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deliverable D5.5 - Net-WMS

1. Texture find a picture file that will be the texture From Colour Create a colour from RGB and alpha values Its name is Name From Texture Create a material from the texture Cancel Close the window Textured Objects Net WMS D5 5 29 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 2 9 Warning and Colour Management This window allows the user to manage the colour of the objects according to the rules broken Each visual object received a list of rules that they do not satisfied either from C part inside XPP or from the solvers via the WrongRuleSet method in the Virtual Warehouse API This window associates a level of warning to each rules and a colour to each level of warning Es ColorManagement Current File Z Demos camille Rules 2 1ls Buttons Rules warning Level Warning to Color Parameters CheckCartonPosi deYellowDpad LighterHigher xde GreenOpaque Listed F xde O rangeD pag FalseList xde BlueD paque N ot lone delR edUbaque xde BlueDpaque Load Load a file of configuration Usually it is a rls file The name is printed in the current file text box Save Save the Current file or open a dialog to save a file if the current file is not set Save as Open a file dialog to save the file under a new name Change the current file Apply Apply the Current file to the main View unless you choose the other view in the Option Window
2. Doing so the designer of a new GUI or window could simply drag and drop the XE player and create the Visual Manipulator with a code line 3 1 4 5 Solver Interface Modification The solver modification is still going into the maturation development as the KLS front end is still evolving and the understanding of the interactions between the solvers and the Virtual Reality increases A few configuration aspects were added to hone the utilisation of the solver securities URL see Configuration and compatibility for details A part of generation was added to be able to create a scene from a database problem and waiting for the real geometries to be added as a parameter of the objects a generator of file for parallelepiped objects was added Some other developments were done on the solver but will be detailed further see First Experiments Net WMS D5 5 17 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 1 5 Virtual Warehouse GUI This is the interface of the prototype It allows the user to understand how the scene is This component is fully developed in the scope of Net WMS with the exception of the Virtools ActiveX that are imported This component will be described in the next part of the report Net WMS D5 5 18 0f 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 2 Man Machine Interface 3 2 1 Here is the description of the functionalities of the GUI The functions presented here will be very close to those of the final prototype given to the end users This part de
3. In the window the Rule warning Level box associates the level of warning with the rules A certain set of rules are already implemented in the C part of the Virtual Warehouse API CheckMaxWeight verify if the weight supported by a bin is not more than the supported weight CheckCartonPosition verify that an item is not outside of the bin it is associated with Cf Deliverable D5 1 Lighter Higher Verify that if two items of the same level on top of each other the lighter object is at the top Listed Check if an item is associated with a bin see Connexity in Deliverable D5 1 Net WMS D5 5 30 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 FalseList Check if the item is not in the invalid list contain object in equilibrium between two bins or object of more than a level of difference in contact Not Alone Check if the object is in contact with another If it is not alone the rule is broken The user will be able to define other rules as the PKML rules that are processed by the solver Once the rules Warning are set it is time to associate a colour to each level of warning The second part of the windows Warning to Colour is the association between a colour and a level of warning This is a list of colour the first colour has number 0 meaning it is the colour of objects that break no rules The second colour is associated with level 1 etc Net WMS D5 5 31 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 2 10 Object Properties This window allow
4. Name of the empty scene file Z Demos camille empty cmo Save Settings Apply Net WMS D5 5 34 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 This tab configures the scripts and the resources needed The Add Resource script is the CMO that loads the resources into the XE players it is often at the same place than the resources file of Virtools The Resource File contains all the scripts that are needed to launch a physical simulation The Empty Scene is the CMO that is loaded when you click on the new scene button or when you try to make a scene from scratch Buttons Apply save the configuration on each tab Save Settings does the same and closes the window Cancel simply closes the window discarding the modifications Net WMS D5 5 35 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 2 13 Test Windows Test windows are mainly used for debug purposes Some also emulate the behaviour of future elements There are four test windows a console a window recording all the variables associated with the objects in the scene weight supported position borning boxes a window for emulating the future solver function that will check the rules it allows testing the Virtual Warehouse API to additional broken rules that do not come from C a window that creates parallelepiped objects and add place them in the scene 3 2 13 1 Console Window This window is a simple text console that allows direct actions on the physical engine T
5. selected object to be put on already existing objects in case of such a problem the item will be placed next to the already placed objects The placement relatively to a target of the same level is quite different as the selected item will be placed directly next to the target for example centre centre max will place the selected item directly upper the target the parameters centre centre centre has no meaning in this case that would mean the target and the selected items are on the same place so it is not allowed There is also the possibility to put an offset that will move the objects once the place is determined For more information on this see D5 3 Weld Content This option freezes every object contained on a bin If the selected object is not a bin or contains nothing nothing happens Net WMS D5 5 25 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 Unweld Content reflexive function of the previous one It unfreezes all the objects contained in a bin Weld to Parent Attach the selected item to the parent on which it is It freezes the object on its bin Freeze Freeze an object It will be impossible to move If it is an item associated with a bin 1t will stay associated with the bin Attach Attach a 3D device to the selected item It allows moving the selected item with a space mouse for example N S E W U D STOP these buttons have all the same purpose They move the selected object in a direction at a constant speed The dir
6. string name check if the given name is a physical object of the scene NWMSObject GetParent NWMSObject obj Specialisation of GetObjectAttribute return the parent of an object meaning the bin associated to an item if it has one null otherwise A few others methods were added to ease the global management of the application Net WMS D5 5 15 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 void AddPiece string name string file Vector3 place add a piece to the scene from a file and place it on at the creation void StartScene start the physicalization of the scene Before all is purely graphical objects any objects added after that will be purely graphical too Events also were added to signal the state of the simulation started signals the beginning of the simulation and configurationRead signals that a configuration has been read starting the real NWMS simulation 3 1 4 3 Simulation Manipulator added specifications The additions to this manipulator are very light it will be widely expanded with the D5 4 and the creation of all physical interactions associated to the VR possibilities Until now two getters and two modificators math Frame GetPosition NWMSObject source get the position of the object double GetBorningBox NWMSObject source get a double 6 corresponding to the borning box non oriented of the object void WeldToParent NWMSObject objectl weld an item to its associated bin void Freeze int lvl bool free
7. A as 12 3 1 2 DSiml the Communication framework ss 13 HER XDE ISS E POC sens te UE Se E a en 14 3 14 Virtual Warehouse 15 3 141 N W las iii 15 3 142 Modifications on the Scene Object sosirii eiei e Ea a EEEE E a erie 15 3 1 4 3 Simulation Manipulator added specifications cece eeeeeseseeseeseesceeceeceeeseeseeseeseeaeeseeeceecseesessesaeeaeeaseaes 16 3 1 4 4 Visual Manipulator added specifications ss 16 3 1 45 Solver Interface Modification AAA E RO ETR 17 3 1 5 Virtual Warehouse Eire in ea Ai ls niet Ea 18 3 2 MAN MACHINE INTERFACE oococococonoconononononononononononononononnconocononoconococococococonoss 19 3 2 1 Here is the description of the functionalities of the GUT 19 3 2 2 Main WindOWS ARS 19 3 2 3 MIO FICUS AV Selection tit AA AAA EA tend es Alan 21 3 234 MENUS A A 22 BQ AM A ne seat Sees he RU RAR a et NUS ae Te tn RM Et ed 22 3 242 Windows Menthe an ie A RE AE RE E RE AA ts 22 324 3 History Menu shinii eaen ti a 23 3 244 TESEM A O ROOT 23 DA ONE A a ed ea e e e 24 2290 Object Placement Window ss fica A AAA A nie tan se 29 SO Colour Management tend Re Re Rd ne cn 27 3 27 COMETA Managements A a AE A A wa das te A a 28 3 2 8 NEW Col ur WI A R EES 29 3 2 9 Warning and Colour MORAG RCMNCIE 525555 sisscdsasdadsa nossa then tgensdercdiadincocadhececsbeteeeQeates 30 3 2 10 Object PROD TES AE EA TEE Dd Gat satis AAA AA 32 3 211 Physics WOW nt init nt Niue 33 22 12 Option Window AAA A II 34 DIS Test
