New Magasin

This model was originated in 2009 and, after 3 different releases,  the final version was showed at the convention 2010.

The Magasin model is a smart warehouse with three main different parts.

Input

  • On the left side, a cylinder is put on the conveyor belt. 
  • when asked, the door opens and the colour of the cylinder is read. 
  • The vacuum head on the moving desk picks it up and places it on an empty box.

Management

  • On the middle, the control panel displays information and allows to ask for the colour of a cylinder.
  • When a colour is available, the appropriate light is turned on.
  • The buttons allow to ask for the delivery of a cylinder of an available colour.

Output

  • When a cylinder of a given colour is requested, the vacuum head goes to the right box and picks up the cylinder. 
  • Then, it delivers it on the conveyor belt, on the right side.

Hardware

In 2009, the hardware included many improvements as Long X-Axis, Moving Desk And Y-Axis and Compressed Air And Vacuum For Z-Axis over previous releases of Magasin. Most of the hardware remains valid in 2013.

One notable exception is the colour sensor, as none of the solutions available in 2009 were satisfactory. The standard fischertechnik colour sensor (reference 128599) was unable to differentiate red and white cylinders, because of its red LED. Even a modified sensor with a white LED wasn't reliable enough.

This prompted intensive R&D, which eventually delivered the I²C True Colours Smart Sensor smartColours in 2012. This sensor uses an industrial-grade colour sensor, acquires colour through 4 channels —red, green, blue and clear—, processes the data and identifies the colour among those previously memorised, with a success rate close to 100% 

Software

The software behind the models relies on parallel processing with 11 simultaneous processes. 

Find a detailed presentation at the Parallel Processing and Multi-Tasking End Management Procedure pages.

The logic of parallel processing has been extended to distributed computing, with multiple TX controllers grouped in a Bluetooth network. Each TX controller has a set of processes in charge and communicates to the other controllers through Bluetooth messages.

Those topics are discussed in the section Dealing with Very Large Models.

Next