QR Code based Path Planning for Warehouse
Management Robot
Pamarthi Ravi Teja
Department of Computer Science & Engineering,
Amrita School of Engineering, Bengaluru,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, INDIA
Email: ravitejasrocks@gmail.com
Abstract—Path planning is an essential part of a mobile
robot controller. Autonomous path planning in a large space
like warehouse is a challenging task .This work focuses on
developing an efficient path planning algorithm for warehouse
management robot using QR Code. Nowadays mobile robots
play an important role in warehouse automation task such as
navigating to a particular location, picking up the desired object
and using it back to packing section. The proposed system uses
QR Code sticker in the floor placed at strategic locations as via
points to reach the desired destination and to pick the desired
object. The proposed path planning algorithm is implemented
and test in 3D Robotics simulator WEBOTS. The simulated
results proves that the QR Code based path planning for the
large environments is efficient and less computationally complex.
Index Terms—Mobile Robot, manipulator, QR code, naviga-
tion, identification, fetching, deliver
I. I NTRODUCTION
Warehouse management is a growing field and its essential
as the online shopping is increasing. Faster the product
delivery to the customer, better the customer satisfaction. The
idea of using robotic system to automate the process and
reduce the latency time for delivery was introduced in 1999.
But in the past decade this field of robotics is getting good
traction.
The processes in warehouse management are Identifying,
Fetching, Tagging, Packaging and mailing. The initial
processes identifying and fetching is a tedious job for humans
as it involves more physical activities. A single order can
have two different products which are located far apart. The
later processes tagging, packaging and mailing can be carried
out by humans without much physical stain. This paper
gives a view that how better (faster and smarter) would be
the processes in warehouses if we use mobile robots with
manipulators for identification and fetching an item.
This paper is explained in four sections as section 1 that
is giving the background of the present technologies, section
2 is system architecture, section 3 is proposed algorithm
and section 4 is implementation. Section 1 (background
of the developed technologies) depicts the overview of the
technologies developed for the path planning of the robot.
Section 2 depicts the concept of the work developed and
978-1-5386-5314-2/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE 1239
Nippun Kumaar A A
Department of Computer Science & Engineering,
Amrita School of Engineering, Bengaluru,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, INDIA
Email: nippun05@gmail.com
the flow of how functioning happens in the proposed work.
Section 3 implies the in depth knowledge of the development
of algorithm and the work flow of it. Finding the efficiency
of the algorithm is done in the Section 4, where the algorithm
is tested in all possible ways inputting the different targets
values to the robot.
For an autonomous mobile robot to move in and around
in the unknown area, the navigation system of the robot has
to be more efficient such a way that the robot reach should
the destination with free of collisions and in less time as
well. There were few path planning algorithms developed
with respective to the known environments. Dijkstra and A*
[1] [2] are two of them to find the shortest path between the
two locations. In these algorithms there is need of giving
the complete map of the interested work area which needs
more memory and time for processing. A* is the improved
algorithm of Dijkstra where this technique is implemented in
finding the multi-objective shortest paths but it’s suitable only
for the known environments and not for dynamic unknown
environments.
Deliberative planning [3] is the respective name for the
path planning to a known environment. To develop the
algorithm for path planning to an unknown environment, the
time constraint and the memory constraint factor has to be
minimal. Depending on the application and the environment
the robot has to be developed either with the modifications
in software part (algorithm) or hardware part (service robot).
[4] [5] Solves the problem of finding the shortest path
between two points and the collision avoidance as well with
the implementation of priority based exploration and A*
algorithm in real scenario. [6] The proof for the A* algorithm
that this algorithm has a very low runtime for the execution
compared to the other available algorithms like BFS, unitary
cost, Dijkstra & DFS, this work is developed and tested in
3D robotic simulator WEBOTS.
For a dynamic unknown environment the path can be
chosen using a camera [7] [8] and undergoing further video
processing which involves the edge detecting, finding the
objects in and around the path to filter out the correct shortest
path. So that robot can navigate to Y point X point. Due to its
processing time and memory constraint and time constraint
this algorithm is limited to only mini-order businesses and
not for huge factory purposes where multi robots are used.
Considering the multi robot environment the communication
between the robots are very limited. Using machine learning
[9] technique named reinforcement algorithm helps in learning
their coordinates and Flocking technique is for inter-robot
communication with the common objective like heading all
robots to the same destination. Ant colony algorithm ACO
[10] is also deals with the finding shortest path between
starting point to the ending point avoiding the collisions to Fig. 1. System Architecture
a maximum extent. It limits to small environment due to
time constraint of execution but research on ACO proofs
that it can be overcome if robot number is raised to an robot for path planning.
extent. The proportion ratio [11] of environment size and the
robots are to be matched to achieve the good performance
in communication (SLAM, RTT & MPRTT are used) and III. PROPOSED ALGORITHM
avoiding the collisions (A* is used). The proposed algorithm for QR Code based Path Planning
for Warehouse Management Robot is designed and tested in
In an unknown environment like warehouse dealing with the WEBOTS simulator.
AGV’s the task allocation as well as collision avoidance are
quite complex. This algorithm [12] is developed and simulated A novel path planning technique was developed using QR
using MATLAB in such a way that the task allocation to code. Pre coded QR code sticker will be placed in some
the robot is done based on number of robots moving in the strategic locations on the floor as via point. Robot can localize
interested area and numbers of tasks arriving at the central itself using these QR code stickers and reach the desired
node. [13] Complexity with the collision avoidance as well as destination. All the possible paths needed not be loaded into
the communication between Automated Guided Vehicles and the robot. QR sticker carries the required information for the
the central node is solved to an extent. In this category every robot to navigate to the next via point or destination, in case of
decision will be taken care by the central node that includes change in path just placing new QR sticker is sufficient. The
providing inputs to the AGV’s and also sharing the data robot controller doesn’t have any complex logic, it simply scan
between AGV’s. So that central node takes care in allocating the QR code and navigates as per that, hence less computation.
as well as avoiding collisions.
The path matrix which contains the path information of
The proposed work is developed for an unknown neighbouring via point or destination is stored in QR sticker.
environment where the robot has to travel in and around The path matrix is in the format as shown in eqn. 1 :
the area with high efficiency and less time. So for such an
environment the developed algorithm has to be robust enough  
D1 RT 1 LT 1 F D1 BD1
to perform efficiently. So the QR Code based path planning  D2 RT 2 LT 2 F D2 BD2 
technique is used in which the pre coded QR stickers will P ath M atrix =  .

