Rearrangement planning with multi-functional shelf considering the cost of regrasping products and changing posture of products

By providing store shelves with the ability to manage the stock and expiration dates of products on the shelves, it will be possible to plan the timing of product replenishment. Furthermore, the display, disposal, and replenishment of products can be automated by combining a robot manipulation function. The display, disposal, and replenishment require an optimal movement according to the state of the products on shelves. If the robot approaches the shelf and checks the position/status of the products, it is difficult to have enough time to calculate an optimized rearrangement plan. Therefore, if the rearrangement of products is planned by the shelf and the planning is completed before the robot arrives on the shelf, the robot will be able to perform the optimal operation quickly. In this paper, the movement cost is considered so that the movement distance of the products is minimized. Furthermore, we implement a display and disposal plan that takes into account the regrasping motion and product pose changing which is required corresponding to the manipulator’s workspace to change the location where the product is grasped, so that the product can be placed in the final display posture.