MechChem Africa March-April 2021

OMRON robot streamlines food deliveries An autonomous mobile robot has been seen moving around the corridors of the REDI shopping centre in Kalasatama, a suburb of Helsinki in Finland. Operated by OMRON’s solution partner Dimalog, the robot was taking part in a month-long trial of a ‘Home-on Demand’ automated courier service.

OMRON, Dimalog and Muotohiomo worked closely together to enable the OMRON autonomous mobile robot (AMR) to navigate the supermarket and tower block corridors as well as using elevators and service tunnels.

A month-long trial of a ‘Home-on Demand’ automated courier ser- vice in Helsinki is exploring the potential for using autonomous robots for deliveries tourbanhomes. The trial is part of a larger experiment called the Six City Strategy: New solutions in city logistics project, which is looking at possible options for last-mile deliveries in Finnish cities. It’s looking for solutions that will organise urban logistics as lightly, sustainably and efficiently as possible. The trial was arranged by Forum Virium, the City of Helsinki’s development company, in conjunction with construction company SRV. Other organisations involved in theproj- ect include elevator company Kone; the K-Supermarket in the REDI shopping centre; Asumi, adigital resident serviceplatform; and the design studio, Muotohiomo. For the trial, the OMRON mobile robot was programmed to deliver items of food from the shopping centre to apartments in the nearby Majakka tower block. OMRON, Dimalog and Muotohiomo worked closely together to refine the opera - tion and design of the robot so they met the specific needs of the project. Tomove around successfully, the robot had to navigate the supermarket and tower block corridors as well as using elevators and service tunnels. As it moved, the robot whistled and talked in Finnish via a speech synthesiser. Lotta Toivonen, developmentmanager for

by the robot and observed its interac- tion with people. The robot used on the trial was an OMRON LDmodel, which is a self-navigating autonomous mobile robot (AMR). Unlike traditional autonomously guided vehicles (AGVs), OMRON’smobile robots don’t need depend on expensive modifications to facilities such as floor magnets or navigational beacons. Theynavigateby thenatural featuresof the facility, having been designed tomove material within challenging environments that might include confined passageways, as well as locations where there might be people moving around. OMRON’s software also integrateswith a company’s or building’s other facilities management systems to enable the robots to become operational in the least possible time. Esa Korhonen, Area Sales Manager at OMRON in Finland, explains: “Our mobile robots can dramatically boost the pro- ductivity of logistics operations. They can navigateeffectivelyandprovide invaluable support to human workers. This enables employees to focus on other tasks that require complex human skills.” “We are looking for new agile logistics solutions in the city. We are exploring howwe could improve the smoothness of everyday life in buildings of the future and robotics is integrally related to a smooth everyday life,” Kaisi Spilling concludes. www.industrial.omron.co.za

Housing Services at SRV, which built both the shopping centre and theMajakka tower block, comments: “The idea of whistling is that it’s a funny thing. On the other hand, people realise that the robot is coming. It speaks a bit, and people greet it. It is treated as if it were a person.” Kaisa Spilling of Forum Virium adds: “It’s been fun to see how people along the way feel like it’s human. It might say in the elevator: ‘I’m sorry I would like to get out here’ or ‘Oops, the elevator is full, I’ll ask to use another elevator’.” Each delivery started with the receipt of an online order from a customer using the Asumi platform. Orders could also be placed through the supermarket by the shopping centre’s smaller businesses. The items (mainly meals) would be collected at the supermarket and loadedby staff into the robot, which would then deliver the order to the relevant business or apartment. The customer receives anautomatic notification as soon as the robot delivered the item. Kaisi Spilling notes: “During the corona - virusepidemic, therobothasbeendelivering lunches for homeworkers and the lunch time slot has been fully booked.” Throughout the trial, the robot could re- quest anelevator itself but neededanescort toopenanydoors thatmight have tobekept closeddue tofire safety regulations. The es - cortwas a university servicedesign student, who reported any problems encountered

32 ¦ MechChem Africa • March-April 2021