Insights from 3PL Value Creation Summit this week in Chicago
Warehousing customers are still weighing the arbitrage between labor and automation; many are hesitant to invest in expensive robotics because they think the cost will come down significantly in the next few years. But Brian Smith, president and chief executive officer of Kansas City-based Wagner Logistics, said that companies offering warehouse robotics have gotten creative with financing. Low-cost, short-term leases are becoming more common.
But it appears there are still gaps in the kinds of warehouse robots that are available. Russell Leo, the president and CEO of RLS Logistics said:
“in frozen facilities robotics goes out the window.” Instead, to free up capacity and increase throughput, RLS has implemented mobile racks that can slide together or come apart to give workers access to SKUs when they’re needed
Walmart’s experiment with robotics
The response from store employees has been even more surprising: they recognize that the robots are there to help, have given them names, which they then display on a badge with that name, and are happy to explain their role to customers, even after the trial period during which they were accompanied by staff. Walmart staff are thankful to the robots for relieving them of the task of shelf checking, and consider them a tool at their service, a technology that helps them or works for them. In other words, they don’t see themselves under threat of being replaced.
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Google X roboticists and engineers aim to provide solution to make sense of robot data in industries such as retail, construction, automotive and healthcare.
A stealth company is trying to solve one of the oddest interoperability problems of the modern era: How do you get robots and non-engineers talking to each other? Founded by the former Director of Robotics for Google, the company, Formant, is making its first public bow thanks to a recently-announced $6 million in funding from SignalFire.
Amazon robots to deliver packages to your door
These last-mile delivery robots, which are essentially hampers on wheels, can navigate autonomously to their destination to drop off packages which are stowed securely inside. Amazon has begun a trial featuring six of these robots in one neighborhood in Snohomish County, Washington, where they’ll be delivering packages during daylight hours on weekdays. They will be accompanied by a human chaperone at first, although the long-term plan is likely for them to operate without the need for such supervision. The ordering experience on the part of the customer does not change.
GTS Freight Group to install robots in warehouse
The AGVs will reportedly manage a block stacked full pallet warehouse. This system comprises two counterbalance AGVs utilising QR code navigation within block stack lanes and Dematic’s AGV Manage Warehouse Control Software (WCS) interfaced with paperless Warehouse Management System (WMS).