Development of Automated Display Shelf with Conveyor Belt Type Product Face-Up Mechanism

Abstract

Robot technology has been integrated recently to streamline and alleviate the labor-intensive operations in convenience stores. We developed a specialized display shelf for automated product stocking by robots in convenience stores. The shelf includes a shelf–drawer mechanism and a product face-up mechanism. A transparent sheet (oriented polypropylene sheet) is installed around the shelf board, which rotates like a conveyor belt to move the products on the shelf board toward the front rail. This design enables the robot hand to operate without colliding with display fixtures. Experiments with rice balls, sandwiches, stick salads, and coleslaw confirmed that this method suits surface or line-contact products. However, the mechanism is less effective for curved packages or point-contact products because they might move out of the display lane or tip over. The developed display shelf was shown in the World Robot Summit Future Convenience Store Challenge @ IFAC 2023, and the team won the 1st prize.