Textile logistic warehouses are highly automated mechanized places where control points are needed to count and validate the number of garments in each batch. This paper proposes and describes a low cost and small size automated system designed to count the number of garments by processing an image of the corresponding hanger hooks generated using an array of phototransistors sensors and a linear laser beam. The generated image is processed using computer vision techniques to infer the number of garment units. The system has been tested on two logistic warehouses with a mean error in the estimated number of hangers of 0.13%.
References
[1]
Zapf, D.; Reason, J.T. Introduction: Human errors and error handling. Appl. Psychol. 1994, 43, 427–432.
[2]
Goodman, H.L.; Lieberman, D.F. Garment Counter. U.S. Patent 4097725, 1978.
[3]
Dabby, J.; Gurberg, B. Garment Hanger and Counting System. U.S. Patent 4831638, 1989.
[4]
Goebel, C.; Tribowski, C.; Günther, O.; Tr？ger, R.; Nickerl, R. RFID in the supply chain. How to obtain a positive ROI—The case of gerry weber. Proc. ICEIS 2009, 3, 95–102.
[5]
Lee, C.K.H.; Choy, K.L.; Ho, G.T.S.; Law, K.M.Y. A RFID-based resource allocation system for garment manufacturing. Expert Syst. Appl. 2013, 40, 784–799.
[6]
Li, C.; Zhao, Q. RFID Technology in garment production line management application. Adv. Mater. Res. 2012, 542–543, 344–348.
[7]
Legnani, E.; Cavalieri, S.; Pinto, R.; Dotti, S. The Potential of RFID Technology in the Textile and Clothing Industry: Opportunities, Requirements and Challenges. In Unique Radio Innovation for the 21st Century; Springer: Berlin/Heidelberg, Germany, 2010; pp. 309–329.
[8]
Chen, W.W.; Chen, Y. Application of Image Processing Technique for Evaluation of Garment Pleats. Proceedings of 2011 International Conference on Textile Engineering and Materials, Tianjin, China, 23–25 September 2011; pp. 854–859.
[9]
Rocha, A.; Hauagge, D.C.; Wainer, J.; Goldenstein, S. Automatic fruit and vegetable classification from images. Comput. Electr. Agric. 2010, 70, 96–104.
[10]
Boyer, S.A. Supervisory Control and Data Adquisition (SCADA) Systems; The Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society: Research Triangle Park, NC, USA, 2009.
