigation system responsible for localization, control and trajectory planning, allowing the drone to fly autonomously without the need of a pilot.
This is an innovative collaborative initiative involving 6 entities: Air Drone Logistics, Dronomy, Alter Technology, Stimulo, IOVI and secpho as coordinator. In addition, it has the collaboration of the PCAMI (Park and Center for Supply of Intendancy Material of the Army), one of the main logistic centers for the supply of materials in our country.
The initiative has received funding from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism corresponding to Next Generation EU funds, canalised through the support programme for Innovative Business Groups, whose objective is to digitalise industry.
The idea for the future is that drones will be able to perform all kinds of tasks such as checking high areas, locating items or other
When we talk about the use of drones in logistics management, the first association that comes to mind is that of delivery vehicles. However, the need for them to develop inventory management functions is now being considered, and the first applications are already beginning to be seen in the prototype phase.
The idea for the future is that drones will be able to perform all kinds of tasks (checking high areas, locating items, etc.). These applications, if successfully developed, have direct advantages for the industry, such as reducing lead times, automating tasks, reducing costs or reducing insecurity. However, there are also certain barriers to entry or difficulties that arise in their installation and use, such as regulations (very demanding and not very unified), high cost, low autonomy and limitations arising from the lack of maturity of some of the necessary technologies.
The proposed navigation system will be responsible for localization, control and trajectory planning, allowing the drone to fly autonomously.
The industrial research project DronStore is focused on these last two limitations and seeks to develop an autonomous navigation prototype for monitoring incidents in logistics warehouses. The success of this project will help to position the Spanish industry as a reference in this field.
Thus, the project poses the challenge of using different technologies applied in a pilot drone solution, with the aim of implementing in the future a fleet of these drones in a new logistics base in Cordoba. The key points for the improvement and automation of logistics in this center are: security and maintenance through the revision of warehouse elements; sensorization for temperature control in the rations warehouse; and stock control (coding and inventory).
Therefore, for the development of a drone capable of meeting the defined objectives, there are several technological challenges among which are autonomous navigation, inspection systems or information management system. The proposed navigation system will be in charge of localization, control and trajectory planning, allowing the drone to fly autonomously without the need of a pilot, thus automating the process.
