The Mother-child Shuttle Racking System is a highly automated intelligent warehousing solution that achieves intensive storage and efficient access of goods through the collaborative operation of shuttles and mother trucks. It mainly consists of child shuttles, mother trucks, intensive racks, elevators, conveying systems and intelligent control systems.
Main Components
Child Shuttle: Operate on the rack’s branch tracks, storing, retrieving, and moving pallets. They also feature automatic charging and sorting capabilities.
Mother Shuttle: Operate on the main tracks, carrying baby shuttle for cross-aisle or level transfers. They can independently handle pallets or connect to multiple sub-trolleys for coordinated operations.
Dense Storage Racks: Designed with deep aisles, they support palletized cargo, eliminating the need for forklifts and maximizing vertical and horizontal space utilization.
Auxiliary Equipment: These include elevators (for level transfers between sub-trolleys and pallets), conveyors or AGVs (to facilitate material flow), and WMS/WCS control systems (to coordinate automated processes and digital management).
Working Principle
A mother vehicle receives a command from the main road and moves to a designated branch road, releasing a child shuttle to enter the branch road for cargo storage and retrieval. Once cargo is stored or retrieved, the child shuttle returns to the mother vehicle or uses the elevator to transfer to another level. The mother vehicle can also dispatch other child vehicles simultaneously, enabling 24-hour automated operation.
Core Advantages
High Storage Density: Space utilization is higher than traditional racking.
Improved Efficiency: Automated storage and retrieval reduce manual intervention and supports first-in-first-out or first-in-last-out (FIFO) operation, making it suitable for large quantities of similar goods.
High Flexibility: The system is highly scalable, and the coordinated operation of parent and child carts adapts to various warehouse layouts, reducing maintenance costs and error rates.
Application Areas
The mother-child shuttle system is widely used in cold chain logistics, manufacturing, and book storage, optimizing warehouse efficiency through full-process digital management.