.. .. .. ..  (1)

be patched to the floor via points strategically. Due to the  .. . . . . 
quick response feature of QR code technology the robot can Dn RT n LT n F Dn BDn
extract the information stored in the QR sticker using an on
board camera. Using QR technology, the processing of the Here,
algorithm will be more faster. Since the robot doesn’t store Di = Destination, that can be a QR code/Object location
any path in its controller memory, it takes less processing RTi = Right turn angle in degree
time and reacts to the environment quickly and efficiently LTi = Left turn angle in degree
F Di = Forward Distance in meter
BDi = Backward Distance in meter
II. SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE i = 1 to n
Fig.1 shows the overview of proposed system architecture n = Number of destinations
where user interface is used to communicate with robot like
giving item/product details as inputs to the robot; QR scanner The matrix is in the form of k*5. Where k is number
module is used for the path planning. Robotic arm (5DOF) of rows and 5 is number of columns. The number of
is used to pick and place the item/product and motor with rows depends on the number of neighbourhood nodes. As
wheel encoder is used to calculate Odometric data of the neighbourhood nodes increases the number of rows will

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Fig. 2. Path Planning model (QR Sticekrs are Color Coded for better
Visualization)
also increase. The numbers of columns in the matrix are
fixed that is 5. For example a row in a path matrix is
[A, 90, 0, X, 0] means that to reach the Destination A, the
robot has to take 90 Degree right and move X meters forward.
Fig shows the Path planning model where QR1, QR2, QR3,
QRA, QRB and QRC are the pre coded QR stickers. A, B,
C are the destinations where the items the items are located
at (X1, Y1), (X2, Y2) and (X3, Y3) coordinates respectively.
The Robot is assumed to be in its home position when
idle. On receiving a picking request the robot moves to
the first QR Code the path to it is preprogrammed. From
there on robot will move towards the destination using
QR Coded path matrices on the way. Same way from Fig.
2 path matrix at QR1 node is in the format as shown in eqn. 2 :

A 90 0 X 0
 Y meter distance then the robot reaches QRD node. If the
P ath M atrix at QR1 = (2)
QR2 0 0 Y 0
Depends on the orientation of the robot, the parameters of
the matrix gets changed. Fig. 2 is for when the robot facing
north, same way if the robot facing South/ West / East the
input to the robot controller will be changed. So generic
matrices are used which undergoes some matrix calculation
for getting a correct matrix that will be using by the robot to
reach the required target location. Following test cases gives
insight of the generic matrices.
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Fig. 3. Assumption of robot position and QR position (QR Sticekrs are Color
Coded for better Visualization)
A. Test Cases:
Case 1: Assume the robot at QR1 node facing North
direction. Observe the Fig. 3, then the path matrix is in the
format as shown in eqn. 3 :
 
