Automated three-dimensional warehouse is a new concept in logistics warehousing. The use of stereoscopic warehouse equipment can realize high-level rationalization of warehouse, automation of access, and simplification of operation. Automated stereoscopic warehouse is a form with high technical level at present. The main body of the automated warehouse is composed of shelves, roadway stacking cranes, workbenches in (out) warehouses, automatic transportation in (out) and operation control systems. The rack is a building or structure of steel structure or reinforced concrete structure. The rack is a space of standard size. The roadway stacking crane passes through the roadway between the racks to complete the work of stock and pick-up. Computer and bar code technology are used in management.

The emergence and development of warehouses are the result of the development of production and technology after the Second World War. In the early 1950s, a three-dimensional warehouse with bridge stacking crane appeared in the United States; in the late 1950s and early 1960s, a three-dimensional warehouse with driver-operated pneumatic transmission shaft painting line crane appeared; in 1963, the United States took the lead in using computer control technology in the elevated warehouse and established the first computer-controlled three-dimensional warehouse. Since then, automated three-dimensional warehouse has developed rapidly in the United States and Europe, and formed a special discipline. In the mid-1960s, Japan began to build a solid warehouse, and the development speed is growing faster and faster. It has become one of the countries with the largest number of automatic three-dimensional warehouses in the world.

It is not too late for China to develop the stereo warehouse and its material handling equipment. In 1963, the first bridge-type stacking crane was developed. In 1973, the first computer-controlled automatic stereo warehouse (15 meters high) in China was developed. The warehouse was put into operation in 1980. By 2003, the number of automated warehouses in China had exceeded 200. Stereoscopic warehouse has become an indispensable warehousing technology for enterprise logistics and production management because of its high space utilization rate, strong ability to enter and leave warehouses, and the use of computer to control management, which is conducive to the implementation of modern management.

Automated Stereo Warehouse (AS/RS) is composed of three-dimensional shelves, stackers in railways, pallet conveyors in and out of warehouses, bar code reading system for dimension detection, communication system, automatic control system, computer monitoring system, computer management system and other distribution cabinets, pallets, regulating platforms and steel knots such as wire and cable bridge. Complex automation system composed of auxiliary equipment such as construction platform. Using the first-class integrated logistics concept, advanced control, bus, communication and information technology, through the coordinated action of the above equipment for warehousing operations.