Is the industry robot-ready? interview with Dr. Christian Wurll
Warehouse robots are becoming cheaper and more collaborative all the time. But that doesn't mean they're all ready for 24/7 use, cautions Professor Christian Wurll.
Ben Ames has spent 20 years as a journalist since starting out as a daily newspaper reporter in Pennsylvania in 1995. From 1999 forward, he has focused on business and technology reporting for a number of trade journals, beginning when he joined Design News and Modern Materials Handling magazines. Ames is author of the trail guide "Hiking Massachusetts" and is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism.
Dr. Christian Wurll is a professor of electrical engineering and automation at the University of Applied Sciences in Karlsruhe, Germany. Dr. Wurll has extensive experience in the study and application of robotics and automation. Before entering the academic world, he held executive positions at companies including Swisslog Automation, Grenzebach, and Kuka Robotics.
Dr. Wurll studied control theory and robotics at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, where he earned a master of science degree in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in computer science. He has published extensively on robotics, vision, and search algorithms. Dr. Wurll spoke with DC Velocity Senior News Editor Ben Ames at the MHI Fall Conference in La Quinta, California.
Q: Supply chain managers are facing many challenges. They are dealing with labor shortages and demands for ever-faster fulfillment. The robots are coming, which may help to ease the labor crunch. But are they really ready for 24/7 use yet?
A: I have implemented many systems and applications in logistics warehouses, but still using the traditional industrial robot arms, which are basically caged in, in order to protect the people running the applications. However, there is a new trend coming with all the cheaper robots—we call them "collaborative robots." They are designed and developed to run without a safety fence, but that requires that these robots be operated in accordance with certain rules and safety precautions.
What we observe in the European Union is that the machine laws are pretty tough. [Regulators] have set the forces applied to, say, a collision with a human pretty low, which means that you have to run these applications at very, very low speeds. But that can make it difficult to meet productivity goals. You want to achieve high throughput rates, but you can't achieve that running at a very slow pace. That means that it is a hindrance to actually deploy these robots in the numbers the industry is really looking to do.
Q: For a return on investment, you really need to ensure that the robots compare favorably to a human who's doing the same work. Robots might be more reliable—they're not going to take sick days, for example. But if they are running slowly, then the throughput just isn't there?
A: Exactly. It is kind of crazy how many new suppliers for robots are showing up at these industrial fairs, both here in the United States and in Germany. But if you really look carefully into these various vendors, you can still see some differences. Not every robot type is really suited yet to run 24/7, in my mind. They look nice. They are actually well-designed, but if you compare them, you will see there are huge differences. So really, you have to be careful about what type of robot you are selecting, and you certainly have to run some tests.
Q: So, it sounds like there are a number of challenges. The safety restrictions, the reliability, the speed, and also the reality that some of the collaborative robots, or cobots, are not actually operating in a fashion that's so collaborative yet. Is that right?
A: Yes, that's right. Then, keep in mind that you have to look at more than just the robot itself; you also have to look at the gripping technology. That also has to be collaborative. Even if your robot and your gripper are designed to avoid harming the operator, you still have to watch what kind of work piece you are actually handling. If the work piece has sharp edges, then you still have to come up with a solution for avoiding a collision between the robot and the operator.
Q: So, the gripping technology is one aspect of the warehouse-robotics development picture. But I believe that in some of your writings, you've suggested that pallet moving is going to be one of the up-and-coming applications for robots?
A: Absolutely. When we install systems with large integrators, I often see many pallet conveyor styles being implemented. Sometimes, there are miles of conveyors. I think there is a trend coming up with replacing these pallet conveyors with mobile robots. We can see it with the systems now [used] at Amazon Robotics. They have been a game-changer in the industry. Now, robotic technology can also be deployed to heavier items, like pallets. I think they are definitely much more flexible [than conveyors], and you don't have to bolt something onto a floor, which allows you to be more creative in your layouts.
Q: As these applications develop, particularly with regard to pallet picking, it seems like one of the enabling technologies to accelerate that might be 5G wireless technology, because really, they always have to have a data link in order to work, right?
A: That is true. We are closely watching what 5G will bring to us. Certainly, you have to have the infrastructure first. From what we are looking into, it feels pretty promising. You can connect lots of sensors and actuators to your automation system and start communicating in real time with these devices. That allows you to actually come up with some newer, smarter solutions requiring less cabling and reducing costs in terms of commissioning those systems. That is an interesting trend, and it definitely will change certain things. Look at mobile robots, for example. You always need the navigation principles and methods—so you can maneuver from point A to point B inside a warehouse, for instance. The normal approach is using some sort of "SLAM" technology.
Q: You are referring to simultaneous localization and mapping?
A: Yes, exactly. But it all depends on usually a leader sensor acquiring the data, and with 5G coming up, you actually have an exact position where your object is. So, you may not even need those sensors anymore, because in the communication protocol, you can actually detect where you are. That means that you can more or less simplify your navigation concepts—there's no need for a map anymore. I think that definitely will change the way we integrate mobile robots.
