Published February 18, 2021 © GPL3+

Warehouse management pick to light device

A WIFI connected Wemos d1 mini battery powered pick to light device using ws2812b R.G.B addressable lights. JSON is used as the protocol

IntermediateFull instructions provided4 hours392

Warehouse management pick to light device

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Espressif Wemos D1 Mini

or wemos D1 mini pro

DC to DC buck converter generic

Battery Holder, 18650 x 2

18650 battery cell

ws2812b adressable lights

Rocker Switch, Non Illuminated

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Soldering iron (generic)

Story

I was asked to develop a proof of concept / prototype for a pick to light system for a local warehouse.

The device is battery powered WIFI enabled string of 4 R.G.B leds.

The idea being that each led would be positioned next to a draw on a loading trolley and as the trolley was pushed around the warehouse collecting an order. the light would flash above the relevant draw (one draw for each order) when you scan an items bar-code with a portable bar-code scanner and then you place the item in the draw with the light above it.

This makes it possible to collect easily 4 different orders while doing only one trip round the warehouse.

The device is powered by 2 18650 lithium ion cells running through a 5 volt regulator. to a Wemos D1 mini pro or just D1 mini. depending on your preference.

The led lights are ws2812b R.G.B addressable lights. I brought a strip of them and cut individual sections off the strip to suit my need.

The device connects to your WIFI network and hosts a server on the relevant IP address on your LAN network. the hostname of the device is currently set to "trolly1" you can set it to whatever you want. for multiple devices trolly2........ etc

To enter you WIFI credentials into the device there is a button you press for a second or two quickly after turning the device on. when entered in this mode the strip of lights will light up blue. you can then connect to a WIFI access point that has been created called "pick" password "12345678" once connected to this WIFI network in a web browser type 192.168.1.4 into the address bar and it will take to a page where you can enter your WIFI credentials.

After you press exit you should then see the device appear on your local network.

To communicate with the device you use JSON.

JSON Posts must be sent to xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/postform/ to get to the JSON interpreter. Where (xxx.xxx.........) is the IP address of the device as on your network.

from a computer on your network you send the light number, the colour and the duration in seconds light being on to the ip address of the device and it respond immediately with flashing the relevant light.

The idea being the server in your ware house receives data from the bar-code scanner. looks in its database of orders then sends the switch light on message to the correct light.

[ {"light":"1","Red":"30","Green":"0","Blue":"20","duration":"4"}, {"light":"4","Red":"30","Green":"0","Blue":"20","duration":"3"} ]

you can send update json to as many lights as you want simultaneously

Connections:

Led lights in a string.

5 volt on led pin - to - 5volt on wemos D1 mini

Ground o (0 V) on led pin - to - gnd on Wemos D1 mini

Data in (Din) led pin - to - D7 on Wemos D1 mini.

(subsequent leds lead from Dout on led pins)

Push button switch:

pin one - to - ground on wemod D1 mini.

pin two - to - D3 on Wemos D1 mini.

Power circuit.

+ ve out from 18650 battery pack to + ve power in of buck converter.

0V out from battery packy - to - 0V power in of buck converter.

5 volt out from buck converter - to - switch.

Switch out - to - Wemos D1 mini 5v pin.

ground from buck converter - to - ground of Wemos D1 mini,

I have included a PHP script I tested the lights with as well for ease of testing.

you use it but specifying the light, Red, Green, Blue and duration after calling the script like the example below.

./testjson.php 1 255 255 255 1 2 30 30 30 3

Code

#!/usr/bin/php
<?php

$arg1 = $argv[1];
$arg2 = $argv[2];
$arg3 = $argv[3];
$arg4 = $argv[4];
$arg5 = $argv[5];
$arg6 = $argv[6];
$arg7 = $argv[7];
$arg8 = $argv[8];
$arg9 = $argv[9];
$arg10 = $argv[10];
$arg11 = $argv[11];
$arg12 = $argv[12];
$arg13 = $argv[13];
$arg14 = $argv[14];
$arg15 = $argv[15];
$arg16 = $argv[16];
$arg17 = $argv[17];
$arg18 = $argv[18];
$arg19 = $argv[19];
$arg20 = $argv[20];


$myObj = array(

array("light" => "$arg1",
"Red" =>"$arg2",
"Green" =>"$arg3",
"Blue" =>"$arg4",
"duration" =>"$arg5"
),
array("light" => "$arg6",
"Red" =>"$arg7",
"Green" =>"$arg8",
"Blue" =>"$arg9",
"duration" =>"$arg10"
),
array("light" => "$arg11",
"Red" =>"$arg12",
"Green" =>"$arg13",
"Blue" =>"$arg14",
"duration" =>"$arg15"
),   
array("light" => "$arg16",
"Red" =>"$arg17",
"Green" =>"$arg18",
"Blue" =>"$arg19",
"duration" =>"$arg20"
),

);

$myJSON = json_encode($myObj);

 // A sample PHP Script to POST data using cURL

  $data = $myJSON ;
  $post_data = $data;

