NEWS /
Pick now draws the shortest walk.
Every order gets the shortest route round your floor, on a 3D map that turns with the phone.
What is new
Chukwu Pick now plans the walk for every order. It takes the items still to pick, finds each one on your floor map by its style and colour, and works out the order to visit them in and the path between them: round the shelves and through the doorways, the way a person walks.
The walk shows on a 3D map on the picker’s phone, like walking directions, but indoors. The next turn sits in a banner at the top, such as “5 m, turn left”, and the shelf to walk to is lit.
How a pick walk works
Every stop, in order
Open the whole floor to see each stop still to pick, numbered, and how far is left to walk.
How the shortest walk is found
For up to twelve stops, Pick tries every order the stops could be visited in and keeps the one that walks least. For longer orders it goes to the nearest stop each time, then untangles any part of the walk that crosses itself.
Every distance is measured along the floor, round the shelves, not in a straight line through them.
Pick knows where the picker is without any indoor tracking. It goes by what they touch: the shelf of the line they last picked or marked short, or, with smart shelves, the shelf they just lifted an item from. The walk starts from there.
The right item, the right size
At the shelf the map becomes a strip. The item shows with its colour, the size and how many to take.
Why it matters
A pick list in shelf order still sends a picker back down aisles they have already walked. Every metre walked in the wrong order is time not spent picking.
A new picker does not need to know the floor. The map shows the way, and the walk plans itself again when the plan changes.
If a phone cannot draw 3D, Pick shows a flat map. If a floor has no map yet, Pick shows the list as before, so picking never waits on the map.
Words on this page
Plain definitions in the glossary.
Questions
Does Pick need beacons or indoor positioning?
No. It knows where a picker is from what they touch: the line they last picked, or the shelf they just lifted from.
What if a picker takes items out of order?
Pick plans the rest of the walk again from where they are.
How many stops can a walk have?
Any number. Up to twelve, Pick finds the shortest order outright. Beyond that it builds a short walk and untangles it.
Does it work in a showroom too?
Yes. It works on any floor drawn in Chukwu Floor, a showroom or a warehouse.