Innovative Uses of Drones for Logistics in Healthcare and Production

Alice E. Smith

1,2

Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Auburn University, AL 36849, U.S.A.

Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Auburn University, AL 36849, U.S.A.

This ICORES 2024 keynote seminar discusses novel

approaches for employing drones to accomplish

logistical tasks in diverse environments. Drones,

working in tandem with traditional transportation

vehicles and with humans, offer environmentally

friendly and cost-effective alternatives for moving

small items such as medicines, electronic devices, and

assembly parts. This talk will cover two research

projects which involve a combination of

mathematical modeling, computational optimization,

simulation in virtual environments, and actual

physical experimentation and trials. While using

drones has challenges in terms of human interaction

and practicality of operating in certain environments,

they are more pragmatic than might be expected for

some situations. One focus is on rural last mile

healthcare supplies delivery where drones resupply

trucks with newly available medical supply orders

and prescriptions. Another focus is on production

assembly facilities where drones bring needed parts

to workers at their stations on the line. This latter

setting is indoors where GPS cannot be used for drone

positioning and guidance so alternative methods must

be employed.

The first part of the talk addresses last-mile

logistics systems where drones can be used to send

newly arrived orders to delivery trucks while en route,

allowing the trucks to continue their distribution

without needing to return to the depot periodically.

We begin by studying the situation where last-mile

logistics operators know the order ready times when

planning the day's operations. Using mixed-integer

linear programs and effective, decomposition-based

solution approaches to define truck routes,

synchronized with drone resupply, the completion

time of the delivery process is minimized. Compared

to a traditional truck-only scenario, where trucks must

return to the depot to collect any newly arrived orders,

we show that drone resupply reduces completion

times and also the number of truck return trips to the

depot under various problem settings.

We then consider the more complex situation

where orders arrive dynamically throughout the

delivery horizon and the decision maker must

determine, in real time, whether to accept them and

how to adjust the ongoing distribution plan. We

develop a Markov Decision Process and an efficient

online policy to dynamically route a truck that can

receive newly arrived orders along its route via

drones dispatched from a depot. We show that drone

resupply increases order fill rates by as much as 20%

compared to a conventional truck-only resupply

system. Computational times to make each decision

are in the hundredths of a second, thus allowing real-

time feedback to customers regarding their eligibility

for same-day delivery.

Complementing this analytic work, we

demonstrate through an animated simulation and an

actual proof of concept physical trial how this

approach will work in practice. Pragmatic

considerations will also be briefly discussed. Along

with improved efficiency of operations, drone have

considerable environmental benefits in terms of

reduced emissions and a reduction in road traffic.

The second part of the talk focuses on the

automation of material handling in production

facilities using drone assist. Automation has served

as a fundamental catalyst in the evolution of logistics

chains. However, amid labor shortages and higher

land prices in the post-pandemic world, it is necessary

to now make the next technological leap. Automated

material handling systems are usually sizeable and

require processes built around them, but with mass

customization as a key component, Industry 5.0 needs

a cost-effective, flexible, highly scalable, and low-

footprint material handling system to meet future

demand. Uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), i.e.,

drones, can fill the role of a viable alternative to more

traditional material handling systems. They are

affordable, do not need significant investments in

infrastructure, can change routes dynamically, and

have been used successfully in swarm configurations.

Our research involves the development and

application of mathematical models to schedule and

route drones in 3D space to aid in material

replenishment tasks. In this approach, we use a

version of the capacitated vehicle routing problem

(CVRP), with a discretized representation of a

Smith, A.

Innovative Uses of Drones for Logistics in Healthcare and Production.

DOI: 10.5220/0012644000003639

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Operations Research and Enter prise Systems (ICORES 2024), pages 7-8

ISBN: 978-989-758-681-1; ISSN: 2184-4372

realistic manufacturing environment. As a proof-of-

concept, we outfitted a commercially available drone

with pickup-and-carry capabilities using a magnet

attach and detach device. Even with a single drone

and limited carrying capacity, using drones for

material handling improve operational efficiency

compared to a traditional ground-based material

handling system. In addition, drones enable part

storage in previously undesirable space such as

vertically elevated. This can reduce the footprint of

manufacturing facilities by utilizing the near ceiling

area, which would be unsafe and impractical for

human material handling. This approach is in its

infancy and we have identified potential challenges

and safety considerations when developing pickup

and carrying mechanisms.

REFERENCES

“The traveling salesman problem with release dates and

drone resupply,” Juan C. Pina-Pardo, Daniel F. Silva

and Alice E. Smith, Computers & Operations

Research, vol. 129, May 2021.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cor.2020.105170

“The selective traveling salesman problem with release

dates and drone resupply,” Juan C. Pina-Pardo, Daniel

F. Silva and Alice E. Smith, Proceedings of the TSL

Second Triennial Conference, May 2020,

TSL2020.024.

“Same day delivery vehicle routing problem with drone

resupply,” Juan Carlos Pina Pardo, Daniel F. Silva

Izquierdo, and Alice E. Smith, Optima 2019 XIII

Congreso Chileno de Investigación Operativa,

November 2019. Best Paper of the Conference Award.

“Fleet resupply by drones for last-mile delivery,” Juan C.

Pina-Pardo, Daniel Silva, Alice E. Smith, and Ricardo

A. Gatica, accepted to European Journal of

Operational Research.

“Sustainable last mile parcel delivery and return service

using drones,“ Nawin Yanpirat, Daniel Silva, and Alice

E. Smith, Engineering Applications of Artificial

Intelligence, special issue on Metaheuristics for

Sustainable Supply Chain Management, vol. 124, June

2023, 106631.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engappai.2023.106631

“Exploring the benefits and challenges of drone-assisted

material handling in manufacturing,” Julio Jimenez

Sarda, Daniel Silva, and Alice E. Smith, IFORS 2023

Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference of

the International Federation of Operational Research

Societies, (Alice E. Smith, Jorge R. Vera, and Bernard

Fortz, Editors), 2023, Instituto Chileno de Investigación

Operativa (ICHIO), Santiago, Chile, ISBN: 978-956-

416-407-6, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1287/ifors.2023

https://drones.auburn.edu/

ICORES 2024 - 13th International Conference on Operations Research and Enterprise Systems