Visual recognition for object grasping is a well-known challenge for robot automation in industrial applications. A typical example is pallet recognition in industrial environment for pick-and-place automated process. The aim of vision and reasoning algorithms is to help robots in choosing the best pallets holes location. This work proposes an application-based approach, which ful l all require...

Transportation and warehouse costs are the two major components of the total logistics cost. To increase the material handling efficiency both in transit and in the warehouse, pallets have been used widely in logistics systems. The manufacturer’s pallet loading problem (MPLP) is to pack identical smaller boxes onto a rectangle pallet to maximize the pallet utilization. In this research, we solv...

Frank Martinez and Nicolas Pallet *Department of Intensive Care and Renal Transplantation, Necker Hospital, Paris’ Public Assistance Hospital, Paris, France; Paris Descartes University and Sorbonne Paris City, Paris, France; Department of Nephrology, and §Department of Biochemistry, Georges Pompidou European Hospital, Paris’ Public Assistance Hospital, France, Paris, France; and Institute of He...

The pallet repair industry has been growing at significant rates in the United States. It has been estimated that therepair industryreceived 299 million pallets in 2001, and a majority went back into the marketplace as repaired or remanufactured pallets. Many question how well these pallets perform when compared to new pallets. The purpose of this research was to provide a benchmark for the rel...

An estimated 4.53 billion board feet of solid hardwood and 1.79 billion board feet of solid softwood were used in the production of pallets and containers in 1995. When compared to estimates for 1992, the use of both softwoods and

This study investigated the effects of ergonomic interventions involving a reduction of the mass (from 16 to 11 and 6 kg) and an increase in the initial lifting height (from pallet height to 90 cm above the ground) of building blocks in a mock-up of an industrial depalletizing task, investigating lifting behaviour as well as low back moments (calculated using a 3-D linked segment model). Nine e...