8. add physical object after the starting of the physical simulation On the contrary adding purely graphical objects whenever you want might be possible quite soon This feature should be ready soon 5 3 Bugs and malfunctions Unfortunately the prototype is not bug free Here is a list of bugs identified during the demonstrations As it will appear the two main bugs of this section are related to the auto generation of valid scene and the coupling with database 5 3 1 Interpenetration of objects It is one of the most disturbing and difficult bugs encountered so far When generating object via Object Maker and loading from a database and then placing them with solver help it happens that two identical items tend to collapse one inside another This is due to a failure of the collision detection or the integration of these contacts It is a very serious bug on the core development of the laboratory We identified the bug as a default on the cube geometries that go through the Virtools process When we load an object in Virtools its geometry is modified by the Virtools engine to create a better representation for display purpose These modifications in instance edge splitting 1s very bad for the collision detection module because it means a lot of extra calculus on degenerate Net WMS D5 5 53 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 cases probabilistically an edge edge collision never happens but with the help of solvers it is often true because
9. and you want to place one more object on it only one To do so you will need the Object Placement window There are then four possibilities Some allow you to place exactly the object where you want other are more automatic 5 1 1 1 Solver Placement This method consists in calling the solver to place the single object The first step is to tell the solver that there is only one object to place This is done by freezing every item in the scene Generally the item level is 1 Then select the object you want to move and unfreeze it via the freeze button or the shortcut ctrl shift Z Then call the solver with the solve button The object will be placed on a bin according to the solver best solution The development of the interaction with the solver particularly the request for another solution will allow to test many place if you are not satisfied on the first one 5 1 1 2 Automatic Placement This method consists in placing the object next to another with an automatic method To place this object you do not need freezing the scene Net WMS D5 5 50 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 position Y position Z position offset Y offset Z offset center center w min i 0 00 0 00 0 00 Place on none v Place This part allows the user to place the item relatively to another The complete description of this functionality is made in D5 5 To summarize placing the object will ensure the scene is a correct
10. borning boxes or not As both solutions are valid an option can switch from one mode to another In the case of no dynamic borning boxes a mechanism was also designed to be able to reinitialize the borning box of an object So now we can see the Configuration window for the solver ES SolverConfiguration C Dynamic Boring Boxes Fixed Orientation Security Absolute 10 Security 0 03 Bin Level 2 Solver URL http localhost 8080 webS erviceT estinterfacel services Palletizerinterf en Net WMS D 5 5 41 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 The two flags allow to change the mode to dynamic borning boxes or not and if the solver is allowed to change the orientations There are two security measures an absolute one flat add to the size of every objects and a relative one each object is inflated of n The bin level is the level we consider as bins right now we cannot have more than two levels of objects Finally the URL of the service can be changed When loading the window the values are loaded automatically Click on Apply to make the new ones effective and Reset otherwise 3 3 3 Loading a problem from database This section explains how to load a scenario present in the database There is a window specialized for that It can be open by clicking on Scenarios in the menu Solver This window is temporary and the mechanisms used are very likely to evolve with the future
11. interface Cf Object Placement Window for details of the functionalities The Colour Management allows the user to force the colours of object in order to have a clearer view of the scene Cf Camera Management window for the functionalities Furthermore the main window has buttons to place the camera of the views allowing the user to make cuts for example and save or load this placement Cf Camera Management Window Most of the commands of the main interface will be describe inside the description of the windows because the same functionalities are accessible there Anyway a few buttons are unique to the main windows Read Read Rules Validate Solver Read This button allows the user to configure the scene It reads a file that configures objects with their level their weight such files can be edited by hand or with the editor in Object Properties Window Read rules This allows the user to configure which rule is associated to which colour It loads a file of description that is editable in the Warning and Colour Management Window Solver This button calls the solver to have the best placement solution Further details will be given in the Virtual Warehouse Solver Interface part of the report Validate This is the main button that allows history management The history consists in fact on steps that can be loaded or saved Validate saves a step and goes to the next step without loading it Back Step A
12. led to validating a large part of these specifications and to amending another smaller part Although it does not implement all the D5 2 and D5 3 functions mainly because some of the required components are not available in their definitive shape since the project is only entering its third year the prototype is sufficiently complete to start its evaluation with end users Actually the Virtual Warehouse framework is now implemented and linked to databases and solvers As feedback from the end users will reach the development team further functionalities will be added inside this framework In parallel work will proceed on the physical simulation functions addressing the behaviour the packages during shipping and the validation of packing unpacking processes This is the main goal of the next deliverable D5 4 Implementation of the interactive simulation functions planned on M28 However it is worth to notice that some of these simulation functions are already available on the current prototype see section 3 2 11 Net WMS D5 5 55 of 55
13. making your non frozen objects fall The Frozen objects will also be unmoved by the solver but taken into account nevertheless 3 3 2 Configuration and compatibility The solver is a very generic tool and presents a fair number of particularities that can be misunderstood and cause problems with the interface The first problem is that the solver deals only with integer and no floating numbers That is a problem to give him data because the scale of the objects in the physical engine is the meter to place an object with a possible error of a meter is an absurdity We decided with KLS partner that a precision in millimetres would be sufficient Therefore all measures are expanded by a factor of a thousand The second point is that the physical engine needs a certain gap of security between object It is a matter of collision detection If objects are too close there is a risk that contacts are not detected due to errors in floating values On the opposite the solver to have the best solution always puts the objects side by side The two being incompatible the decision was made to slightly inflate the objects to prevent such problems In doing so the solver will give a side by side result that will correspond in reality to a quite separated solution that satisfies the physical engine Such a security value is modifiable in the configuration window see later One point is the very use of the Web services Having a solver running on anot
14. of the exact placement of objects The measure to overcome this bug is to save the geometry before sending the object in Virtools to be able to have a correct geometry in the physical engine This bug is under debugging and expected to be fully debugged before the sending of this report 5 3 2 Texture Application The users have expressed to be able to put textures on objects It seems the application to automatically generated object does not work That bug is linked to the previous one It is simply due to the fact that the geometries we make in Virtools have no texture coordinates The resolution of this bug and the previous one imply a better parser from the generated file to Virtools geometries It is under debugging 5 3 3 Automatic Place outside of the bin During the demos we encounter some special case where the automatic placement of objects Place button in the main window ends with the item being out of the borning box of the bin This bug was solved by adding the proper test at the place where it could occur This bug is now solved Net WMS D5 5 54 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 6 Conclusion This document has described the prototype developed to validate the Net WMS concept of interactive optimisation that allows a user to finely control the solving of a packing problem through a 3D virtual reality interface The proposed software derived from specifications contained in previous deliverables D5 2 and D5 3 The work done has
15. solver answer In other words the Virtual Warehouse does not wait anymore for the solver to provide its solution but ask the web service for it The only thing currently not available is the range of object not placed If an object is not placed its position is not valid 1 1 1 4 1 2 2 Failure and Explanations You can get the numbers of errors messages and warnings and get them in the order you want and display them If those messages were correctly implemented in the solvers the interface would be sufficient to give the user the information he needs Net WMS D5 5 48 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 4 1 2 3 Regions Nothing is implemented yet on this point 4 1 3 Incremental Execution The backtracks and the definition of partial goals are not implemented However the use of freeze on objects of the same level and the calls of the solvers allow the user to make incremental research 4 1 4 Synchronous Communication These specifications are some of the most important to be able to give back information to the end user The great gift of the use of web services is that they render every communication with server asynchronous There is no more use of synchronous requests as every information is instantaneously available All what is needed to do is to make a loop to get the information regularly Unfortunately the information needed by the end user is not available yet We cannot know yet what rules are broken by which objects of
