Autonomous Control in Closed Dynamic Logistic Systems

The material flow in dynamically changing logistic systems underlies specific conditions, as destinations and stop-overs only exist temporarily. The order-dependent circulation of rental articles constitutes such a case, where the articles are on the move between the lender and one or more customers. The related planning and control processes are highly complex and challenging as they comprise the scheduling of orders, the compilation of transports and the determination of suitable routes. This paper introduces an autonomously controlled approach for the distribution of rental articles, including the autonomous decision-making and the representation of the involved objects as autonomous entities. A use case from the field of event logistics illustrates the proceeding for the integration of the approach in real world processes.