A 90 0 X 0
P ath M atrix at QR1N = (3)
D 0 90 Y 0
So if the robot has to reach the node A then the robot has
to take right turn 90 degree and move forward for X meter
distance then the robot reaches QRA node. If the robot can
able to read QRA then the robot confirms that it reached the
destination A.
Same way if the robot has to reach the node D then the
robot has to take left turn 90 degree and move forward for Y
meter distance then the robot reaches QRD node. If the robot
can able to read QRD then the robot confirms that it reached
the destination D.
Case 2: Assume the robot at QR1 position facing South
direction. Observe the Fig. 3.
In this case the path matrix at QR1S has to be is in the
format as shown in eqn. 4 :
 
A 0 90 X 0
P ath M atrix at QR1S = (4)
D 90 0 Y 0
So if the robot has to reach the node A then the robot has to
take left turn 90 degree and move forward for X meter distance
then the robot reaches QRA node. If the robot can able to read
QRA then the robot confirms that it reached the destination A.
Same way if the robot has to reach the node D then the
robot has to take right turn 90 degree and move forward for
robot can able to read QRD then the robot confirms that it
reached the destination D.
Case 3: Assume the robot at QR1 position facing East
direction. Observe the Fig. 3, then the path matrix is in the
format as shown in eqn. 5 :
 
A 0 0 X 0
P ath M atrix at QR1E = (5)
D 0 0 0 Y
So if the robot has to reach the node A then the robot has
move forward for X meter distance then the robot reaches
QRA node. If the robot can able to read QRA then the robot For case 2
confirms that it reached the destination A. The generic matrix when the robot facing south is in the
format as shown in eqn. 8 :
Same way if the robot has to reach the node D then  
the robot move backward for Y meter distance then 1 0 0 0 0
the robot reaches QRD node. If the robot can able to read 0 0 1 0 0
 
QRD then the robot confirms that it reached the destination D. 0 1 0 0 0 (8)
 
0 0 0 1 0
Case 4: Assume the robot at QR1 position facing West 0 0 0 0 1
direction. Observe the Fig. 3, then the path matrix is in the So the path matrix when robot facing south is in the format
format as shown in eqn. 6 : as shown in eqn. 9 :
 
A 0 0 0 X  
P ath M atrix at QR1W = (6) 1 0 0 0 0
D 0 0 Y 0 0 0 1
 0 0

So if the robot has to reach the node A then the robot has QRS = path matrix at QRn ×  0 1 0 0 0
 (9)
move backward for X meter distance then the robot reaches 0 0 0 1 0
QRA node. If the robot can able to read QRA then the robot 0 0 0 0 1
confirms that it reached the destination A.
For case 3
The generic matrix when the robot facing east is in the format
Same way if the robot has to reach the node D then the
as shown in eqn. 10 :
robot move forward for Y meter distance then the robot
reaches QRD node. If the robot can able to read QRD then 
1 0 0 0 0

the robot confirms that it reached the destination D. 0 0 0 0 0 
 
0 0 0 0 0  (10)
 
0 0 0 K J 
B. Generic Matrices:
0 0 0 J K
If this test case methods are followed then with respective
to the orientation of the robot, data in every QR node has So the path matrix when robot facing east is in the format as
to be changed or need to be filled with the extra sufficient shown in eqn. 11 :
data into it. To reduce the memory usage in the QR node  
there has to be a generic matrix for every orientation of 1 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0
the robot. If this generic matrices are developed then the  
robot will have better processing the calculation, operation QRE = path matrix at QRn ×  0 0 0 0 0 (11)
0 0 0 K J
and also to reduces the timing for the calculation for the robot.
0 0 0 J K
So we have developed a generic matrices, it varies with Here K and J are variables that is K=R/90 and J=1-K, R
the orientation of the robot. For one orientation the generic means wheel angle for right turn.
matrix is different and for other orientation the generic matrix
is different. It is specific for specific orientation. For case 4
The generic matrix when the robot facing west is in the
For case 1 format as shown in eqn. 12 :
Consider the path matrix for a robot facing north. It will be  
default matrix that we use to generate path matrices for other 1 0 0 0 0
orientations of the robot. For the robot facing North direction, 0 0 0
 0 0
no need to alter the path matrix. Directly we can use it as 0 0 0
 0 0 (12)
required path matrix. 0 0 0 M N
0 0 0 N M
So the generic matrix when the robot facing north is in the
format as shown in eqn. 7 : So the path matrix when robot facing west is in the format
as shown in eqn. 13 :
 