16. switch D5 4 and D5 5 in order to give the end users a working prototype at an earlier date The current document is thus linked with deliverable D5 5 Prototype of the collaborative system between user and optimisation module It describes the architecture and the collaboration between solvers and the Virtual Warehouse The implementation of D5 5 is an important milestone in the project it shows the collaboration between the developer partners of the consortium to provide a system usable by the end users The D5 5 prototype was implemented according to the D5 2 and D5 3 specifications Net WMS D5 5 6 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 The goal of this document is to describe the implementation of the final architecture of the solver Virtual Warehouse interaction At the same time it will validate or modify the specifications defined in the D5 2 and initially prototyped in CLPGUI without physical simulations This document will also ensure the definitive stability of architecture and protocols of the application Net WMS D5 5 7 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 2 Architecture The architecture of the application has slightly evolved with a better understanding of the problems to deal with a generic multi language distributed application The architecture designed in D5 2 and D5 3 was Rule editor Problem editor Virtual Warehouse Optimisers Since then the amount of data sent on the network has led to centralize a
17. 2EE for Java and net for CA for example to communicate without having to marshal or translate data from a language to another The main goal of web services is to allow an application to provide a service on the web meaning running somewhere on a server to other applications via a common interface independent of the language the developers used to code the applications In a practical way 1t allows us to make a link easily between the Java part KLS solvers and the C part CEA Virtual Warehouse of the application The web services have a common description language called WSDL Web Services Description Language and use the SOAP Service Oriented Architecture Protocol to communicate In the current architecture of our application the XML manager is a component that turns on an Apache server using Tomcat It provides a WSDL file describing its interface The file is transformed into a C class inside the Virtual Warehouse API In this way all the methods to modify the data inside the XML manager that represent the state of the solver and to command the solver are embedded inside the Virtual Warehouse API It allows to create a fully working GUI for end users accessing Java data completely in C Net WMS D5 5 10 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 Description of the Virtual Warehouse Prototype Here comes the description of the prototype This prototype is the core of the future product that will be given to the end users It will be comple
18. 4 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 lt a All items have been placed the frozen status are cancelled all objects are free Contrary to the automatic placement we see that there is not conflict about an item lighter being below an item with more weight because we choose to take the heavier items first Net WMS D5 5 45 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 4 Description of the Solver Prototype The prototype is powered by the solver of Optim Pallet software developed by KLS OPTIM using Net WLS technologies to optimise the packing of various products multi references into pallets Additional features were developed and added to the solver to provide interactive capabilities with the Virtual Warehouse The Web services provided are detailed in the manual Net WMS SOA Interface Designer Packing solvers The manual describes the Web services facilitating the piloting of the packing solvers used by the application developed by CEA List within the framework of the project Net WMS The services are shared in four categories e Reading of the data e Updates by the current scenarios e Getting the results e Piloting the solvers References Optim Pallet User manual version 1 2 5 2008 KLS OPTIM Optim Pallet Installation manual version 1 2 5 2008 KLS OPTIM Net WMS SOA Interface Designer Packing solvers version 1 2 3 July 2008 KLS OPTIM Net WMS D5 5 46 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 4 1 D5 2 Specification validation T
19. ALLI Control REGUESES e TR nn Pen nb nr sr tante Re tee Mere nent es 4 1 2 Communication from the Optimizer to the Virtual Warehouse 48 EA E RN 4 1 2 2 Failure and Explanations ne 41253 REGIONS 52 8 re Ne nt nn ous coves tre nan en one entame nes nina an den LR Une en eee ro mn On nues roues ALS cIncrementol EXC O A ta ein due At a re ed 49 4 1 4 Synchronous COMMUTE TION stands 49 5 FIRST EXPERIMENTS ccccscssssscssscccccscsscsscsscccccscssssscossssccsccssssssssesscsscessssseces D 5 1 SWHATIF ANALYSIS cosaccroianocaiinnSacacolacencicin caca dodococaieno bocanada desc ete ses eassa sasi OU 5 1 1 I want to place a single object on a bite antenne roo 50 LLL Solver Placements eain dd tas A a T A ns 5 1 1 2 Automatic Placement ad 31 13 3D Manual Placements ci A Gideon evade iaa 51 5 1 1 4 Arrow Manual Placement imac aan A A a as 51 5 1 2 Testing the stability of the SUCIA ai 51 5 2 MISSING FEATURES wsceissst sssssvascccsoss sssdnesssecsossccessoeadscesesdccessvenecodsseneseesesesseese D 2 3 2 1 Weld Unweld single item to a Di aaa 52 A A O EE E E aora a tieeoe 52 5 2 3 Freeze Unfreeze everything by Ll A A A ne ane 52 5 2 4 Activate Deactivate Centre Of Gravity nn 52 5 2 5 Rule Colour feedback and TEXT Crd etat Retail 52 3 2 6 International a 53 5 2 7 Adding Objects DINAR naine ne 53 5 3 BUGS AND MALFUNCTIONS csscosssceiscccscassesicsscacdestescosesestoccoasessesdedssesecsdessese
20. BTE Information Society Technologies Net WMS SPECIFIC TARGETED RESEARCH OR INNOVATION PROJECT Networked Businesses D5 5 Prototype of the collaborative system between user and optimisation module Due date of deliverable 30 October 2008 Actual submission date 30 October 2008 Start date of project 1 September 2006 Duration 36 months Organisation name of lead contractor for this deliverable INRIA Version 1 Project co funded by the European Commission within the Sixth Framework Programme 2002 2006 Dissemination Level PU Net WMS FP6 034691 COVER AND CONTROL PAGE OF DOCUMENT Project Acronym Net WMS Project Full Name Towards integrating Virtual Reality and optimisation techniques in a new generation of Networked businesses in Warehouse Management Systems under constraints Document id D 5 5 Document name Prototype of the collaborative system between user and optimisation module Document type PU INT RE CO PU Version 1 Submission date 30 October 2008 Authors Organisation Email Fran ois FAGES INRIA Francois Fages inria fr Camille CHIGOT CEA camille chigotOcea fr Philippe GRAVEZ CEA philippe gravezOcea fr Document type PU public INT internal RE restricted CO confidential ABSTRACT This document describes the software prototype deliverable D5 5 that integrates the Virtual W
21. Net WMS FP6 034691 3 1 3 XDE Physic Pack Alias XPP it is a DLL designed to integrate the XDE engine inside Virtools It is a DLL made inside the SDK Virtools to be able to make a physical simulation of a Virtools scene A Virtools DLL can contain two kinds of components Managers are used to overrun the basic action of Virtools for example to save load your own data when saving a scene you override the save function in a manager and it is done It is not pure object overriding all managers that implement a function are called when this function is called in Virtools The classical examples are to override save load play Building Blocks those are Virtools script blocks A lot of them are already in Virtools and allow you to interact with the Virtools Scene An example of Virtools made Building Blocks is a block to change the colour of the objects The XPP DLL contains a manager that contains all the DSimlI protocol to create and communicate with a XDE engine and building blocks that allow the interaction of the user with the XDE engine The manager also contains a description of the scene that will feed the XDE engine to create the physical scene The building blocks are of three types Modification of the physical simulation allows modifying the simulation or taking instant information from the physical engine Examples freeze attach get position Modification of the scene before the creation of the simulation allows configur
22. Wind OWS A o te ne ne 36 32 13 11 Console Window secs serna aa E a nn tado 36 32132 Data VO date lo e a OO te aL AR 36 3213 33 Wrons R les Wind A ne a ee 37 3 2 13 4 gt Object Maker Doc A oe cle oa end ba te creases 38 Net WMS D5 5 4 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 3 VIRTUAL WAREHOUSE SOLVER INTERFACE esse see esse OD TIL Starting a SCENE ae andre cat A amsn ao ete 39 353 1 1 Pure Graphical S ne Aha oh Re A en teed 39 33 022 Physicalisations i5ss css teen MR Mon Rires N net Elie net ee este 39 JI NWMS S iit lati Otis teva date ta ne te da iii 40 3 3 2 Configuration and CONAPA Na 40 3 3 3 Loading a problem from database it lea ias 42 3 34 gt Examples OF US Es A AS aani 42 SES E AT 43 3 3 4 2 EN AAA ONE 43 4 DESCRIPTION OF THE SOLVER PROTOTYPE ccccccccccssssssssssssssssssssscees 40 4 1 D5 2 SPECIFICATION VALIDATION cccscssssscssscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscsssene 7 4 1 1 Communication from the Virtual Warehouse to the Optimizer 47 4 1 1 1 Uploading a Packing Knowledge Model 4 1 1 2 Uploading a Packing Problem Instance 4 1 1 3 Solving Request 411 4 Request foriOther solutii enesesse nnee ikier nenii ienien E EREA E Eata a 4 1 1 5 Request for Getting a Solution Close to Current Configuration ae 4 1 1 6 Placement Requests for one Object sise 4 1 1 7 Placement Requests for one Region ses 4 1 1 8 Information Request on one Object or one Region Ss
23. al Warehouse Solver Interface We describe here how the solver and the Virtual Warehouse work together It is important to keep in mind that the solver is a Java object that contains a description of the scene and is called filled via web services 3 3 1 Starting a Scene This is an explication about the main step to use the prototype 3 3 1 1 Pure Graphical When you load a scene or decide to create an empty scene You begin with a purely graphical scene There is no physics no role it is unknown whether the considered objects are items or bins You can add objects with the menu or with the Object Maker El Virtual Warehouse IHM example Virtual Warehouse IHM example Console Solver File Windows History Test Solver File Windows History New Scene DataGrid Save aa MM Object Selected Load WrongRules Recent Files x offse position Y position Object Maker center w min Y 0 00 AddPiece l Place on Menus to add objects in a graphical scene Be careful all objects added at this time will be associated with a physical behaviour during the next step If you need to add a purely graphical object it is better to wait after the physicalisation process 3 3 1 2 Physicalisation Once you are satisfied of your scene it is time to physicalize it ES Virtual Warehouse IHM example File Windows New Scene Hi