  // Prepare new cURL resource
  $crl = curl_init('192.168.1.206/postform/');

  curl_setopt($crl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);

  curl_setopt($crl, CURLINFO_HEADER_OUT, true);
  curl_setopt($crl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
  curl_setopt($crl, CURLOPT_POST, true);
  curl_setopt($crl, CURLOPT_HEADER, 1);
  curl_setopt($crl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $post_data);


  // Set HTTP Header for POST request 
  curl_setopt($crl, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array(
      'Content-Type: application/json',
      'Content-Length: ' . strlen($data))

  );

  // Submit the POST request
  $result = curl_exec($crl);
  echo $result;
  // handle curl error
  if ($result === false) {
      // throw new Exception('Curl error: ' . curl_error($crl));
      echo "no";//print_r('Curl error: ' . curl_error($crl));
      $result_noti = 0; die();

  } else {
      echo "yes"; 
      $result_noti = 1; die();
  }
  // Close cURL session handle
  curl_close($crl);

?>

#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
#include <WiFiClient.h>
#include <ESP8266WebServer.h>
#include <ESP8266mDNS.h>
#include <ArduinoJson.h>
#include <ESP8266WiFiMulti.h>
#include <FastLED.h>
#include <EEPROM.h>
#define NUM_LEDS 4
#define DATA_PIN 13


#ifndef STASSID
//#define STASSID "EE-Hub-H6pg"
//#define STAPSK  "gift-glaze-NOT"
CRGB leds[NUM_LEDS];

#endif
int si;
int light[4];
int duration[4];
int red[4];
int green[4];
int blue[4];
//const char* ssid     = STASSID;
//const char* password = STAPSK;
int sw = 0;
String T1;
String T2;
const char *ssid = "pick";
const char *password = "12345678";
int count = 0; 
int buttonState;   int s = 0; int but = 0; int set =0;

char htmlResponse[3000];    
char let;     char Sid [16]; 
char hh [20]; char mm [20];   char Pid [16]; 


String sid;   String pid;
 

ESP8266WebServer server(80);
ESP8266WiFiMulti WiFiMulti;
WiFiClient client;


void handleRoot() {
  server.send(200, "text/html");
}

void handleRoot2() {                                        // web page set up interface
  snprintf ( htmlResponse, 3000,
"<!DOCTYPE html>\
<html lang=\"en\">\
  <head>\
    <meta charset=\"utf-8\">\
    <meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width, initial-scale=1\">\
  </head>\
  <style>\
  h1 {\
     font-size: 20px;\
     color: black;\
     text-align: center;\
     border: 1px solid #151515;\
     border-radius: 2px;\
     background-color: #A4A4A4;\
     width: 100%;\
}\
button {\
        background-color: #BDBDBD;\
        border: solid black 1px;\
        border-radius: 4px;\
    padding: 2px;\
    font-size: 1.1em;\
    display: inline-block;\
        color: black;\
    box-shadow: 0 8px 16px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.2), 0 6px 20px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.19);\
}\
</style>\
  <body>\
          <h1>Networking</h1>\
          <form  action=\"/up\" method=\"post\">\
          <input type='text' name='hh' id='hh' size=15 autofocus> SSid &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"/Net\">View<a/>\
          <button id=\"save_button\">Save</button><br>\
          </div></form>\    
          <form  action=\"/up1\" method=\"post\">\     
          <input type='text' name='mm' id='mm' size=15 autofocus> Password &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"/Pas\">View<a/>\
          <button id=\"save_button1\">Save</button><br>\
          </div></form>\       
          <div>\
          <a href=\"/exit\"><big><big><button>Exit</button></big></big><a/>\
  </body>\
</html>"); 

   server.send ( 200, "text/html", htmlResponse ); 

}

void up() {
    server.arg("hh").toCharArray(hh, 20);            // ssid and ect upload handling                                         // converting html data to char arrays
    sid = "";
    for (s = 0; s < 20; s++  ) {                   //write the html data to eeprom memory Wifi ssid,
      EEPROM.write(s, hh[s]);
      EEPROM.commit();}
 
    server.send(200, "text/html", "<h1>Data Saved</h1><br><a href=\"/\"> MainMenu<a/> <a href=\"/exit\">Exit<a/>");
}

void up1() {
    server.arg("mm").toCharArray(mm, 20);      // converting html data to char arrays  
    pid = "";   
    for (s = 21; s < 42; s++  ) {             //write the html data to eeprom memory Wifi password,
      EEPROM.write(s, mm[s - 21]);
      EEPROM.commit();}   
    server.send(200, "text/html", "<h1>Data Saved</h1><br><a href=\"/\"> MainMenu<a/> <a href=\"/exit\">Exit<a/>"); 
}


void exit1() {
    server.send(200, "text/html", "<h1>AP Closed</h1>"); 
    but = 1;    // change variable to exit while loop and continue with void set up 
    WiFi.disconnect();
}
void set1() {
    server.send(200, "text/html", "<h1>Setup JSON device and AP Closed</h1>");
    set =1; 
    but = 1;    // change variable to exit while loop and continue with void set up 
    WiFi.disconnect();
}

void Net() {                                //read  ssid data from  eeprom to display on html setup screen
    sid = "";
    for (s = 0; s < 20; s++  ) {   
    byte value = EEPROM.read(s);
    char m = (char(value));
    sid  = sid + m; }
    server.send(200, "text/html", "<big><big>"+sid+"</big</big>");
  
