Locanis R&D

Locanis is a part of a project commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung).

The focus is on efficient route planning by human and automated order pickers in factories, warehouses, and distribution centres. Both human order pickers and autonomous mobile robots must be optimally orchestrated. Manual picking systems are socio-technical systems, which is why human factors and technology interaction are crucial.

The Project

The project expands the Locanis software platform’s capabilities. This considers capacities based on objects, pick-up and drop-off targets, and operator behaviour. The Locanis platform is based on a central brain for subject-oriented task execution, with a focus on manual and automated order pickers and automated mobile robots (AMRs).

Locanis Central Brain

The “central brain”, developed by Locanis, uses subject-driven configurations and proprietary rules—such as aging, dependencies, priorities, escalations, position, and timestamps—to select the best subject for object movement. It employs algorithms like particle swarm optimization, genetic algorithms, and ant colony optimization. article assignment in a synchronized zone system, ant colony optimization, and variable neighborhood descent method to build the platform.

Automated Picking

The central “brain” approach is essential for optimizing route planning for both manual and autonomous pickers, modeling the subjects (pickers, robots, and transport modes), and executing algorithms like particle swarm optimization, genetic algorithms (AI), and ant colony optimization. The aim is to automate pick routes that maximize capacity utilization while accounting for order pickers’ workloads.

If you’re interested in learning more, please email us at info@locanis360.com.