24. arehouse previously specified in WP5 with the optimisation module developed in WP4 It thus supports the interactions between human users and solvers At the moment the D5 5 prototype has achieved a functional level that makes it suitable for tests with Net WMS end users We expect that the feedback from these tests will allow us to significantly refine the initial specifications written in deliverables D5 2 and D5 3 KEYWORD LIST Virtual Warehouse Virtual Reality 3D Visualisation Specification Net WMS D5 5 2 of 55 MODIFICATION CONTROL Net WMS FP6 034691 Version Date 0 DD MM Y Y Y Y 03 24 10 2008 Status Template Draft Author ROHOU Philippe CHIGOT Camille 1 29 10 2008 Version 1 FAGES Frangois Deliverable manager Fran ois FAGES INRIA List of Contributors Camille CHIGOT CEA Philippe GRAVEZ CEA Abder AGGOUN KLS Optim List of Evaluators Nicolas BELDICEANU EMN Filipe CARVALHO WideScope Net WMS D5 5 3 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 TABLE of CONTENTS L INTRODUCTION sacissviaccoesesivetinceessancenececavsade cauvecesiguneaciessavencseavencsuvaonuventeseeesssevanrennse 6 2 ARCHITECTURE mme naseer aessa a eiie ias 8 2 1 XML MANAGER ani rail ii a a 9 2 2 gt WEB SERVICES nan nent nier cree es VARO need nn sse Rs 10 3 DESCRIPTION OF THE VIRTUAL WAREHOUSE PROTOTYPE see 11 3 1 ARCHITECTURE sonaron ooo ooo sie 11 3 1 1 XDE the Physical BN OUN Cc AE A A E AAA ADE
25. art also unlocks various buttons and functionalities Add Piece Add a piece to the scene Open a file dialog that will be loaded into the scene If you have started the physicalisation the object loaded will be purely graphical Exit Leave the application 3 2 4 2 Windows Menu Windows History Test Sol Move Object Colors Physic Color And Warning Options Configuration Move Object Open the Object Placement Window Colours Open the Colour Management Window Physic Open the Physics Window Colour and Warning Open the Warning and Colour Management Window Net WMS D5 5 22 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 Options Open the Option Window Configuration Open the Object Properties Window 3 2 4 3 History Menu History Test Solver Validate Same as the Validate Allows history management The history consists in fact on steps that can be loaded or saved Validate save a step and go to the next step without loading it Back Step Allows the user to go backward into the history Each use takes the previous step and loads the configuration Next Step Allows the user to go forward into the history Each use takes the next step and loads the configuration Save Save the history Load Load a history previously saved Reset Delete the history in memory Allowing the user to build a new history 3 2 4 4 Test Menu Console DataGrid WrongRules Object Maker Console Show a Console Window Allow
26. box visible in white Net WMS D5 5 27 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 2 7 Camera Management This window allows the user to have finer control over the camera BE CameraManagement X position Y Position Z Position Pan Relative Rotate Around FrontClip BackClip Save Camera Load Camera Pan Move the camera of a vector x y z Pan relative Move the camera of a vector x y z relatively to the current camera Rotate Rotate the camera around its own axe of a theta angle theta is in radian Rotate Around Rotate the camera of angles theta phy psi around a point situated in X Y Z Get Zoom Get the Zoom Value of the Camera Set Zoom Set the Zoom Value of the Camera Get Clips Get the front clip and Back Clip values of the camera Set Clips Set the front clip and Back Clip values of the camera Save Camera Save the position of the Camera Can be restored any time with Load Camera Load Camera Load back the previously saved camera position Net WMS D5 5 28 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 2 8 New Colour Window This window permits the user to create new colours These colours are in fact Virtools materials There are two kind of materials First is material of pure colours the second is material made from texture The user is able to create both materials with the following window EE Define the New Color
27. braries are associated with the same mechanical engine called GVM 2 0 and developed at CEA LIST This software uses constraint based dynamics and has the main following features Management of bilateral constraints kinematic joints Scleronomous binary constraints usual joints fixed prismatic hinge helical ball and socket free and specific exotic joints for 3D curve and 6D path constraints Tree like kinematic graphs Kinematic loop closure Management of unilateral constraints non smooth dynamics LCP based Contacts between rigid bodies Joint limits Cartesian and joint velocity limits Exact Coulomb friction Implementation of Proportional Derivative control In operational manifold SE 3 n Cartesian space control 6D springs and dampers In configuration manifold joint space control Implementation of a geometric implicit integrator on Lie group Using GVM VPS and LMD XDE provides an easy to use API and a description language based on XML to construct scenes easily This language called XDEXML allows the user to describe the scene including simple objects multi meshes objects constraints robots and manikins This engine is widely used for the developments of prototype in Virtual Reality inside the LSI laboratory Net WMS D5 5 12 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 1 2 DSiml the Communication framework DSimI is a communication framework developed by the LSI The goal was to be able to communicate betwee
28. colour of this object prevents the feedback from the rules that is normally shown as a colour automatic colour Net WMS D5 5 52 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 This feature deals deeply with the mechanism of Virtools In addition it raises a number of questions that will demand a lot of development time When there is a colour forcing is it a texture forcing only or a whole colour to suspend feedback How to make the difference between a perfect colour and a texture in Virtools How to blend the texture and the colour to make something worth using Quite a lot of development is needed to make this feature and it was decided to postpone its development until the finishing of the prototype 5 2 6 Internationalization Right now the prototype is designed in English but as we have partners coming from different countries it would be a good thing to be able to change the language of the interface easily The Internationalization is something very probably possible in Net framework we have yet to explore how to do it properly and to evaluate the needed development time 5 2 7 Adding Objects Dynamically Right now adding objects is quite complex Their function depends on when you add them to the scene It would be better to be able to load objects whenever you want and tell at the adding 1f they are due to be purely graphical or physical too Unfortunately due to the limitations of the physical engine it will not be possible to
29. constraint is not currently available on the solver whereas the C hard coded rules allow us to see this problem An iterative placement process will then allows us to place the objects correctly 3 3 4 2 Iterative Placement You want to place each carton in a given order You can use the solver to place one after another in an iterative way The first point to do this is to choose a default rule coloration that does not render your lone items invisible typically the first warning colour should not be xde Invisible Make or load your scene The first thing to do is to freeze the item level use reset if your items already fall down too much Scene with a bin and 5 items Net WMS D5 5 43 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 Your items are frozen to prevent the solver to move them Then place the first object you want to be placed Select it unfreeze it and call the solver First item placed Only the first item was placed To place the second you can freeze the first one so that it will not move Do that until you are satisfied to have placed all your items Contrary to the automatic placement seen before this time you can choose the objects you place So do not forget to place the heavier first All items are placed All the items are placed and we can now try to see the stability and the validity of the structure All we have to do is to unfreeze the level of the items to have the valid configuration free Net WMS D5 5 4
30. cseo DO 5 3 1 Interpenetration of objects rt teinte ere 53 3 3 2 Texture ADPIC AA RRA AAA AAA AA E 54 5 3 3 Automatic Place outside OF the DIA a ida 54 Net WMS D5 5 5 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 1 Introduction Net WMS aims at simplifying and making more efficient the packing processes planning packing and unpacking in warehouses so as to save shipping space and perform faster and better In packing activities several levels of containment must be considered from the boxes that are typically provided by suppliers to the containers that are actually shipped as single units In the automotive industry storing a simple part in a container involves two or three packing levels as described in Net WMS deliverable D2 2 Case Studies This multi level packing process is difficult to manage and Net WMS intents to demonstrate the benefits that optimization and virtual reality VR techniques may bring to Warehouse Management Systems WMS These two approaches are fully complementary the former mainly focuses on automated decision making assistance while the latter emphasizes interactivity with the humans in charge of planning the packing processes Net WMS Work Package WP5 Virtual Reality applied to packing problems in a WMS addresses three main issues 1 The 3D visualisation of the packed and packing objects allowing human operators to handle them virtually 2 The interactive i e real time with respect to human perception simulatio
