Flexible Automation to Meet Logistics Demands

When consumers order online, they want it now and warehouses have to respond. Flexible automation for the logistics industry helps meet the demands. Startup robotics company Fetch Robotics saw a need to meet with the latest in mobile automation and a robot that follows the order takers before heading off to a shipping area when told.

The Demand and Solution

E-commerce sales are continuing to climb and evidence is clear that online ordering is a year round lifestyle and not just for holiday shopping. During the first quarter of 2016, online sales jumped 3.7% over the fourth quarter of 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Smartphones have made ordering easier and raised expectations that the goods will arrive as soon as possible. Warehouses need to respond and many are turning to flexible automation as the solution.

San Jose, California startup company Fetch Robotics has designed a chargeable base and mobile manipulator that are designed to work autonomously alongside workers, performing repetitive tasks such as warehouse delivery, pick and pack, and more.

A customer places an order online, hits checkout and the order reaches the warehouse where the robots spring into action. A worker makes the command via a customized software setup.

The base, called Freight, move from a charging dock through the warehouse where the mobile manipulator, called Fetch, pulls items off a shelf and then sends Freight on its way to shipping.

Freight can also work alongside a person pulling items from shelves.

The base has an easy-to-use emergency stop command and is able to return on its own to the dock and recharge.

The Challenges Ahead

Material handling robots aren’t new, but they sure have changed. During the Manhattan Project in the 1940s the U.S. government commissioned General Mills to develop a manipulator arm for handling radioactive material.

Creating solutions for warehouses has been challenging because of the need for flexibility. Loading and unloading trucks and containers has been a major challenge as noted in Material Handling Robots in the Mix on the Robotic Industries Association (RIA) website.

The use of sensors and sophisticated machine vision solutions are giving robots the ability to perform tasks requiring high degrees of flexibility like bin picking.

An in-depth look at developments in bin picking are featured in the article Robotic Bin Picking – the Holy Grail in Sight. Three types of picking are covered: structured, semi-structured, and random picking. 2D vision is adequate for most structured and semi-structured needs. Researchers are still working to conquer totally random circumstances where parts of different shapes and sizes are overlapping and stacked on top of each other.

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