The first phase of warehouse robotics may be coming to an end. This is because today's suppliers are talking more about fulfillment processes, integration and software than robots.
The types of robot systems available have matured and diversified. Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRS) can help warehouse staff improve picking efficiency. There are also mobile AMR with large load, autonomous elevator, mobile goods to people system, and mobile replication robot. In the past few years, robot picking and placement solutions using artificial intelligence (AI) and articulated manipulator have made rapid progress.
This diffusion of warehouse robotics has come quite quickly and has brought operational benefits to the distribution center, but what will happen next? Although new robots will certainly appear, a big change is that more suppliers are talking about software capabilities and related necessary conditions, such as integration and reliable and flexible process performance.
6 Fergal Glynn, vice president of marketing at river systems, said, "we are a supplier of solutions, not a robot supplier. The company is an AMR supplier whose robots work in collaboration with warehouse staff." The reason is that robots are a means to achieve an end. For our customers, what is important is the performance of the performance process brought by the robot. "
At the same time, companies with fulfillment centers do not just deploy one type of robot. Some companies are beginning to deploy robotics from different suppliers. This increases the importance of making it easier to integrate solutions, said Dwight klappich, vice president of research at Gartner, an analytics company.
The use of application programming interfaces (APIs) from robot suppliers and warehouse management system (WMS) suppliers helps to integrate, but things become more complex when multiple types of robots, fixed automation and other systems (such as lists or cubes and weighing) need to work together.
As klappich explains, APIs are helpful, but "The problem is that when the operation reaches the point of deploying heterogeneous robot fleets, the API method becomes more and more difficult. You may eventually integrate multiple systems and a WMS at one time. You know, every time I want to introduce a new WMS or make a major upgrade, I have to integrate again. Moreover, this is not only the integration itself, but also the hope to integrate between different types of robots and with other types Coordinate the automation of.
Integration aspect
The trend of robotics from multiple vendors has spawned a new software niche that klappich and Gartner call "multi robot coordination". These platforms are located and integrated between commercial applications and heterogeneous robot fleets and other forms of automation.
Klappich said that this is an emerging category, involving suppliers from different backgrounds, from suppliers specializing in integration, to suppliers with WMS or warehouse execution system (WES) background, to positioning their software as robot suppliers that can coordinate. This category also involves GM fleet managers. One participant in this field is Amazon, which has an Amazon Web Service (AWS) product called robomaker.
Klappich explained that the ultimate goal of coordination is to more easily use different robot solutions to establish a unified workflow. Therefore, for example, a larger AMR or autonomous elevator can bring trays to supplement the picking area supported by another type of robot. Klappich suggests that if your company is just starting to use robotics, there is usually less demand for such a solution.
"Demand depends on the complexity of the environment," klappich said. "If you are an enterprise that is just beginning to use robotics and want to integrate an AMR solution with a WMS, you may not buy a multi robot coordination platform. Companies with more and more heterogeneous fleets need such a platform more.".
One supplier specializing in robot integration is SVT robotics. The company provides a software platform that simplifies the connection between different systems and how they cooperate in common processes.
The integration platform of SVT robotics separates the details of data interface from the information flow required for orchestration.
There are different types of connectors between the company's automated platform (e.g. the WMS) and other automated systems, such as the robot and the storage belt of the company. The platform not only provides softbot connector, but also provides drag and drop studio function, which is used to intuitively design the integration process. Once the design is completed (which can be completed in a few minutes), the connector will automatically integrate the system around the design process without programming.
In addition, A.K. Schultz, CEO and co-founder of SVT robotics, explained that the platform provides a small application called softbot function to coordinate how different systems work together. However, the function is not a complete Wes, but a "micro service", which does a specific thing, such as analyzing the incoming orders to determine which system has the required inventory, whether the system is available, and how busy the system is. Schultz explained that with these small applications, the platform can coordinate various systems.
"There is integration and coordination, but what our customers ultimately want is coordination. They want multiple different systems to work together to create a new result that one system can't really achieve. But in order to do this, the first step is integration," Schultz said
Companies using the SVT platform include MacGregor partners, a consulting firm that uses the SVT platform to quickly deploy mobile robots to automate material transportation at a production base of its pharmaceutical customers. The plant needs to maintain a sterile environment, so AMR is selected as the ideal mode of transportation. SVT's platform accelerates integration, and the project also includes creating screens for employees to communicate with AMR.
