Junior Research Project: Automated Induction Robotics
Published:
For my junior research project at the Governor’s School, I designed and built a platform for warehouse robotics (like those used by Amazon) that were powered through wireless induction. Everything I did in this project, from programming and cloud infrastructure to computer-aided design and manufacture, was entirely self-taught. It placed first at the Tidewater Science and Engineering Fair and was accepted to the International Science Fair, but this was canceled due to COVID. For more details, check out my post here!
Abstract
Imagine automated robots, moving freely around a warehouse 24/7, free from the weight, and cost, of a battery pack powered through a grid of wirelessly-inductive “Smart Tiles” in the floor, each loaded with sensors to help coordinate robot movement, avoid obstacles and report on warehouse conditions. This experiment aimed to determine if Automatic Induction Robotics were safer, smarter, and more efficient than standard, battery-powered systems. This was determined by using long-term ROI, measuring power consumption, and key robotics metrics such as Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), Cycle Time, Cycles Completed, Utilization, Efficiency, and Wait Time. To test this, a 5 by 5 grid of smart tiles was assembled, and robots executed randomized ‘jobs’. The robots gathered data as they worked, which was stored and analyzed in the cloud to determine the above KPIs.