Robots have come a long way since their introduction in the 60s. But recently, they have found their exclusive space in the warehouses. Warehousing activities comprise of tasks such as inbound, picking, storage, movement and transfer, packing and outbound, etc. These tasks can be broken down into steps like in an assembly line and the concept of division of labor can be applied on the same. With the evolving technologies and emerging capabilities of mobile robots, the idea of human-robot collaboration has picked up the conversation across the globe. Humans can be divided to operate in the assembly line of a warehouse to carry out the above-mentioned tasks by collaborating with their robotic counterparts. In this case, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are a simple, efficient, and cost-effective way to automate all the tasks related to storage and material movement till the dispatch of items from the warehouse where previously manual operators were required to push carts around the facility.
Some very apt application of mobile robots which has contributed to marking its own place in the warehouse are mentioned below:
Picking: AMRs are incredibly versatile. Not only can they speed up the picking process by handling the tedious task of moving products around, but some collaborative robots can guide operators through tasks by navigating to inventory locations, displaying the items and quantities to pick, directing workflows and keeping associates on task to improve the accuracy and efficiency of order fulfilment operations. AMRs can determine and follow optimised picking routes and are particularly valuable in facilitating zone and pick-and-pass picking methodologies.