Schultz said that by using an integration platform, companies can reduce the time and effort spent in API based integration. In addition, the SVT platform becomes a common integration point between different robots or other automation systems and WMS (or enterprise resource planning system), rather than dealing with point-to-point integration with WMS. The connector and SVT platform can "abstract" the details of data integration into the logical information flow used by the system, such as the location of the next task, the goods to be transported or the delivery location of goods. In essence, this separates the details of data exchange from the flow of information, while allowing different robot solutions to do what they do best, such as fleet management or picking path optimization. "By creating this abstraction, everyone is free to innovate in what they care about without having to deal with all these complex, directly coupled technologies," Schultz said.
Other vendors are dealing with consolidation opportunities. Blue yonder, a supply chain software supplier whose products include WMS, has launched a solution called robotics hub, which aims to simplify the integration of various types of robots and automation with WMS.
According to Adam shawish, product management director of blue yonder's robotics center, the center is a software as a service (SaaS) solution designed to simplify the integration of multiple robotics and automation with WMS, not only blue yonder's WMS, but also any upstream system that manages warehouse inventory and orders.
"Automation solutions tend to have slightly different ways of [communicating with WMS], so we want to standardize these processes through the robotics hub to reduce the time and effort to launch and integrate different automation suppliers throughout the warehouse. It initially focused on [integrating] robotics, but later extended to other types of automation, such as goods to people systems," shawish said
Glynn pointed out that 6 river systems has cooperated with the integration platform and also used API based integration deployment. In general, he agreed that the operation manager is pursuing higher-level software that can help coordinate the process. "We will work with partners to integrate different technologies, but we believe that operators are looking for a unified user experience and control center to operate," he said. "We have done this today in some of our customer facilities."
Some AI based robot picking solution providers advocate performance benchmarking of sample SKU and bin displays to provide insight into real-world system functions.
Coordinate multiple systems
Robot supplier grey orange also believes that its software supports coordination. Akash Gupta, co-founder and CTO of greyorange, said Multi-Agent Coordination was a "core competency" of the supplier's greymatter software. He said that the "agents" that the software can coordinate include not only its robots, but also other robots, as well as people and any other automation elements important to operation, such as automatic packaging. He said: "Agents can work together or alone, depending on workflow and tasks. For example, a person may work with a cargo to person robot, a robot picking arm and a mobile conveying robot to pick and package an order and move it to transportation, or an unmanned internal logistics robot may work independently to move pallets from the dock door to the inventory stacking area. We believe that most companies will It is more likely to be handled by mixed agents, whether in a facility or on its nodes. "
Lior elazary, founder and CEO of invia robotics, said that for invia robotics, its software is sometimes deployed before the robot, so as to achieve some production efficiency through a people-oriented process. Once the robot is deployed, there will be further benefits. "More operations require this command ability to distribute work and decide what agents should do and when to do it. Our software can play the role of this commander and can be many types of agents, including people, robots, conveyor systems, other machines or things like automatic bagging machines," he said“
Although effective integration methods are part of what suppliers should provide, there are still some operations in pursuit of an independent system. Jeff Christensen, vice president of products of seegrid company, pointed out: "the ultimate goal is to comprehensively optimize and improve the material flow, and the integration between various systems will be part of this work. Integration supports this effort, but they are not necessarily needed today to improve mobile automation. Seegrid's customers use integration to schedule their Seegrid Palion AMR from WMS and other inventory systems, and some customers schedule by pulling the system or manual scheduling. We also have customers who have established integration with robots from other automation and other suppliers. For example, our palion tow trackers pick and place on conveyors. Our AMR can be pulled next to the conveyor and transfer items back and forth between the conveyor and the tractor. At present, we also have AMR integrated with the rolling shutter door in the facility, so our robot can open the door when entering a new space, and then close the door after passing. "
Reliability of Solutions
When it comes to pick-up and release robot technology, the solution supplier said that the effectiveness of the system comes from the software based on artificial intelligence and the manipulator. Solving integration problems is wrapped in how these suppliers treat cooperation and the effectiveness of solutions.
