qRobot: A Quantum Computing Approach in Mobile Robot Order Picking and Batching Problem Solver Optimization

This article aims to bring quantum computing to robotics. A quantum algorithm is developed to minimize the distance traveled in warehouses and distribution centers where order picking is applied. For this, a proof of concept is proposed through a Raspberry Pi 4, generating a quantum combinatorial op...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Algorithms 2021-07, Vol.14 (7), p.194
Main Authors: Atchade-Adelomou, Parfait, Alonso-Linaje, Guillermo, Albo-Canals, Jordi, Casado-Fauli, Daniel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algorithms
Artificial intelligence
batching problem
Combinatorial analysis
Distribution centers
Electronic commerce
Logistics
machine learning
Mobile computing
Optimization
Order picking
Parallel processing
picking problem
Quantum computing
quantum robotics
Qubits (quantum computing)
Raspberry PI4
Robotics
Robots
Simulators
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Summary:This article aims to bring quantum computing to robotics. A quantum algorithm is developed to minimize the distance traveled in warehouses and distribution centers where order picking is applied. For this, a proof of concept is proposed through a Raspberry Pi 4, generating a quantum combinatorial optimization algorithm that saves the distance travelled and the batch of orders to be made. In case of computational need, the robot will be able to parallelize part of the operations in hybrid computing (quantum + classical), accessing CPUs and QPUs distributed in a public or private cloud. We developed a stable environment (ARM64) inside the robot (Raspberry) to run gradient operations and other quantum algorithms on IBMQ, Amazon Braket (D-Wave), and Pennylane locally or remotely. The proof of concept, when run in the above stated quantum environments, showed the execution time of our algorithm with different public access simulators on the market, computational results of our picking and batching algorithm, and analyze the quantum real-time execution. Our findings are that the behavior of the Amazon Braket D-Wave is better than Gate-based Quantum Computing over 20 qubits, and that AWS-Braket has better time performance than Qiskit or Pennylane.
ISSN:1999-4893
1999-4893
DOI:10.3390/a14070194