With an innovative system for the fully automated identification of pallets, the researchers in the »Identification Service based on Natural Features« development project add another component to the Silicon Economy. An intelligent algorithm identifies a pallet – among 500 million of the same kind – by its wood grain alone, making barcodes or RFID chips obsolete.
Identification processes for load carriers are still very time-consuming and personnel-intensive today as they are mainly based on barcodes. Silicon Economy researchers have now developed an alternative method for identifying pallets which speeds up identification processes considerably. Like all Silicon Economy developments, the special components are available as open source. Identifying shipping units in the warehouse or along the supply chain is one of the standard processes in logistics for which largely standardized solutions are already available today. However, this new Silicon Economy development helps companies to optimize their processes, because the new system is as sustainable as it is efficient. In this success story about the new process, product owner Julian Hinxlage explains the role of artificial intelligence in pallet identification, how the proof of concept was achieved – and how the process is being accepted in the industry.