31. e Volume Control is the same for the volume some objects can have a maximum volume as well as a maximum weight 4 1 1 2 Uploading a Packing Problem Instance The main purpose of the new interface is to be able to create and check a scene with ease not having to rely on big text files potentially long to transmit and that require development for parsers The current interface allows the Virtual Warehouse to create a problem instance as surely as in PKML On details the only shape available is the box a parallelepiped shape with full data for the solver weight maximum weight for bins Is Stackable for items The Interface also displays the patterns interface but the interactions with the Virtual Warehouse do not exist yet 4 1 1 3 Solving Request The method Solve int solve int idScenario satisfies this specification 4 1 1 4 Request for other solution This specification is not yet met since the solver always gives the same solution Net WMS D5 5 47 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 4 1 1 5 Request for Getting a Solution Close to Current Configuration This specification is not yet met since the solver always gives the same solution 4 1 1 6 Placement Requests for one Object This specification even if it is not formally implemented can be satisfied by freezing all the objects except one and asking the solver to solve this problem This is the method explain in 3 3 4 2 Iterative Placement That also required the definiti
32. e down move the selected objects in a given direction Each of those moves is relatively to the camera of the main window 8 is away from the point of view 5 is backward 4 to the left 6 to the right Page up is up and Page Down is down When using those keys trace will be shown to help you reminded of what happens NZS ZW ZW N means north and is the 8 key S south and 5 W west and 4 E east and 6 U means up and D down The Z means zero and means the object stopped moving Net WMS D5 5 21 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 2 4 Menus Here are the different menus and what functionalities they contain 3 2 4 1 File Menu File Windows History New Scene Save Load Recent Files AddPiece Start Exit New Scene Reset the interface and load an empty scene Such an empty scene can be filled dynamically using an object Maker window see Virtual Warehouse Solver Interface or from a problem taken from database Save Save the scene in a vmo file It will be reloadable with the load button The configuration files cf Colour Management Window will not be saved with the vmo Load Load a file saved from the Virtual Warehouse GUI or saved from the Virtools Dev Recent Files List of recent files loaded click on one to load it Start Begins the physicalisation of the scene All the object visible will from now have a physical behaviour Any further addition of object will be purely graphical St
33. ections are absolute i e independent of the camera position The speed is the velocity value The stop button stops the displacement N means north U is up and D is down Freeze Unfreeze By Level Freeze or unfreeze all the object of a given level in Level text box Get Position Get the absolute position of the selected item Set Position Set the absolute position of the selected item Be careful there will be no check of interpenetration in this case Net WMS D5 5 26 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 2 6 Colour Management This window allows the user to define and change the colour of the selected object ES ObjectColorManagement Colors automatic Get Colours get the list of the colours that exists in the scene Add Colour Open the New Colour Window the goal is to create a colour that does not exist yet Apply Colour Apply the colour to the selected object The way of using the colour management is the following Get the Colour List present in your scene first Add the colours you want you can both create colour from RGB values or from a texture Finally apply the colour to the objects you want to see There are two special colours Automatic the object gets the colour according to the warning level it has Cf Warning and Colour Management Invisible The object becomes invisible Still it can be selected by the combo box or by clicking on its position The selection will make its borning
34. he help command gives the list of commands and their parameters EE Consoleform help d attachFirst attachConstruct attachColoc attach articular detachFirst detach dof DetachManikinS uit DisplayD of DisplayPhysics DisplayObjects DisplayE vents InithanikinS uit AttachM anikinSuit setvelocitylimiter setShockValue startCoupling4RT Haptic It supports more commands that those contained in the Virtual Warehouse API but it should not be used except for debug purposes 3 2 13 2 Data Window This window is used to visualise all data necessary for the physical simulation that are transmitted to the C interface Net WMS D5 5 36 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 ES Form2 Object Name pos_z a seed M Cube_0 3 057999999552 7 866653725486 5 587283353761 0 0 706678754643 0 024599547466 7 721514072422 0 706678754643 17 5780765209 53 566525905944 53 34810844420 lO 0 52262433031 0 13792762264 56 75096829480 0 44336656480 0 838 o lo o 0912 o EN lo 7 lo o 9088 7 oo o 3 0378989868753 8 15167891880 7 223324490536 0 0 03004967510 0 669607492111 9 434737123691 0 040321291009 It is an Excel sheet that presents the object and their attributes their position and orientation their weight max weight supported and max height supported the present supported weight their borning box their level their parent if t
35. he D5 2 was defining the specifications of the Solver interface to the Virtual Warehouse This specifications were evolved and in a certain measure validated using the CLPGUI prototype described in the D5 2 document However this software was lacking in physical simulation It is thus superseded now by the D5 5 prototype described in the current deliverable This new prototype that first implements collaboration between the solvers and the physical simulation allows a better check on these specifications The followings paragraphs will list point by point how to answer the specifications with the new architecture and interface In case of failure we will see how to solve the difficulty A part of the D5 2 amp D5 3 specification has not been implemented yet as it is just an early prototype The full interface will not be available before the end of the corresponding work packages WP6 for instance will deliver integration of all PKML functionalities in the solvers around M 30 Nevertheless this interface is sufficient to be able to give the end users a prototype they can begin to play with and give feedback on 4 1 1 Communication from the Virtual Warehouse to the Optimizer 4 1 1 1 Uploading a Packing Knowledge Model This is not possible now the current configuration of the solver embodies a few rule to activate or to deactivate The Weight Control controls that the solver does not put items on a bin that would mean it is overweighed Th
36. her computer or the same and taking the associated WDSL to make the application what will happen if we move the service This problem is bound to appear once in the deployment phase when the solver could be installed on the customer s computer Therefore we had a configuration option in the window to be able to change the URL of the service Net WMS D5 5 40 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 The last compatibility problem is the orientation of the objects At the present time orientations are not taken into account by the solvers that can only deal with a limited numbers of shapes associated to one single object typically rotated by 30 60 90 This is not very disturbing for cubic forms but for complex objects the problem is serious how to put a pipe of car at a 30 orientation The decision was taken to send to the solver only the borning boxes of objects There we have two comportments that are both valid Send each time the Borning box of the real position of the object The solver can turn it or not but the object will not be laid flat or very unlikely We call this dynamic borning boxes Memorize the borning boxes when the objects are flat so that we always have the perfect borning box Then when we call the solver the objects are always laid flat but the user would be able to put an object at 30 and keep this orientation and keep it on the solver A configuration and the results of the solver in case of dynamic
37. hey have one if they are frozen and if they are welded to their parent 3 2 13 3 Wrong Rules Window This window emulates the future comportment of the solver module that will check every rule to tell if an object breaks a rule or not with custom rules from PKML and not only C hard coded rules It is only here for debug test purpose Rules Test You choose one or two objects and add rules that they break You can choose either to apply them at once or at a later point The Validate button then applies all the rules that are stored whereas Reset deletes them Net WMS D5 5 37 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 2 13 4 Object Maker This window allows the user to create objects and add them to the scene This is useful to create a scene from scratch It also emulates the creation of objects from a database TestAddShape Name Length Width Heiath i 0 o0 _ o x coord Y coord Z coord Update acd Object lo a E Position D D H of objects A new object is defined by its name if the name already exists the creation fails its length width and height You can either add coordinates to this object in order not to superpose every object or update their position at a later point Finally you can add more than one object of the same type at the same time They will be named name name_1 name_2 and will be aligned along the X axis Net WMS D5 5 38 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 3 Virtu
38. ientation This allows the scripters to make quick and fully comprehensible mathematical operations The NWMSObject class is created to reflect the objects in the simulation Its members are its position name and level The equal method is based on the name of the object Any object is dependant of the scene that created it allowing the call of a SetPosition method when the position member is set 3 1 4 2 Modifications on the Scene object The main philosophy of this class remains the same managing all others manipulators as well as gathering updating information from the NWMS Objects All NWMSObjects are now created on the scene object Furthermore comparatively to D5 3 the history management is now located on the scene object Regarding the new methods of this object mainly getters were added for an easier life NWMSObject GetObjects Get all the NWMS Objects of the scene NWMSObject GetObjectByName string name Get the object according to its name return null if none is found List lt NWMSObject gt GetObjectsByLevel int lvl Get all the NWMS Objects whose level equals lvl string GetAllPhysicalObjects get a list of the physical objects on the scene not only the NWMS Objects useful for building new scenes s Object Properties wGenericValue GetObjectAttribute NWMSObject obj string attribute Retrieve an attribute from an object the list of attribute could be found on Data Window bool IsPhysical
