Open-Source Autonomic Mobile Robot for Transportation of Supplies in a Smart Warehouse

Natural disasters and humanitarian crises frequently lead to devastated infrastructure and disrupted supply chains, severely impacting relief efforts. Traditional logistics systems struggle to cope with the unpredictability and resource constraints inherent in humanitarian operations. This paper presents the design and implementation of an open-source autonomic mobile robot aimed at enhancing humanitarian logistics within smart warehouse environments. Leveraging the MAPE-K (Monitor, Analyze, Plan, Execute, Knowledge) framework, the proposed robotic system autonomously performs critical logistics tasks such as self-configuration for dynamic navigation and self-protection through encrypted communications. Built upon frugal innovation principles, the system integrates low-cost hardware components such as TurtleBot3 Waffle, Raspberry Pi, and LiFePO4 batteries, combined with open-source software tools like ROS, Node-RED, and MQTT protocols. The developed solution demonstrates that advanced autonomic capabilities can significantly improve operational flexibility, adaptability and security of humanitarian supply chanins and smart warehouses even under stringent financial and infrastructural limitations.