A two‐tier urban delivery network with robot‐based deliveries

Bakach, Iurii; Campbell, Ann Melissa; Ehmke, Jan Fabian

doi:10.1002/net.22024

Cited by 35 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 35 publications

(50 reference statements)

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“…A model developed by Bakach et al (2021) explores the cost effectiveness of robot-based deliveries compared to conventional truck-based deliveries. A two-tier delivery model is proposed.…”

Section: Robot-based Deliveriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The objective is to maximize the customer service quality associated with package deliveries based on the expected early and late arrivals. This objective does not include routing cost, since this is negligible in the context of automated operations (Bakach et al, 2021).…”

Section: Problem Definitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Note that we use the Free Flow scenario as benchmark for all our metrics. We do not compare to a fleet of conventional trucks since Bakach et al (2021) already show the superiority of robot fleets on last mile deliveries in a two-tier system without LOS zones. To keep computational results comparable across the experiments, we activate the same number of robots for every data set: three robots for the small instances and seven robots for the large instances.…”

Section: Design Of Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Equipped with GPS, cameras, and several other detectors, a robot can operate in an autonomous manner with potentially just one person supervising up to a hundred of them (Sulleyman, 2017). In addition, it is estimated that compared to conventional truck-based deliveries, robotbased deliveries can save up to 90% of operational costs when they are used in a two-tier structure where trucks consolidate packages and deliver them to local robot hubs, where robots undertake the last-mile delivery (Bakach et al, 2021). Generally, people are quite welcoming of these robots, and they are even willing to pay more for parcel deliveries if there is an option to choose the time and location of the delivery (USPS, 2018), which can be easily accommodated by robots.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Robot-Based Last-Mile Deliveries With Pedestrian Zones

Bakach

Campbell

Ehmke

2022

Front. Future Transp.

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Since delivery robots share sidewalks with pedestrians, it may be beneficial to choose paths for them that avoid zones with high pedestrian density. In this paper, we investigate a robot-based last-mile delivery problem considering path flexibility given the presence of zones with varying pedestrian level of service (LOS). Pedestrian LOS is a measure of pedestrian flow density. We model this new problem with stochastic travel times and soft customer time windows. The model includes an objective that reflects customer service quality based on early and late arrivals. The heuristic solution approach uses the minimum travel time paths from different LOS zones (path flexibility). We demonstrate that the presence of pedestrian zones leads to alternative path choices in 30% of all cases. In addition, we find that extended time windows may help increase service quality in zones with high pedestrian density by up to 40%.

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“…A model developed by Bakach et al (2021) explores the cost effectiveness of robot-based deliveries compared to conventional truck-based deliveries. A two-tier delivery model is proposed.…”

Section: Robot-based Deliveriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Problem Definitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Design Of Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Robot-Based Last-Mile Deliveries With Pedestrian Zones

Bakach

Campbell

Ehmke

2022

Front. Future Transp.

Self Cite

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“…As the e-commerce market has grown, researches began to study robot delivery, Boysen et al (2018), Bakach et al (2021) studied two models in which a van cooperated with several robots to provide service for customers based on a two-echelon vehicle routing model. Technology companies and traditional logistics providers have been experimenting with robot delivery (Kitjacharoenchai et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Van-based robot hybrid pickup and delivery routing problem

Puchinger

Sun

2022

European Journal of Operational Research

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We present a two-echelon van-based robot last-mile pickup and delivery system in urban settings. Robots can visit areas with van access restrictions, such as pedestrianized areas or university campuses. The van stops at parking nodes to drop off and/or pick up its robot, and to replenish its robot and/or swap its robot's battery if needed. Five van/robot pickup and delivery cases are considered, according to the roles the van/robot plays in the process of pickup/delivery and whether the van transports its robot.To model the proposed problem, we introduce a mixed-integer program including time, freight, and energy. We further propose an adaptive large neighborhood search algorithm to solve larger instances and a capacity feasibility test approach for a single route. We then assess the influence of parking node density on model output. A case study based on a realistic city scenario is introduced. A sensitivity analysis is performed on the robot's travel cost and maximum travel distances, and the effect of van no-go areas is studied. Two classical models (two-echelon vehicle routing with hybrid pickup and delivery and parallel van and robot scheduling with hybrid pickup and delivery) are compared with ours, and results show our model is competitive in appropriate scenario settings. We therefore advocate using the two-echelon van-based robot last-mile pickup and delivery system in urban areas.

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Cost‐optimal truck‐and‐robot routing for last‐mile delivery

2021

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During recent years, several companies have introduced small autonomous delivery robots and evidenced their technical applicability in field studies. However, a holistic planning framework for routing and utilizing these robots is still lacking. Current literature focuses mainly on logistical performance of delivery using autonomous robots, ignoring real world limitations, and does not assess the respective impact on total delivery costs. In contrast, this paper presents an approach to cost‐optimal routing of a truck‐and‐robot system for last‐mile deliveries with time windows, showing how to minimize the total costs of a delivery tour for a given number of available robots. Our solution algorithm is based on a combination of a neighborhood search with cost‐specific priority rules and search operators for the truck routing, while we provide and evaluate two alternatives to solve the robot scheduling subproblem: an exact and a heuristic approach. We show in numerical experiments that our approach is able to reduce last‐mile delivery costs significantly. Within a case study, the truck‐and‐robot concept reduces last‐mile costs by up to 68% compared to truck‐only delivery. Finally, we apply sensitivity analyses to provide managerial guidance on when truck‐and‐robot deliveries can efficiently be used in the delivery industry.

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A two‐tier urban delivery network with robot‐based deliveries

Cited by 35 publications

References 35 publications

Robot-Based Last-Mile Deliveries With Pedestrian Zones

Robot-Based Last-Mile Deliveries With Pedestrian Zones

Van-based robot hybrid pickup and delivery routing problem

Cost‐optimal truck‐and‐robot routing for last‐mile delivery

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