Smart Exit
Smart exit search area defines a rectangular area - relative to the actual pick position - where the path planning algorithm can search for an intermediate waypoint between pickup and approach position, to perform linear movements without collision to the robot base, conveyor, or other boxes in the current layer.
The left and right pallet can have individual smart exit settings.
How it works
The path planning algorithm starts with finding a collision-free waypoint between the pick and drop positions. The waypoint has to be in the rectangle defined by the smart exit search range parameters.
When the algorithm cannot find a waypoint that meets all criteria:
it will use the smart exit minimum X and minimum Y values as defaults, and
the box will be moved on an elevated path above all other boxes to avoid collisions
How to customize
The smart exit search area can be customized by setting minimum and maximum X and Y offsets, measured from the center point of the box where the box has been picked.
To understand the X and Y offsets, follow the rules below:
A positive Y value defines an offset in the traveling direction on the conveyor.
A positive X value defines an offset perpendicular to the conveyor direction and towards the current pallet.
Negative offsets can be also defined. Especially negative Y offsets are common in the following setups:
boxes arriving from the left and moving towards the left pallet (moving the box above other boxes on the conveyor) and
boxes arriving from the right and moving towards the right pallet (moving the box above other boxes on the conveyor)
Negative X offsets are not used normally.
The smart exit X and Y parameters are set relative to the conveyor direction, and the origin is the point from where the gripper picks the box in the center.
For multi-pick cases the zero point is the center point of the bounding rectangle around the boxes being picked together.
Box moves through the smart exit search area before descending down to the pallet
Robot movement when placing box:
Pickup position → Box free height → Smart Exit → Extra waypoint → Approach Position → Target Position
The following examples show possible smart exit settings for conveyors in Front, Left and Right. You can see that the X(red)-axis and Y(green)-axis is rotating with the conveyor position.
Smart Exit: box arrival in front
Left pallet
Opposite of the red arrow direction is the positive X-axis
Green arrow is the positive Y-axis
Right pallet
Red arrow is the positive X-axis
Green arrow is the positive Y-axis
Smart exit settings for conveyor in Front
Smart Exit: box arrival from left
Left pallet
Opposite of the red arrow direction is the positive X-axis
Green arrow is the positive Y-axis
Right pallet
Opposite of the red arrow direction is the positive X-axis
Green arrow is the positive Y-axis
Smart exit settings for conveyor in Left
Smart Exit: box arrival from right
Left pallet
Red arrow is the positive X-axis
Green arrow is the positive Y-axis
Right pallet
Red arrow is the positive X-axis
Green arrow is the positive Y-axis
Smart exit settings for conveyor in Right
Example
The yellow box below shows the Smart Exit search range if the values are as follows for the right pallet
X: [-100, -150]
Y: [-300, -400]
The center of the box will move inside the yellow area before moving down to the pallet
The following video explains Smart Exit