39. ing the physical engine Examples Disable Collisions Mass information getters allow getting the data that come from the physical engine and render them in the Virtools scene Examples Render Contact Points Get Mesh Position All these building blocks can seem hard to use but all the scripts already exists and are fully operational Net WMS D5 5 14 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 1 4 Virtual Warehouse This is the main component of the architecture Its specifications are given in deliverable D5 3 Its goal is to manage the physical simulation the visual effects and the interactions with solvers through a single interface The specifications have evolved since the deliverable D5 3 to allow the designer to have better way to script and to help the final user to understand the simulation Here will be found a description of the new classes and of the new methods 3 1 4 1 New classes Some new classes were implemented to simplify the life of users GUI designer A class called WindowsEssential is the main component for constructing all the windows made It allows the windows to be portable from an application to another without constructors taking the main windows as argument WindowsEssential contains a Scene the list of selected objects and an event that trigger when an object is selected A math namespace contains classes describing Vector Quaternion and Frame a frame being a Vector3 as a position and a Quaternion as or
40. integration of the whole architecture in J2EE in WP8 EE LoadFromDB Name testO testO v Source CEA lo Creation 28 09 2008 22 00 00 Nbltems 3 Last Update 28 09 2008 22 00 00 Nb Bins this is a test scenario This window allows the user to modify the information relative to a scenario to load them or delete them You can choose the scenario from the combo box and edit the fields relative to it To save your modification use the Update Button To delete the scenario use the Delete button If your database has been modified the Refresh button will refresh the scenario list Finally the Load button allows you to take a scenario in the database to load it in the scene The objects will be loaded in the views An Object Properties window will pop up containing the information of the items and bins Then you can start the physicalization and apply the parameters to the scene 3 3 4 Examples of use Net WMS D5 5 42 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 3 4 1 Best Positions This is the simplest way to use the solver to interact with the scene You get a bin and several items and call the solver via the solver button All objects are instantaneously placed in the best position computed by the solver da E Automatic Placement of all the objects by the solver In this example a constraint is not validated The red box is actually lighter than the green item above This kind of
41. l Engine XDE alias eXtended Dynamical Engine is the physical engine developed by CEA LIST at the LSI laboratory It is a real time physical engine used for simulation according to the rules of mechanics Its main goal is to allow the manipulation of physical objects with various devices of manipulation The real time part allows such devices to render haptic feedback One of the main difficulties of performing effective physical simulation is to have efficient collision detection For this purpose XDE has integrated two libraries of collision detection VPS is an enhancement of the VPS library from Boeing and is based on a voxel representation of the objects With VPS the collision computation is very fast but the contact model is very crude See http www boeing com phantom vps for more information about VPS LMD is developed at CEA LIST and implements an efficient computation of Local Minimum Distances between simplicial complexes It is based on a polygonal representation of objects and uses a BVH Bounding Volume Hierarchy of pairs composed of spheres and cones LMD gives a natural definition of gaps for point contacts Optional dilatation of objects is available allowing the implementation of safety margins for insertion tasks With LMD the contact model is accurate but the computation is slower than VPS it is however faster than game engines like Novodex or HAVOK for concave objects Both collision detection li
42. ll the conversion of data from PKML to PackXML and Java in a single unit called XML Manager This unit loads and translates all exterior objects into Java objects that can feed the solvers made in Java Choco To assure the compatibility with the Virtual Warehouse module that is written in C the solution of web services was taken It allows an easy way for the C application to access to methods of an application running on a server J2EE application server Apache Tomcat Net WMS D5 5 8 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 Here is the new architecture including the XML Manager translating all the data XML Manager Problem Editor Virtual Warehouse Compiler 2 1 XML Manager The XML Manager is a Business Packing Controller enhanced with capabilities to support various packing data models ranging from Pallet Loading Problems to packing unit loads into containers and vehicles The management of data is separated from solving instances of packing Its architecture design offers capabilities to support several interfaces e Reading data model from a Data Base Reading data model from flat ASCII Excel and XML files Creating packing models through foreign applications using API modules Feeding packing models through Web services using SOA technologies Net WMS D5 5 9 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 2 2 Web Services The web services are a state of the art technology that allows any application to run on high level platform J
43. llows the user to go backward into the history Each use takes the previous step and loads the configuration Next Step Allows the user to go forward into the history Each use takes the next step and loads the configuration The following part allows you to see what the selected item is and to select an item without needing to have a sight of it Most of the commands or manipulations used this selected item even if the commands are in other windows So be careful to the selected object before applying your modifications Object Selected Cube_1 v Net WMS D5 5 20 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 2 3 Shortcuts and Selection The first thing to understand is how to select an object Clicking on an object will select it If the object is a Net WMS object i e bin or item not decorum its name will appear in the object selected combo box Object Selected You can choose to select more than one object In this case only the first selected will appear in the box Anyway very few functions deals with more than one object the first selected is the one chosen in case of multiple selection There are also several shortcuts that can be useful all these shortcuts are similar to the placement functionalities that will be seen in Object Placement Window Ctrl F freeze all objects selected Ctrl Shift F Unfreeze all selected objects Ctrl A Attach the object to the first device of manipulation 4 5 6 8 page Up and Pag
44. n different virtual reality engines visual rendering physical rendering with a unified protocol and without having to know where these engines were located Since the considered modules are real time engines there was the additional constraint of excellent performance in term of communication delays No existing software fulfilling these constraints was identified and LSI developed 1ts own communication framework in C DSimI relies on several concepts The first one is the loop a loop is an autonomous unit 1 e a thread that is capable to communicate with other loops both synchronously 1 e data is sent regularly at a constant frequency and asynchronously data is sent only once often in answer to a user action kind of event mechanism It is the basic concept to define an engine an engine is often embedded in a loop and run autonomously reacting to other engine information and request The second concept is a concept of message callback this mechanism allows an engine to ask information to another engine or to make another engine modify its internal state These communications are asynchronous and one well known implementation of this concept is RPC remote procedure control This concept is divided in two parts the message that is like typing a command in a shell you make a command and gives it its parameters The second part is the execution of the request it is a single piece of code that analyses the parameters and do wha
45. n of the physics laws ruling these objects in order to virtually rehearse packing and unpacking operations as well as to dynamically study the behaviour of container contents during shipping 3 Combining the capabilities of optimisation and virtual reality to provide the most efficient assistance to the human packing planners For WP5 the second year objective was the definition and specification of the Virtual Warehouse module This module will be the main user interface of the whole application The specification of the Virtual Warehouse was divided between D5 2 Specification of the collaborative system between user and optimisation module M18 specify the integration between the Warehouse API and the solver 3rd point above D5 3 Specification of the Virtual Warehouse API M18 specify the visualisation and interactive simulation functions The end of the second year beginning of the third year is dedicated to the development of the Virtual Warehouse module according to the specifications given in the previous deliverables Due to the complexity of the task the work was divided into two deliverables D5 4 Implementation of the interactive physical simulation embedded in the virtual warehouse D5 5 Associated with the current document and formerly scheduled on M28 it prototypes the collaboration between user and optimisation module However because of its importance with respect to end user requirements the decision was made to
46. narios in the database load them modify them delete them Net WMS D5 5 24 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 2 5 Object Placement Window This Window is accessible in the menu Windows by the tile Move Object It represents every way of moving an object in the scene as well as manipulation on parents or levels Some of these functions are also implemented in the main window EE ObjectPlacement position Y position Z position offset Y offset Z offset center v center min Y 0 00 000 000 Place on Unw eld Content mm ae canes ate Weld To Parent N Welocity Freeze by level w o irte gt Gs Translation Quaternion y J _2 fr z 181 2 0579999 2 3592231 2 6603788 Get Position Most of the functionalities of this window deals with the selected object so be careful on the main window when using the Object Placement window Place This is one of the most complicated and useful feature of this window It allows the placement of an object relatively to a bin or another object The target object is defined by the combo box Place on that contains a list of the possible targets The parameter on the position allows you to place the object where you want min on the Y position targeting a bin means the min Y corner of the bin will be next to the min Y corner of the selected object An algorithm prevents the
