Table Of ContentSpringer Tracts in Advanced Robotics 148
Luigi Villani
Ciro Natale
Michael Beetz
Bruno Siciliano Editors
Robotics
for Intralogistics
in Supermarkets
and Retail Stores
Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics
Volume 148
SeriesEditors
BrunoSiciliano,DipartimentodiIngegneriaElettricaeTecnologie
dell’Informazione,UniversitàdegliStudidiNapoliFedericoII,Napoli,Italy
OussamaKhatib,ArtificialIntelligenceLaboratory,DepartmentofComputer
Science,StanfordUniversity,Stanford,CA,USA
AdvisoryEditors
NancyAmato,ComputerScience&Engineering,TexasA&MUniversity,College
Station,TX,USA
OliverBrock,FakultätIV,TUBerlin,Berlin,Germany
HermanBruyninckx,KULeuven,Heverlee,Belgium
WolframBurgard,InstituteofComputerScience,UniversityofFreiburg,Freiburg,
Baden-Württemberg,Germany
RajaChatila,ISIR,Pariscedex05,France
FrancoisChaumette,IRISA/INRIA,Rennes,Ardennes,France
WanKyunChung,RoboticsLaboratory,MechanicalEngineering,POSTECH,
Pohang,Korea(Republicof)
PeterCorke,QueenslandUniversityofTechnology,Brisbane,QLD,Australia
PaoloDario,LEM,ScuolaSuperioreSant’Anna,Pisa,Italy
AlessandroDeLuca,DIAGAR,SapienzaUniversitàdiRoma,Roma,Italy
RüdigerDillmann,HumanoidsandIntelligenceSystemsLab,KIT-Karlsruher
InstitutfürTechnologie,Karlsruhe,Germany
KenGoldberg,UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley,CA,USA
JohnHollerbach,SchoolofComputing,UniversityofUtah,SaltLake,UT,USA
LydiaE.Kavraki,DepartmentofComputerScience,RiceUniversity,Houston,TX,
USA
VijayKumar,SchoolofEngineeringandAppliedMechanics,Universityof
Pennsylvania,Philadelphia,PA,USA
BradleyJ.Nelson,InstituteofRoboticsandIntelligentSystems,ETHZurich,
Zürich,Switzerland
FrankChongwooPark,MechanicalEngineeringDepartment,SeoulNational
University,Seoul,Korea(Republicof)
S.E.Salcudean,TheUniversityofBritishColumbia,Vancouver,BC,Canada
RolandSiegwart,LEEJ205,ETHZürich,InstituteofRobotics&Autonomous
SystemsLab,Zürich,Switzerland
GauravS.Sukhatme,DepartmentofComputerScience,UniversityofSouthern
California,LosAngeles,CA,USA
TheSpringerTractsinAdvancedRobotics(STAR)publishnewdevelopmentsand
advances in the fields of robotics research, rapidly and informally but with a high
quality. The intent is to cover all the technical contents, applications, and multi-
disciplinaryaspectsofrobotics,embeddedinthefieldsofMechanicalEngineering,
Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, Control, and Life
Sciences,aswellasthemethodologiesbehindthem.Withinthescopeoftheseries
aremonographs,lecturenotes,selectedcontributionsfromspecializedconferences
andworkshops,aswellasselectedPhDtheses.
Specialoffer:Forallclientswithaprintstandingorderweofferfreeaccesstothe
electronicvolumesoftheSeriespublishedinthecurrentyear.
IndexedbySCOPUS,DBLP,EICompendex,zbMATH,SCImago.
AllbookspublishedintheseriesaresubmittedforconsiderationinWebofScience.
