3 ms·
I could see tons of options in the logistics space! Even just as a display that you don't need to hold with your hands would improve things a lot in my opinion
by Klathmon 7y ago
I could see tons of options in the logistics space!
Even just as a display that you don't need to hold with your hands would improve things a lot in my opinion.
A typical 3pl is taking in a trailer, scanning cartons and sorting/stacking/palletising/moving cartons all over the warehouse. I used to write software that would allow people to scan those cartons and it would tell them what to do with it.
Unfortunately a device in your hand takes up a hand that can be used to move the box.
A finger laser scanner combined with a "head mounted display" like glass would be a gamechanger and could really speed things up and reduce lost or misrouted cartons.
There are other options, but they all have drawbacks. Fully-automated scanner/sorters are crazy expensive and often jam/clog or drop/destroy cartons, plus they require costly integration with 3pl software to run. Scanners can be mounted to the backs of your hands, but they are then cumbersome to use and aim, and often they need to be removed or put down anyway when doing anything complicated. Simple scanning can be done currently with finger-mounted laser scanners and audio cues, but that only gives you a few options (a few tones to signify "good scan", "bad scan", etc...), and if the worker needs to stop to pick up and look at a phone, you are losing time and breaking the flow of the worker.
A head mounted display means you can get detailed information literally while moving the box to the correct spot. And even if they cost $2000 per person, it's still significantly cheaper than a fully automated system, and the 3pl can only get a few if they want and still see benefits.
I really wanted to experiment with Glass or any number of "augmented reality" headsets when I was at that job, but sadly the company was acquired by a large corporation and almost instantly all ability to try new stuff went out the window and I quit.
- ktpsns 7y ago> A finger laser scanner [...] would be a gamechanger and could really speed things up and reduce lost or misrouted cartons. Full ACK. Recently stumbled over https://www.proglove.com/ https://www.proglove.com/ which is in fact a gread ingredient. I whish to have such devices as an end user for reasonable money (for various inventarisation purposes). Maybe that's something we will have in ~10 yrs. The hardware still seems way to expensive.
- Klathmon 7y agothe finger/hand mounted laser scanners are nothing new, they've been around for years. Even something like this: https://www.amazon.com/d/Bar-Code-Scanners/Barcode-Scanner-Wireless-Bluetooth-Wearable/B01GG11G2W https://www.amazon.com/d/Bar-Code-Scanners/Barcode-Scanner-W... The downside is that they don't have displays, so the amount of information the user can receive is limited without them looking at a device, which then defeats the purpose of hand mounting the scanner in most cases. And even the ones with displays are almost always mounted on the hand, so the user can't be carrying something and reading the display at the same time. A head mounted display with a hand mounted scanner solves this issue.
- toast0 7y agoWhen i worked at fedex for two weeks in like 2002, they had the ring scanners attached to an arm strapped terminal. As i recall it had maybe a 2-line character display and a qwerty keyboard. It's been many years, so I don't totally remember, but I think it was scan the box on the rollers, then load it into the truck, then scan the next etc. The ring scanner couldn't do the 2d barcodes though. It looks like the current models are a lot bulkier, probably to have the rotation needed for the 2d codes. I couldn't find the model online, but I did find an article about it. https://www.computerworld.com/article/2589161/fedex-ground-unveils--80m-package-delivery-system.html https://www.computerworld.com/article/2589161/fedex-ground-u...