I gave a research talk yesterday to the people working in the industry about using augmented reality for warehouse design at Penn State Berks. There were over 20 people from the industry and some from academia to listen to my talk. I discussed different layout designs, such as the Fishbone and traditional layouts. I explained to them under which conditions the Fishbone layout is better than the traditional layout. However, no tests were done in the literature about the Fishbone layout by doing an empirical study. Then, I demonstrated to them how augmented reality could help to do these empirical studies by creating these warehouse layouts virtually and testing them with real human subjects.

The research talk participants from industry and academia at Penn State Berks

After my talk finished, my research assistants, Eric Estadt, Hoang Nguyen, Parth Shah, and Kevin Skinner, and I demonstrated our newly developed augmented reality-based warehouse design and testing tool at Penn State Berks Beaver Athletics and Wellness Center. All the event participants were able to try our tool using a smartphone or tablet, walk inside a Fishbone layout, and perform some virtual order picking. According to two separate surveys given to participants, the overall feedback on the event was extremely positive. We have also received multiple ideas for improving the AR Warehouse tool.

Participants are performing virtual order picking in a Fishbone layout using a smartphone and a tablet

As a final note, I have brought four of my undergraduate research assistants to this event for them to get an experience in an environment where industry people meet with academia. My students said they were extremely happy to be a part of an event like this and thanked me for bringing them to Penn State Berks.

My undergraduate research assistants (from left to right, Eric Estadt, Kevin Skinner, Hoang Nguyen, and Parth Shah)