· · ·
Luigi Villani Ciro Natale Michael Beetz
Bruno Siciliano
Editors
Robotics for Intralogistics
in Supermarkets and Retail
Stores
Editors
LuigiVillani CiroNatale
DepartmentofElectricalEngineering UniversityofCampania
andInformationTechnology Aversa,Italy
UniversityofNaplesFedericoII
Naples,Italy BrunoSiciliano
UniversityofNaples
MichaelBeetz Naples,Italy
UniversityofBremen
Bremen,Germany
ISSN 1610-7438 ISSN 1610-742X (electronic)
SpringerTractsinAdvancedRobotics
ISBN 978-3-031-06077-9 ISBN 978-3-031-06078-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06078-6
©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s),underexclusivelicensetoSpringerNature
SwitzerlandAG2022
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Toourfamilies
Series Editor’s Foreword
Atthedawnofthecentury’sthirddecade,roboticsisreachinganelevatedlevelof
maturityandcontinuestobenefitfromtheadvancesandinnovationsinitsenabling
technologies.Theseallarecontributingtoanunprecedentedefforttobringingrobots
to human environment in hospitals and homes, factories, and schools; in the field
for robots fighting fires, making goods and products, picking fruits, and watering
the farmland, saving time and lives. Robots today hold the promise for making
a considerable impact in a wide range of real-world applications from industrial
manufacturingtohealthcare,transportation,andexplorationofthedeepspaceand
sea.Tomorrow,robotswillbecomepervasiveandtouchuponmanyaspectsofmodern
life.
TheSpringerTractsinAdvancedRobotics(STAR)isdevotedtobringingtothe
research community the latest advances in the robotics field on the basis of their
significanceandquality.Throughawideandtimelydisseminationofcriticalresearch
developmentsinrobotics,ourobjectivewiththisseriesistopromotemoreexchanges
andcollaborationsamongtheresearchersinthecommunityandcontributetofurther
advancementsinthisrapidlygrowingfield.
Luigi Villani, Ciro Natale, Michael Beetz, and Bruno Siciliano present in this
book the results of REFILLS (Robotics Enabling Fully Integrated Logistics Lines
forSupermarkets),aEuropeanResearchproject.Thisprojectbroughtastrongteam
ofroboticsresearcherswithawiderangeofcomplementaryskillsandcompetencies
to work together on the development of robotic systems for the logistics of retail
storesandsupermarketsthatarecapabletooperateincollaborationwithhumans.
The volume offers an extensive view on REFILLS development of innovative
robotictechnologiesforin-storelogisticsincludingmonitoring,transportation,and
shelfrefilling,inbothcollaborativeandautonomousmodalities.Theresultsareorga-
nizedinsixchapterscoveringprincipalissuesrangingfromtheautomaticacquisition
of stocks, pre-sorting, and sequencing of goods to collaborative ergonomic shelf-
filling and full autonomous refilling of products on shelves. These areas were all
experimentallyvalidatedwithsometestedinstores—aremarkableaccomplishment
oftheREFILLSteam.
vii
viii SeriesEditor’sForeword
TheoutcomeisabookthatisconfirmedtobeshininginourSTARseries!
Stanford,USA OussamaKhatib
April2022 STAREditor
Preface
REFILLS(RoboticsEnablingFully-IntegratedLogisticsLinesforSupermarkets)is
aEuropeanresearchproject,whichstartedinJanuary2017andendedinDecember
2020.Theambitionoftheprojectwasthatofimprovinglogisticsinasupermarket
thanks to mobile robotic systems in close and smart collaboration with humans,
addressingthemainin-storelogisticsprocessesforretailshops.Thegoalofthisedited
volumeistopresenttheprincipalresultsoftheprojecttothescientificcommunity
but also to operators of the logistic and retail world, sharing knowledge about the
technologicalopportunitiesandthemainchallengesregardingroboticsforlogistics
insupermarketandretailstores.