47. ng the name of objects Find Rules Files Open a dialog to find a rule file Cf Warning and Colour Management to add it as a basic rules file Remarks the Load From Scene button gathers both information from existing NWMS objects but also lists the others physical objects with level 1 it allows the user to retrieve all objects in the scene and give them a role It is especially useful when devising a new scene the objects created have no role yet so you retrieve all their names to give them their weight level Net WMS D5 5 32 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 2 11 Physics Window This window is the reflection of the first implementation of the physical functionalities needed by the end users It will be completed with the elaboration of D5 4 and a better understanding of what might help the end users to test the validity stability efficiency of a structure E x Offset Y Offset Z Offset Period Timeout f Shake At Top COG Display Shake make an object move around its current position at a high speed Emulate the shaking of an object or the movements made by an object in a boat or in a moving truck The X Y Z values are the distance the object will do at every step The period in millisecond is the time between two changes of direction of the object Timeout is the time in seconds during which the object moves Shake At Top allow the user to prepare the shaking for an objec
48. ning and Colour Management and Wrong Rules Window Some of these methods have a wait option meaning all these rules will be applied when WrongRuleApply is called void WrongRulesReset delete the not yet applied void WrongRuleApply apply the rules that were waiting void SetCameraPosition math Frame frame Set the position of the camera math Frame GetCameraPosition Get the position of the camera List lt NWMSObject gt GetSelectedObjects get a list of objects selected visually in the Virtools player void PlaceAbsoluteGraphical string objectName Vector3 position place a graphical object visually on the scene Trying to move a physical object with Net WMS D5 5 16 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 this method will do nothing the object will go back immediately at its physical position event colorsListUpdated object sender List lt String gt colorsName event giving the list of colours avallable Allow the user to know the retrieving from the Virtools player is complete event select object sender List lt NWMSObject gt pickedObjects event sent each time an object is picked on the view Finally creating a fully graphical object embedding the Virtools XE player and available as a graphical component in Visual Studio being a lot of hard work for a very little improvement it was decided that the visual manipulators would be created taking as parameter the XE player
49. on of some of the new functionalities cf Simulation Manipulator added specifications 4 1 1 7 Placement Requests for one Region These specifications are not yet implemented However the interface for the holes management is already in place 4 1 1 8 Information Request on one Object or one Region Most of these requests will be done directly by asking the web service for information such as the weight is given by GetWeight It is also planned to add custom information for objects and bins that will be retrievable later The PKML expressions however are not supported yet due to the fact that the KLS solver does not use WP6 results yet For the regions this has not been implemented yet 4 1 1 9 Control Requests Some of these specifications are implemented but the only part done is the management of the objects clear the solver is calling the init method removing adding items and bins The backtracks history of the solver process are not accessible yet However a history of the scene is managed directly by the Virtual Warehouse 4 1 2 Communication from the Optimizer to the Virtual Warehouse 4 1 2 1 Solutions The need for the solver to send back a solution meaning a file describing the solution to the Virtual Warehouse has now disappeared because of the web service Actually the web service allows the Virtual Warehouse to directly get the position of the items after the solving part and update the scene according to the
50. owever with the fall of object due to the weight it was very hard to click on save before the scene have changed too much Easy to do just save the scene at the occurrence of the event that signals the configuration file has been successfully read 5 2 3 Freeze Unfreeze everything by level We have often a scene consisting in a bin and several items To place those at the correct place or if the user wants to make an unstable structure it is often easier to place them one by one freezing the rest of the scene The test of stability or fall you want to see how it will fall can be spoiled if you have to unfreeze the items one by one This feature is implemented and fully working rather simple to develop or test 5 2 4 Activate Deactivate Centre of Gravity The centres of gravity are useful information to be displayed but in case of numerous little items this information can become confusing means to stop the display of centres of gravity had thus to be devised This feature is complete The next step that is considered is to be able to select which objects have there centres of gravity displayed and make the representation size variable from an object to another 5 2 5 Rule Colour feedback and texture As said earlier some partners have requested to put textures on objects to be able to recognize an item from another A feature was implemented to do that The problem is that the texturing of an object considered as a forcing of
51. roperty window and set a gravity value not equal to 0 The second step if the structure is stable with the gravity is to use the shaking methods There is many way to use this We will detail only two Select the bin and shake it This simulates the displacement of the bin using the Physics window XK Offset YOfset ZOffset Pe od I The second way is to shake every object on the bin This simulates the bin being on a truck To do it enter in the physics window the values you want for the shaking Then select one by one Net WMS D5 5 51 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 the objects to which you want to apply the shaking and select the synchronize form of shaking Shake at top button When you have finished start the whole Top button 5 2 Missing Features 5 2 1 Weld Unweld a single item to a bin The user can already freeze all the objects contained in a bin However what if he wants to add only one object to this bin when many are in contact with the bin What about associating and fixing an object to a bin that is not in contact with it I want to freeze an object on a bin so that the solver can put some others objects between the bin and this object This feature was added soon after the plenary meeting and is still in test 5 2 2 Reset How to reset the scene to the configuration when the scene started The previous way to do this was to save it in history at the beginning of the scene H
52. s every command to the physical engine It is mainly a debug feature DataGrid Show a window containing all the available information from the items of the scene It contains their position their level their weight supported tare weight their borning box their parent on which bin an item is their frozen State WrongRules Open a window that allows the user to set rules broken by objects Allows tests on colours and ultimately emulate a check on which rules is broken by a solver Object Maker Open a window that allows the user to create parallelepiped objects and add them to scene Main way to create a scene from scratch Emulate the automated building from a database problem Net WMS D5 5 23 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 2 4 5 Solver Menu Solve Reset Create Scene From Solver Re Init Objects Configuration Scenarios Solve Call the solver to give the objects the calculated optimized position Reset Reset the Server Create Scene From Solver Create the scene corresponding to the solver problem Re Init Objects Allow the user to reset the states of the objects inside the server This is particularly important when working with static borning boxes Cf Virtual Warehouse Solver Interface Configuration Open a Configuration Window for the Solver allowing the user to change the URL of the solvers the securities others options bin level Scenarios Open a Window that allows the user to manage the sce
53. s the user to give the objects their weight level ON ObjectProperties Current File fz Demos camille zog2u_vmo rls Save Base Rule File D NWMS Demos camille Rules 4 1ls Sea NC Load From Scene Objects Properties weight Height E apple Self eight Supp tend frozen 24 o i150 56 lo it803150_2 Ls lo it7089_2 2 4 o PAL 2 20 so 803150 5 io Such a file contains a base rules file a gravity value and a list of objects with their parameters The parameters of an object are its level its weight the weight it can support often O for the items the height that the object can support idem it is for bins and if the object is frozen at the beginning of the simulation Any object that you want its name saved but not taken as a NWMS object physical Buttons decorum may have its level put to 1 Load Load a configuration file Usually it is a rls file The name is printed in the current file text box Save Save the Current file or open a dialog to save a file if the current file is not set Save as Open a file dialog to save the file under a new name Change the current file Apply Apply the Current file to the current scene Load From Scene gather information from the scene to make the editor match the current configuration When constructing a scene from scratch it also allowed initializi
