Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.39
The reality is that robots and people will be working side-by-side in warehouses for years to come. The ecommerce transition will continue to drive net job growth in DCs, even as companies invest in automation. As robots find their place in the DC, warehouse operators will face new challenges in coordinating and optimizing the work of humans and their robotic coworkers. Part of this optimization and warehouse execution challenge is to balance an array of operational metrics, not just to reduce the total number of labor hours worked. In the long run, more robots may mean fewer overall warehouse jobs,…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.38
Warehouses and distribution centers will soon be in the rush of the holiday season, working long hours to fulfill orders. While e-commerce sales aren’t at the all-time highs they were at last year and throughout 2020, the market still demands strong, flexible, and resilient operations to meet peak demand. Robots can help answer the call in response to labor shortages and as the underlying technologies powering these autonomous systems continue to improve. Last month, the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) reported that more than half a million robots were sold globally last year. Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are being used…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.38
As robots, drones, and autonomous vehicles become increasingly connected, cybersecurity becomes more important. FORT Robotics Inc. this week announced that it has closed its $25 million Series B funding round. The Philadelphia-based company said it plans to use the funding to accelerate the rollout of its communications platform, which is intended to make autonomous machines safer and more secure. “Smart machines are transforming the world, but they come with unprecedented safety and security risks,” stated Samuel Reeves, founder and CEO of FORT. “There's a massive need for these machines to communicate in a trustworthy way, and it's something that's yet…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.36
I first talked to Tom Galluzzo, the founder and CEO of IAM Robotics, nearly 6 years ago on July 15, 2014. He was the first founder of an early-stage startup that I had the chance to speak to. We wouldn’t meet for the first time for another eight months at the 2015 Promat. Early stage may have been an understatement. While the company had been founded in 2012 by Galluzzo and colleagues from Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center, in the summer of 2014, it was largely a PowerPoint presentation on his laptop in the summer of 2014. I’m…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.36
“When Locus Robotics started, getting 10 robots to work together on the floor - work well together - was a big, big challenge. Now, we have customers running nearly 1,000 robots over a million square feet.” Neil Bentley, senior director of product management at Locus Robotics, succinctly described the history of the Wilmington, Mass. company. Locus recently surpassed the 3 billion pick mark across its deployments, a major milestone and one that grew from 2 billion to 3 billion item picks in just over eight months. The chicken or the egg? As Locus received funding and developed its offerings, the…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.33
The drive to add automation to warehouses, distribution centers, and order-fulfillment facilities is not just a matter of deploying some mobile robots. Operations must understand their processes, choose the best people or robots for certain tasks, and deploy the right software to manage multiple systems. The need for efficiency has never been greater, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues and retailers deal with back-to-school sales and the approaching holiday season, according to GXO Logistics. “When we talk about warehouse automation, it's clearly an ecosystem,” explained Sandeep Sakharkar, chief information officer at GXO Logistics. “We've evaluated automation across the board—not just robotic…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.33
Berkshire Grey (BG), a developer of integrated artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic solutions for e-commerce, retail replenishment, and logistics, has entered into a definitive agreement with Revolution Acceleration Acquisition Corp. (RAAC), a special purpose acquisition company, to create a leading publicly listed robotics and automation solutions company. Founded in 2013 by the current CEO Tom Wagner, Ph.D., the former chief technology officer at iRobot, BG offers fully integrated, AI-based software and hardware to automate business operations in warehouses and logistics fulfillment centers. The company’s solutions help retailers and logistics companies meet the exponential growth of e-commerce and ever-increasing consumer demands.…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.28
Power management is a major concern for designers and users of robots and drones, whether indoors, in the air, on the water, or in space. WiBotic Inc. today announced new chargers and transmitters for drones and autonomous mobile robots. The Seattle-based company said its new products demonstrate its expertise in providing efficient charging systems for robots that operate in all sorts of environments, even under harsh conditions. “These new products not only push that technical envelope but are also designed to survive in the most extreme operational conditions,” stated Ben Waters, CEO of WiBotic. “And when used together with WiBotic…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.27
Artificial intelligence, robotics, and related technologies have found a place in online retail. In fact, e-commerce providers such as Amazon.com, Asos, and Zalando have found AI and deep learning departments essential. Why do they invest in machine learning (ML)? It can helps them better understand their clients, customize offers for particular buyers, and automate manual tasks. Machine learning allows online stores to be upgraded with smart on-site search, personalized ads, and intelligent chatbots. That’s why you should integrate it into your website, the Magento “headless commerce” architecture or a headless platform on another content management system (CMS), or even in…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.26
During the week of April 9, the Georgia World Congress Center will open its doors and welcome Modex 2018, an expo for the manufacturing, distribution and supply chain industries, sponsored by MHI. This month, the Supply Chain Group editorial team offers Logistics Management readers a preview of the latest warehouse and distribution center management equipment, automation and software products that will be introduced on this year’s trade show floor. Interstackable straight wall containers in four new heights The NewStac straight wall container now comes in a 22 x 24-inch footprint with four height options (7, 8, 11 and 14 inches)…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.25
Editor’s note: This is the second of two columns on the reinvention of Macy Inc.’s retail supply chain. The first part was about inventory productivity. In this one, we look at how the New York-based retailer is incorporating sustainability into its practices and goals. Back in May, I sat in on a roundtable discussion on sustainability at the American Supply Chain Summit. Keelin Evans, Macy’s vice president of sustainability, led a lively conversation among the executives. The speakers made it clear that workforce and environmental sustainability has become integral to supply chain management. For her part, Evans’ message was that…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.24
“Thirty million developers” is the answer to the question “What's driving billion-dollar robot startups?” exclaimed Eliot Horowitz, CEO of Viam Inc., at Automate 2023 last week. The hushed crowd of about 200 hardware entrepreneurs listened intensely to the founder and former chef technology officer of MongoDB (a $20 billion success story). Now, Horowitz aims to take the same approach that he took to democratizing cloud data applications to mechatronics. As I nudged him with questions about how his new platform will speed complex robot deployments to market, Horowitz shared his vision of the Viam developer army—currently 1,000+ strong—creating applications that…