}
void Pas() {                              //read  password data from  eeprom to display on html setup screen
    pid = "";
    for (s = 21; s < 42; s++  ) {   
    byte value = EEPROM.read(s);
    char n = (char(value));
    pid  = pid + n;}
    server.send(200, "text/html", "<big><big>"+pid+"</big></big>");
  
}


void handleForm() {
  if (server.method() != HTTP_POST) {
    server.send(405, "text/plain", "Method Not Allowed");
  } else {
    sw =1;
    count = 0;
    String message = "";
    for (uint8_t i = 0; i < server.args(); i++) {
      message += "" + server.arg(i);
    }
    server.send ( 200, "text/json", message );
    DynamicJsonDocument doc(1024);
    deserializeJson(doc, message);
    si = doc.size();
    int x = 0;
    while (si != x){
    light[x] = doc[x]["light"].as<int>();
    red[x] = doc[x]["Red"].as<int>();
    green[x] = doc[x]["Green"].as<int>();
    blue[x] = doc[x]["Blue"].as<int>();
    duration[x] = doc[x]["duration"].as<int>();
    Serial.println(light[x]);

    x++;

    }
  }
}

void handleNotFound() {
  String message = "File Not Found\n\n";
  message += "URI: ";
  message += server.uri();
  message += "\nMethod: ";
  message += (server.method() == HTTP_GET) ? "GET" : "POST";
  message += "\nArguments: ";
  message += server.args();
  message += "\n";
  for (uint8_t i = 0; i < server.args(); i++) {
    message += " " + server.argName(i) + ": " + server.arg(i) + "\n";
  }
  server.send(404, "text/plain", message);
}



void setup() {
    FastLED.addLeds<NEOPIXEL, DATA_PIN>(leds, NUM_LEDS);  // GRB ordering is assumed



  Serial.begin(115200);
     delay(100);
     pinMode(0, INPUT);  
     EEPROM.begin(512);
     delay(1000);
     digitalWrite(12, HIGH);   
     delay(100);
     buttonState = digitalRead(0);
     Serial.println();
     Serial.println(buttonState);
     
     if (buttonState == 0){but = 0;}         // if button is pressed go to setup acess point
          if (buttonState == 0){
             leds[3] = CRGB::Blue; 
             FastLED.show();   
             leds[2] = CRGB::Blue; 
             FastLED.show();   
             leds[1] = CRGB::Blue;        
             FastLED.show();  
          WiFi.softAP(ssid, password);
          IPAddress myIP = WiFi.softAPIP();
          server.on("/", handleRoot2);               //Server responses when links are pressed
          server.on("/up", up);
          server.on("/up1", up1);

          server.on("/exit", exit1);
          server.on("/Net",Net);
          server.on("/Pas",Pas);  
      
          server.begin();
          Serial.println(myIP);
  

           while (but == 0){  
             server.handleClient();
             delay(300);
           }
      }
    Net();
    Pas();
   leds[3] = CRGB::Black; 
    FastLED.show();      
   leds[3] = CRGB::Black; 
    FastLED.show();      
   leds[3] = CRGB::Black; 
     FastLED.show();   
  char Ssid[20];    char Ppid[20];  
    sid.toCharArray(Ssid, 20);
    pid.toCharArray(Ppid, 20);    
  
  WiFi.hostname("trolly1");
  WiFi.begin(sid, pid);
  Serial.println("Hello-1");

  // Wait for connection
  while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
    delay(500);
    Serial.print(".");
  }
  Serial.println("");
  Serial.print("Connected to ");
  Serial.println(ssid);
  Serial.print("IP address: ");
  Serial.println(WiFi.localIP());

  if (MDNS.begin("esp8266")) {
    Serial.println("MDNS responder started");
  }

  server.on("/", handleRoot);
  server.on("/postform/", handleForm);
  server.onNotFound(handleNotFound);
  server.begin();
  Serial.println("HTTP server started");
}

void loop() {

  count ++;
  server.handleClient();
  if(sw == 1){
    int x = 0;
    while( si != x){
    leds[light[x]-1] = CRGB(red[x],green[x],blue[x]);
    FastLED.show();   
    x++;
    }

  sw = 0;
  
  }
    int x = 0;
    while(si != x){
    if (count > duration[x] * 100){  
    leds[light[x]-1] = CRGB(0,0,0);}
    FastLED.show();
    x++;
    }
  
}

Credits

matthew Champion

6 projects • 4 followers

Llandovery, Wales

Warehouse management pick to light device

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Schematics

Schematic.

Code

testjson.php

Trolly-lights3.ino

Credits

matthew Champion

Comments

Embed the widget on your own site

Warehouse management pick to light device

Warehouse management pick to light device

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Schematics

Schematic.

Code

testjson.php

Trolly-lights3.ino

Credits

matthew Champion

Comments

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