IO Design
Industrial Design Portfolio by Isabelle Olsson
SortAid
SortAid is a 10 week individual project in collaboration with the autonomous truck start-up Einride. The brief was "The future of logistics" and the question formulation I chose to work with was “How can we improve the sustainability of the transportation from the Combi-Terminal to the User?”
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SortAid is a robotic solution for package delivery services. The current process consists of packages getting dropped randomly into roll cages creating a disarrange with no regards to the unpacking process. SortAid is a tool that helps pack, unpack and sort packages sent with roll cages. Using lidar sensors, SortAid can both autonomously orientate itself as well as collect information about its surrounding in the warehouse and store information of the packages through recognition.
Got invited to Einride´s the Göteborg office and their test track AstraZero.
We went of field trips around Umeå to get a deaper insight into logistigs. The companies we visited was DB Schenker, Kvarken Ports, Sandals and Wasaline. I then visted the service point OKQ8, the postal service Postnord and the shoestore Din sko to gather some more information.
Background
Current process
Robot receives the delivery from the autonomous truck and unloads. The robot then sorts the packages and deliver it to the user.
The whole trailer of the truck acts as a pick up locker. The trailer would be detached and placed in different location.
2
3
1
A pickup place provided by Einride. Einride has warehouse where the autonomous trucks unload the packages and robots in the warehouse sorts the packages.
Concepts
Feedback: Should have two arms and no forks
Choose to continue to work with concept 3 after having feedback from designers at Einride and teachers. This is the first sketch of this concept.
At Din Sko, PostNord and Okq8 I looked in to their current way of handling package delivery
When the packages have been delivered to their final destination, the roll containers gets unpacked and the packages is sorted on to the trolley and placed in the store.
The struggles with the current process of the handling of the packages,
unergonomic!
"I always have backpain due to work"
"Unpacking one pallet takes one day so the work is stressful"
Fredrick, 55
Adam, 36
Monica, 51
"The job is physically exhausting, heavy lifts and a lot of bending"
Ester, 42
"I wish there were a robot that could unpack the boxes"
20kg
The packages getting delivered, can
weigh up to 20 kg and have a length
of 150 cm. Lifting these packages
requires both a bending and twisting
motion that combined with the heavy
weight of the packages, are both
stressful and dangerous for the body.
1
Autonomous unloading robot for drop cages.
Only transports
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Can just drive drop cages
_
2
Self driving drop cages with adjustable levels.
Can be used for both pallets & cages
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Can be used manually & autonomously
Does not help with unloading
3
Robot transport for Pallets & Cages.
_
Has to replace existing cages
More ergonomic than current solution
Choose to combine features from all the concepts and decided that that the solution would be a robotic solution. However, I decided to work only with roll cages since my interviews emphasised that they were the most unergonomic.
Feedback: To aggressive looks like a robot that disables bombs..
So I designed a more friendly and welcoming robot :)