  1 0 0 0 0
D1 RT 1 LT 1 F D1 BD1 0 0 0 0
 0
P ath matrix at QRn = D2 RT 2 LT 2 F D2 BD2 QRW = path matrix at QRn ×  0 0 0 0 0 (13)
D3 RT 3 LT 3 F D3 BD3 0 0 0 M N 
(7) 0 0 0 N M

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Fig. 4. Implementation of the algorithm when the target node is given as A Fig. 5. Implementation of the algorithm when the target node is given as B
node node

Here M and N are variables that is M=L/90 and N=1-M, L

means wheel angle for Left turn.

So based upon the value that we get from those generic

path matrix calculations the robot controller will calculate
the path matrix and navigates accordingly. Whenever the
robot reaches the QR node then the robot controller extracts
the information from the QR node, if the destination node
(input to the robot) matches with the node-index (D-index)
value that gets from the QR node then the robot moves to
the respective direction to reach the destination node. If not
it chooses an other direction and goes to other QR node,
repeats the same operation as it does at previous QR node.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION Fig. 6. Implementation of the algorithm when the target node is given as C
node
The implementation is carried out in WEBOTS robotic
simulator. So that we can test the efficiency of the
methodology. Warehouse layout in the WEBOTS is designed
by considering some standard warehouse layouts. Now
the robot environment will have racks where the items
will be placed and also the color tiles to identify the rack
locations and path planning purposes. Firstly a specific
target (Item/Product) details is given to the robot as
an input. Keeping the item/product details as a target
and implementing the proposed methodology the robot
keeps moving autonomously in the warehouse. As per the
methodology the robot navigates itself by getting the input
from the QR Code by scanning it. Due to the fast and robust
nature of QR, scanning and processing takes very less time.
So the robot reaches the target location very fast and scans
for the item/product presence in the rack. If the item/product
is present then the robots picks it and get it to the parcel/bill Fig. 7. Implementation of the algorithm when the target nodes are given as
counter. the sequence of A, B, C nodes

Fig. 4 gives the screen-shots of implementation, which

gives insight knowledge of how the methodology is working the Fig. 2 and Fig. 4 so that you can be familiar with the
when the target item/product is given as node A (compare destination node naming). (a), (b), (c), (d) of Fig. 4 conveys

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the information how the robot is navigating itself along the
path by getting the inputs from QR patches to reach the
destination node A. As per the proposed methodology the
robot navigates to the QR1 from the home position with the
predefined distance and scans the QR patch. With the data that
the robot extracted from the QR patch the processing will be
carried out as per the methodology and navigates itself to the
destination/target node A. Reaching the destination/target node
A, the manipulator angle calculations will be carried out that
helps for the manipulator to reach out the target item/product,
picks it up and carries it to the parcel counter (home position).
Fig. 5 and 6 gives insight knowledge of how the
methodology is working when the target item/product is given
as node B and node C respectively.
The methodology is robust enough that the robot can
accept the inputs from the customer or central unit, regardless
to the location where the robot is moving in the warehouse.
Robot will accept the inputs and navigates itself to the
destination/target location. In brief for example, Fig. 7 shows
when the robot undergo a process considering one input,
say target/destination is A then if any other customer or
central unit gives one more input (say the target/destination
as B) to the robot to pick it up and carry it to the parcel
counter then depending on the orientation of the robot and by
following the methodology the robot will undergo the process
to calculate the path matrices for corresponding orientation.
In this case the robot is facing east (since it is on the process
to pick the A item/product). So having the path matrix the
robot navigates itself to the destination/target B. Same way
when the robot gets the other input says the target/destination
as C then again the robot undergo further process to get
the orientation of the itself and calculates the path matrix
corresponding to the orientation that the robot facing. Having
the calculated path matrix the robot navigates itself to the
target/destination location.Same procedure is successfully
repeated and observed the expected results with different
item/product details as a target to the robot.
V. C ONCLUSION & F UTURE S COPE
The proposed algorithm for QR Code based Path
Planning for Warehouse Management Robot is successfully
implemented and tested. The results proves that the algorithm
is accurate. The robot navigates to the desired destination
accurately in the simulation. This algorithm can be used in
any other application where pick and place on a big scale
is used. Same QR technique can be improvised picking an
object from a destination.
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