6 River Systems, Soft Robotics form strategic partnership

Warehouse robotics companies 6 River Systems and Soft Robotics are joining forces to create an end-to-end mobile picking solution for e-commerce and retail operations, the companies said Thursday.

Through a strategic partnership, the companies have combined 6 River Systems' automated, collaborative mobile robot, Chuck, with Soft Robotics' piece-picking and order fulfillment solution, SuperPick. The integrated solution allows companies to speed the picking process, potentially more than doubling productivity in the fulfillment center for busy retail and ecommerce applications, the companies said.

"6 River Systems' collaborative mobile robot, Chuck, works with Soft Robotics' full stack bin picking and order fulfillment solution, SuperPick, through a relatively simple integration that supports all day-to-day operations from induction to pack out," according to Lisa Donnelly, vice president of marketing at Soft Robotics. "Once Chuck guides an associate through the warehouse floor to pick up various products within an order, Chuck then navigates itself to the SuperPick where it will complete unstructured, repetitive bin-picking tasks. Multiple Chucks are able to queue up and signal SuperPick to place items in bins. SuperPick is able to rapidly identify, grasp and place products without pre-training SKUs."

6 River Systems and Soft Robotics will demonstrate their combined solution at this month's CSCMP EDGE 2019 conference, Sept. 15-18 in Anaheim, Calif.