Inventory Conciliation with Drone

[Martin88]

Hello,

I am currently looking to implement Aerial Drones to perform inventory reconciliation with my company WMS.

The drone would have to perform an indoor fly route; or to be controlled by a computer or application performing a fly path and taking pictures in specific points.
The case scenario would be to perform photos of rack positions to be later processed by independent image software. Ideally the dron would need to know its orientation in relation to the racks in order to avoid crashes.

I have been researching drone indoor technologies.
http://www.andfestival.org.uk/projectdaedalus/tracking-your-drone/

Has anyone seen an actual implementation of the Visual Positioning System or maybe a triangulation like?
http://www.novadem.com/Technologie-en.html

Would it be possible for example to program the drone to make an XZ route like this example for four racks via some SDK or interface?

The flight plan would be the following.
Stop in the asteriks and take a picture.

-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----
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-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----
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-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----
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-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----

or
*------* *-----* *-----*
| | | | | |
* * * * * *
| | | | | |
* * * * * *
| | | | | |
* *-----* *-----* *
In addition it would have to avoid the racks NOTmoving in the Y axes. Maybe it can stay in place by the visual positioning system?

Thanks in Advance

 

[Bartman]

i'd imagine a transponder system would be a better choice where the drone pings as it flies with products returning their discreet codes allowing numbers of discreet returns to be counted, IMHO

 

[violetwolf]

Or possibly do away with the drone altogether and run an overhead cable or track with the camera bot hanging below on a retractable system for up and down movement.

 

[ProfEngr]

Cable system would allow for more precise positioning w/ encoders for feedback. Of course, that would be the simple idea. Getting a MR to mimic that behavior would be challenging, but might also be a great 'learning' experience.

 

[JoeBob]

You could make it simpler by setting your camera interval to take a photo at set intervals. Then adjust your flight speed so that the MR is in the position that you need for photos.
LidarLite could give you accurate heights for multiple passes through the racks, and you might consider two cameras front and back to shoot both sides of an aisle.

 

[Bartman]

LidarLite could give you accurate heights for multiple passes through the racks, and you might consider two cameras front and back to shoot both sides of an aisle.

two cameras is a great idea

 

[violetwolf]

Stable flight in tight indoor spaces can be an issue too. Airflow from the rotors bouncing off the floor and up the racks will cause some turbulence for sure. I've tried flying through man tunnels for instance. It can be quite challenging.

Not trying to be negative, just some thoughts worth considering

 

[JoeBob]

You might want to mount two cameras left and right on a square carbon fiber tube. Then fly forward down the center of the aisles. Adjust how close to the sides you want you photos by varying the length of the rod.
I know that GoPro has interval photography of 1, 3, 5 seconds, etc. I'd check to see if the smaller Mobius camera has similar options.

For indoor flying, check out the IR landing beacons. If you can mount the beacons on the ceiling facing down, and use the sensor on top of your MR; you may be able to set up a flight path going from beacon A to B to C etc. If the beacons can't be set to individual IDs, consider the WiFi beacons and turn them on and off to lead your MR through the warehouse.

 

[violetwolf]

Keep in mind that GPS won't work indoors either

 

[Old Man]

It can if you construct a GPS repeater module. Really an expensive thing to do though.