RFID-Assisted Detection and Handling of Packages

In the field of automated warehousing a method is described for product detection and handling with the aid of industrial robots and the radio frequency identification (RFID). While the detection of objects is of the essence, RFID labels (tag inlays) widely used in supply chain management for inventory tracking serve herein as beacons placed on predefined positions on the surface of product containers such as cardboard boxes, in such way as to describe sufficiently the geometry of the package, thus enabling its automated manipulation by an industrial robot. An arrangement of RFID systems fixed on the robot's end effector, serves as a sensor to detect and localize RFID tags fixed on the box surface.