54. scribes the main windows its menu and the others options windows One last window will be detailed in another section It is the configuration window for the solver interface Cf Configuration and compatibility in Solver Interface part 3 2 2 Main Windows EN Virtual Warehouse IHM example ae R AS Menu Bar it803150_2 conr Management Y position center w 0 00 _ 2nd Vi 0 nd View Main Placement SRE Validate Solver MoveCamera Camera Backstep NextSten Management Main View Center of Gravity Representation The main windows are the interface the user gets when he launches the application There are two Views that can show different aspects of the same scene These views represent the objects as they are in the physical engine Their colours indicate the different rules that they are violating Here the colours are not activated this will be detailed in Warning and Colour Net WMS D5 5 19 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 Management The views also show the centres of gravity of the objects These can be hidden with an option cf Physics Window All the commands that deal with the graphical display colours are basically applied to the main views There is an option Cf Option Window that allows changing the views where the user will do the modification The global interface allows the user to easily move objects with the placement part of the
55. state If the place is not free the algorithm will try to find another place for the object so be careful to the result before validating this point However if the bin is quite empty you can place the object with a perfect precision 5 1 1 3 3D Manual Placement This method consists in moving the object with a 3D device like a SpaceMouse So select the object you want to move and check that your object is not frozen and attach it to the device using CTRL A or the attach button Then move your device until you have the place you want It is recommended to freeze the rest of the scene if you want to prevent other objects from moving 5 1 1 4 Arrow Manual Placement This method consists in moving the object slowly toward a direction to place it First select your object and check it is not frozen Then you can move this object either using keys on the keyboard 4 5 6 8 PageUp and PageDown or the interface 1 000 9 Css The keys have moved the object relatively to the camera and the interface controls absolute moves It is advised to freeze the other objects to prevent them from moving due to collisions 5 1 2 Testing the stability of the structure Now that you have a fully made bin you are able to test its stability Creating a bin configuration is often easier with disabling the gravity on objects The first step to test the stability is to put back the gravity To do it open the Object P
56. story Test Solwe Save Load Recent Files gt AddPiece Start physicalize the scene Net WMS D5 5 39 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 Now you can move your object with a navigation device like a SpaceMouse click on an object and Ctrl A to attach All the objects are initially frozen and with no weight That means you will need to unfreeze them before being able to move them click and Ctrl shift F You can still add objects to the scene but from now on they will be only graphical if you want to create a nice decorum this is the right time 3 3 1 3 NWMS Simulation Until now all the objects have undefined roles we know neither if they are bins or items neither their weight The mechanism to define this is reading a configuration file This file is also editable by hand and it is advised to use the editor given by the Object Properties Window If an existing file has been loaded you can read directly it with the button on the main window If you are building a new scene or want to edit it by hand open the Object Properties Window Windows Solve Move Object File Test History Colors Physic Color And Warning Options ce E Configuration The editor allow you to retrieve the name of all the objects of the scene to make your configuration file just suppress the objects that have no special roles such as obstacles Once the roles are set the weight is activated
57. t the sender asked The third concept tackles data sending the engines must send to each other data with a high frequency 24 data s for visual engine to have a good quality and even more around 100 data s for a sound engine These data must be able to reach their destination wherever they are on the same process or on another physical computer DSimI implements that and have no coupling between the data the engine and the way it is handled by the engine This means a data can be used by different engine to convey different values and be interpreted differently for example a vector of position can represent the position of objects or of the centre of gravity of these objects From these basic communication concepts DSimI allows the complete desynchronization between the engine location and the sending of messages and data Mechanisms such as a message server allows the designer of an engine to completely ignore where the location of other engines are Further during the development a wrapper for C was developed In fact it is an engine that does nothing but exchanges with others engines in order to allow addressing the different engines directly from C As other engines it can receive and send data and messages However those action can be made in C This feature is widely used in the Virtual Warehouse where 90 of the functions send a message to either the physical or the graphical engine Net WMS D5 5 13 of 55
58. t without activating it This allows beginning the shaking of several objects at the same time Top begin the shaking of all waiting objects COG Display Activate or deactivate the display of the centre of gravity of objects Main view with or without the visualisation of the centre of gravities On the first view we see that the centre of gravity of the palette is moved by the position of the items on the lower part Net WMS D5 5 33 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 2 12 Option Window This window allows the users to set global variables of configuration that will permit the application to work for example the Virtools resources directory This is a tabbed windows with currently three tabs with one empty Visual Tab ES OptionForm Options Visual Others MasterPlayer CurrentPlayer MainPlayer MainPlayer SidePlayerl SidePlayerl Save Settings Cancel This tab configures the visual objects priority The current player is the player to which the commands for the views will be applied read rules COG Display Apply Colour The Master Player is the player which camera is used for every action that needs a camera objects movement by arrows Option Tab ES OptionForm Options Visual Others Name of the add resource script Z D emosicamillek4dd_R essources cmo Name of the resource file D res Wirtools trunk RscXdePhysicsPack lt deP
59. ted to better take into account physical aspects with the help of virtual reality through deliverable D5 4 Those VR functions will be improved further with the feedback of end users 3 1 Architecture The global architecture of the Virtual Warehouse is quite complex Virtual Warehouse CH Virtools ActiveX Architecture of the Prototype blue components are in C red and yellow components are in C and the XML Manager is in Java The main component of the Virtual Warehouse is the Virtools ActiveX that allows visualizing the scene Inside we have a library made with the SDK Virtools that allows the update of visual components given their position in the physical engine The communication between the physical engine and these graphical units is made by the DSimI library a communication framework To address directly the physical engine to have quicker answers and more modularity a part of DSiml is directly wrapped in CA Finally the Solver interface uses the implementation of the wsdl to communicate with the solvers and the XML manager In this architecture the only component not developed by companies of the consortium is the Virtools ActiveX Furthermore the XDE and DSimI component are developed in the LSI laboratory in the scope of Net WMS project as well as in other internal and industrial projects We will now develop each component to explain what they do Net WMS D5 5 11 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 3 1 1 XDE the Physica
60. the forbidden regions when we select an object We look forward to have them available as soon as possible but this requires nearly everything else to be finished Therefore this precious information are not available to the users yet except for those hard coded in C Net WMS D5 5 49 of 55 Net WMS FP6 034691 5 First Experiments The prototype was already presented twice at the consortium or part of it That gives precious feedback and a lot of ameliorations and bugs to work on The redaction of this document and the exchanges it generates also leads to more feedback The first presentation was at a working meeting between INRIA KLS and CEA in the CEA facilities 21 09 2008 Due to the fact that KLS is a specialist of palletisation some very interesting feedback was collected Some conceptual problems were found that were not foreseen such as the borning boxes being static or dynamic The second presentation was at the plenary meeting in Paris 08 10 2008 A lot of interesting feedback was gathered especially on the overall stability Here are some of the feedback gathered and their advancement 5 1 What if Analysis This section presents a few of the basic actions that can be made by the virtual warehouse interface It is quite light at the moment but will be greatly enhanced with the feedback and questions of the end users 5 1 1 want to place a single object on a bin There are already a few items placed on a bin
61. ze freeze or unfreeze all the objects of a level 3 1 4 4 Visual Manipulator added specifications This manipulator has been quite widely expanded because D5 5 focuses on increasing the understanding by the user of the information given by the solver and of the real configuration of the scene It is quite complicated too because of the way it is used internally The Visual manipulator often sends messages directly to the Virtools viewer and so uses an interface not dedicated making it harder to use than the internally developed ways A particular effort was made on the colour management for the future scripters to be able to render information easily as colours void AddColor string colorName int R int G int B int alpha adda colour in the list of colours available in the Virtools player void AddTexture string colorName string textureFileName add a new texture to the Virtools player for details see New Colour Window List lt String gt GetColors retrieve the list of colours available on the Virtools player Be careful you must have used the Refresh Colour list before void RefreshColorList refresh the list of colours from the Virtools Player launch colorsListUpdated event when complete void SetColor NWMSObject obj string colorName force the colour of an object void WrongRuleSet there are various format for the parameters The methods allows to set broken rules for objects see details in War

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