Kishore boyalakuntla, vice president of products of Berkshire grey, a robot solution provider, said that API based integration is a typical way for the company to integrate with WMS or other systems for managing inventory and orders. The company recently released a robot wall pushing solution.
He explained that as a solution provider, Berkshire grey ensured integration not only from WMS to robots, but also in other directions. This two-way flow allows WMS or other systems to know if SKUs or tags are damaged or if any items cannot be handled by the robot.
Boyalakuntla explained that integration is part of cooperation, even if the largest part is the ability of artificial intelligence to deal with change. "We ensure that when we turn on the lights and debug [the system], the picking rate and throughput are exactly the same as or exceed what we have agreed with our customers," he said
The application of warehouse robot technology to automate the picking and placement tasks is very software driven. Using the intelligence of artificial intelligence and machine learning (ML), the solution can adapt to the changes of SKU or packaging. This means that the effectiveness of picking and placing robot solutions deployed in the real world largely depends on the expertise of robot software.
To support this, Honeywell intelligence and its Honeywell robotics organization have invested in robot "components" related to software, said Thomas Evans, chief technology officer of Honeywell robotics.
For example, the intelligent flexible stacker solution launched by Honeywell in September last year is characterized by transporting pallets with manipulator and AMR as part of the solution, but the robot control software comes from Honeywell, as well as its AI and ml capabilities, as well as its vision and perception software.
Honeywell has conducted extensive testing of the solution in customer pilots to ensure that the solution can sense and adjust to changes when launched. Honeywell is indeed a partner of the robot arm. For some solutions, Honeywell cooperates with other robot suppliers, but for the new stacker, the robot software and expertise come from Honeywell.
AMR interoperability standards help robots "resolve conflicts"
In May 2021, the industry organization massrobotics released its first version of robot interoperability standard. Jason walker, CEO of waypoint robotics under locus robotics, said that although the standard is considered to help robots from different suppliers work together in the same place while avoiding problems such as aisle congestion, the standard is not intended to be a coordination platform or some type of overall fleet controller. The standard solves the problem of safe and efficient operation of autonomous mobile robot (AMR) from multiple suppliers.
Members of the working group and contributors to the newly launched robot interoperability standards include:
● vecna Robotics
●6 River Systems
●奥补测辫辞颈苍迟
● locus Robotics
●厂别别驳谤颈诲
●惭颈搁
●Autoguide AMR
●迟丑颈谤诲飞补惫别
●Open Robotics
Evans said: "the reason why we want to develop our own software control and Honeywell general robot controller is that we can fully customize the products we provide to our customers, which can not only provide a high-quality solution, but also give us a comprehensive understanding of how to deploy, debug and maintain the software on site. As a solution provider, this is very important for us."
Although technical terms such as ml and perception seem to have been removed from the reality of DC, these building blocks are critical to the level of change required to handle applications such as destacking, even in the case of any single SKU tray and mixed SKU tray sequence.
"[flexibility to handle change] is within our software control, and some of the things we work with our customers is to ensure that we use this product to deal with their pain points." Evans said.
Ted Stinson, chief operating officer of covariant, an AI based robotics provider, said that AI based picking is still a new advanced solution. Compared with the established material handling automation category, it is difficult for end-user organizations to evaluate the solution. After all, he explained, how do you determine whether AI driven arms / grippers can really handle the rapidly changing combination of SKUs in modern business? Gorgeous demonstrations from a dozen or more vendors can't really answer this question. "This is a crowded and chaotic market, and trying to understand the capabilities of one system and another is very challenging. Unlike some more traditional material handling system categories, you can compare specification sheets and fairly perfect indicators around performance," he said
One way forward is to run performance benchmarks and invite suppliers to participate. Such tests should involve a mix of SKUs (5 to 25) and different scenarios of how SKUs are presented in the box to provide insight into what the solution can really handle.
Typically, such benchmarks measure things like the success rate of picking and the speed at which manual intervention is required. Ultimately, it's not comparing robots, but figuring out whether AI can help you meet your product portfolio and performance challenges. Stinson believes that benchmarking should be encouraged because it lays the foundation for effective partnerships by helping companies assess how robotic systems and AI that powers them perform in adapting to their rapidly changing product portfolio.
