6 River Systems rolls out mobile warehouse robot

Warehouse fulfillment robot developer 6 River Systems Inc. has rolled out its mobile automation platform for fulfillment operations in e-commerce, retail replenishment, third-party logistics (3PL), and parts distribution, the company said today.

Currently running in pilot programs at several U.S. sites, the robotic system is now available on the general market. Waltham, Mass.-based 6 River Systems (6RS) says its Collaborative Fulfillment System (CFS) is a turnkey automation solution for split-case picking operations that delivers significant rate improvements over existing cart pick technologies.

As opposed to building a fulfillment model that requires large fleets of robots deployed throughout a distribution center, the CFS minimizes the number of robots and maximizes employee productivity by having a mobile robot lead the associate through a zone-based picking and replenishment workflow, according to 6RS.

The solution uses proprietary mobile robots and cloud-based enterprise software that integrates with all major warehouse management system (WMS) software platforms and requires no new hardware infrastructure, allowing the CFS to deliver fast rate improvements and quick payback, 6RS co-founder and Head of Engineering Christopher Cacioppo said in a release.

Founded in 2015 by former executives of Kiva Systems LLC (now Amazon Robotics), 6RS announced in 2016 that it had raised $6 million in financing from a group including iRobot Corp. and would use the funding to expand its engineering team and to support the customer pilot programs.