Althoughthemarketforonlineorderingisgrowing,expertsagreethattherewill
alwaysbedemandforphysicalsupermarketsastheycombinetherelaxingsensory
experience of shopping with the extra service of human advice. Retail and logis-
ticscompaniesarecommittedtowardsashoppingexperiencemorecomfortableand
exciting while, at the same time, using technology to reduce costs and increase
efficiency. In particular, there is still a lack of automation in the logistics manage-
ment of retail stores. Most of the logistics costs arise from items handling, items
transportation,shelvesreplenishment,andbackroommanagement.Thesetasksare
time-consuming, repetitive, inefficient, monotonous, and wearing for supermarket
clerks but are rather complex to automate. A mobile robotic system in close and
smartcollaborationwithhumanscanideallyperformalltheseoperationsprovided
somechallengesaresolved.
ThesolutionsproposedwithinREFILLScoveranumberofintermediatesteps—
withthepotentialforearlyexploitationandstoreandcustomerbenefits—uptothe
desiredlevelofautomationtofulfillthelogisticsneedsoftheretailmarketdomain,
as illustrated in Chap. 1. In particular, three scenarios are explored and discussed,
withdifferentrobotsappliedanddifferentprocessessupported,i.e.:
ix
x Preface
1. Storemonitoring
2. Collaborativeshelfrefilling
3. Autonomousshelfrefilling.
Thefirstscenariodealswiththeacquisitionoffullinformationonlocation,stock
and availability of goods within the store, by using a mobile robotic system that
autonomouslyacquiresasemanticdigitaltwinmodelofthestore,whichispresented
in Chap. 2. This operation is necessary to keep supermarket shelves stocked and
minimizeemptyordisarrangedshelves.Inparticular,theautomaticverificationthat
the real shelves match the ideal layout is a very challenging task and requires the
developmentofrobustandscalabletechniquesfortheidentificationofthousandsof
differentproducts,asdiscussedinChap.3.
The digital twin data generated by the scanning robot of the first scenario is
the foundation for the second scenario, where effective product pre-sorting and
sequencing are achieved with robots. The idea is that of developing an automatic
depalletizingcellinthebackroom,describedinChap.4,inchargeofputtingthecases
withtheproductsontrolleysinasuitableorder.Then,afleetofstore-readyautomated
guided vehicle is in charge of transporting the trolleys in proximity of the shelf to
berefilled.Atthispoint,theshelf-fillingprocessstarts.Thisoperationisperformed
bythestoreemployeessupportedbysuitableroboticunits.Namely,apointingunit
sheddinglightonthespotoftheshelfwhereagivenproductshouldbeplaced,anda
handlingunitthatservesthecasepackstotheclerkswiththeaimofreducingtherisk
ofmusculoskeletaldisordersrelatedtotherefillingoperation.Chapter5presentsthe
ergonomicanalysisthatallowsselectingthebestrefillingprocessmodality,forboth
humanandrobot,tailoredtotheanthropometriccharacteristicsoftheclerk.
Finally,thethirdscenarioisfocusedonthetime-consumingprocessofstacking
individualproductsontheshelves,whichisperformedautonomouslybyarobotic
arm.Thisisaverychallengingtask,requiringhighlyreliablemanipulationcapability
innarrowspacesofproductswithalargevarietyofsize,shape,weight,andfragility,
asshowninChap.6.
Allthepresentedtechnologieshavebeenvalidatedinrealisticenvironmentsand
someofthemhavebeentestedalsoinrealsupermarkets.Furtherinformationabout
the project’s achievement can be found at http://www.refills-project.eu, including
videos illustrating experiments. They are the result of the coordinated effort of
threeacademicpartners(CREATE-UniversityofNaplesFedericoII,Universityof
Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, University of Bremen), one robotic company (KUKA
RoboterGMBH),onehightechnologycompany(INTELIrelandLTD),onelogistic
company (SWISSLOG), with the fundamental contribution of a retail stores chain
(dm-drogeriemarkt)asenduser.
Wehopereaderswillfindthematerialcontainedinthisvolumeusefultodeepen
theknowledgeonthemainlogisticprocessinretailstoresandonthepossiblerobo-
tized solutions, and we would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere
