Useful Robotic Warehouse Helpers
For warehouse workers and inventory staff, time is of the essence. They adopt methods such as basic listing of the items, numbering the aisles and shelves, or using sophisticated software to locate the needed items that their customers ordered. Now what if the shelf itself with the needed product comes to them? That would definitely warrant a sigh of relief!
A company called Kiva Systems has developed a squat, extremely strong wheeled robot that fits under a standard warehouse shelf. In essence, they lift the shelves a few centimetres off the floor. The directives along with a shelf-placement map of the warehouse are programmed into the unit. New directives, updates, and assignments are sent wirelessly. The warehouse itself is arranged into a memory-chip-like grid that is made up of columns and rows of freestanding shelves. The grid acts as a highway network so the robots can access any shelf at any time.
These intelligent units serve two basic functions. First, they automatically move empty shelving units to workers who refill them with freshly arrived supplies. Second, the robots deliver shelves containing the right product being requested by a customer to the workers who will prepare the order for packing and shipment. If the request contains multiple products, robots carrying different shelves will line up as fast as the workers can pack the items. For bulk orders, the robot themselves can deliver pallets of the goods to the appropriate delivery trucks.
The company behind this technology says that this automated system enables warehouses to be vastly efficient because it allows the staff to restock shelves and fill orders simultaneously. Furthermore, workers do not have to waste time walking and searching the right products in the gigantic storage facility.
