An Interactive Modelling Environment for Designing Warehouse Layouts Based on ASP

Abstract

In this paper, we apply answer set programming (ASP) to the task of planning warehouse layouts within the logistical domain. Warehouse layout planners have to take into account a vast number of aspects to come up with feasible layouts, especially the placement of logistical elements under specific conditions like the accessibility of warehouse elements. Also optimization criteria, e. g., minimizing the pathways, have to be considered. Out of a generally large number of feasible layouts, the layout planner has to decide which layout fits best. As this can be quite difficult and time-consuming, we propose an interactive modelling environment which creates all feasible layouts for a given planning problem by exploiting a logistical knowledge base as well as specific case data provided by the user, who can interactively review all optimal layouts and look for the most suited one. It allows for taking soft constraints and vague expert knowledge into account while leaving room for proposing novel ideas for layouts.