10 Materials Handling Robotics Takeaways From MODEX 2022

Technologies improve -- incrementally

​If you were looking for drone deliveries, humanoid robots, or fully autonomous tractor-trailers, this was not the right show (see CES). MODEX mainly focused on the warehouse or distribution center.

However, compared with three or more years ago, AMRs are definitely more capable, and the understanding of warehouse processes and the software to manage robots, goods, and staffers has gotten more sophisticated.

As my colleague Bob Trebilcock noted, “sustaining innovation,” or the combination of technologies to improve performance, still counts as innovation.

One of the more impressive advances at MODEX 2022 was FANUC’s heavy-duty CRX-25iA robot arm (see image), which is one of the largest cobots I’ve seen.