Q: That would be a different approach. And yet the 5G technology is something that's really not in the control of the vendors or platform developers. They have to do that in conjunction with the telephony providers. Is that right?
A: Absolutely. There are some approaches now being discussed in Europe in which, let's say, the OEMs request their own frequencies. They have to be somewhat independent from the telephone suppliers. I think in Europe, we just awarded all these contracts recently, but certain frequencies are specified for these OEMs. Then they can basically be running on their own.
Warehouse automation orders declined by 3% in 2024, according to a February report from market research firm Interact Analysis. The company said the decline was due to economic, political, and market-specific challenges, including persistently high interest rates in many regions and the residual effects of an oversupply of warehouses built during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The research also found that increasing competition from Chinese vendors is expected to drive down prices and slow revenue growth over the report’s forecast period to 2030.
Global macro-economic factors such as high interest rates, political uncertainty around elections, and the Chinese real estate crisis have “significantly impacted sales cycles, slowing the pace of orders,” according to the report.
Despite the decline, analysts said growth is expected to pick up from 2025, which they said they anticipate will mark a year of slow recovery for the sector. Pre-pandemic growth levels are expected to return in 2026, with long-term expansion projected at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8% between 2024 and 2030.
The analysis also found two market segments that are bucking the trend: durable manufacturing and food & beverage industries continued to spend on automation during the downturn. Warehouse automation revenues in food & beverage, in particular, were bolstered by cold-chain automation, as well as by large-scale projects from consumer-packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers. The sectors registered the highest growth in warehouse automation revenues between 2022 and 2024, with increases of 11% (durable manufacturing) and 10% (food & beverage), according to the research.
The Swedish supply chain software company Kodiak Hub is expanding into the U.S. market, backed by a $6 million venture capital boost for its supplier relationship management (SRM) platform.
The Stockholm-based company says its move could help U.S. companies build resilient, sustainable supply chains amid growing pressure from regulatory changes, emerging tariffs, and increasing demands for supply chain transparency.
According to the company, its platform gives procurement teams a 360-degree view of supplier risk, resiliency, and performance, helping them to make smarter decisions faster. Kodiak Hub says its artificial intelligence (AI) based tech has helped users to reduce supplier onboarding times by 80%, improve supplier engagement by 90%, achieve 7-10% cost savings on total spend, and save approximately 10 hours per week by automating certain SRM tasks.
The Swedish venture capital firm Oxx had a similar message when it announced in November that it would back Kodiak Hub with new funding. Oxx says that Kodiak Hub is a better tool for chief procurement officers (CPOs) and strategic sourcing managers than existing software platforms like Excel sheets, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, or Procure-to-Pay suites.
“As demand for transparency and fair-trade practices grows, organizations must strengthen their supply chains to protect their reputation, profitability, and long-term trust,” Malin Schmidt, founder & CEO of Kodiak Hub, said in a release. “By embedding AI-driven insights directly into procurement workflows, our platform helps procurement teams anticipate these risks and unlock major opportunities for growth.”
Here's our monthly roundup of some of the charitable works and donations by companies in the material handling and logistics space.
For the sixth consecutive year, dedicated contract carriage and freight management services provider Transervice Logistics Inc. collected books, CDs, DVDs, and magazines for Book Fairies, a nonprofit book donation organization in the New York Tri-State area. Transervice employees broke their own in-house record last year by donating 13 boxes of print and video assets to children in under-resourced communities on Long Island and the five boroughs of New York City.
Logistics real estate investment and development firm Dermody Properties has recognized eight community organizations in markets where it operates with its 2024 Annual Thanksgiving Capstone awards. The organizations, which included food banks and disaster relief agencies, received a combined $85,000 in awards ranging from $5,000 to $25,000.
Prime Inc. truck driver Dee Sova has donated $5,000 to Harmony House, an organization that provides shelter and support services to domestic violence survivors in Springfield, Missouri. The donation follows Sova's selection as the 2024 recipient of the Trucking Cares Foundation's John Lex Premier Achievement Award, which was accompanied by a $5,000 check to be given in her name to a charity of her choice.
Employees of dedicated contract carrier Lily Transportation donated dog food and supplies to a local animal shelter at a holiday event held at the company's Fort Worth, Texas, location. The event, which benefited City of Saginaw (Texas) Animal Services, was coordinated by "Lily Paws," a dedicated committee within Lily Transportation that focuses on improving the lives of shelter dogs nationwide.
Freight transportation conglomerate Averitt has continued its support of military service members by participating in the "10,000 for the Troops" card collection program organized by radio station New Country 96.3 KSCS in Dallas/Fort Worth. In 2024, Averitt associates collected and shipped more than 18,000 holiday cards to troops overseas. Contributions included cards from 17 different Averitt facilities, primarily in Texas, along with 4,000 cards from the company's corporate office in Cookeville, Tennessee.
Electric vehicle (EV) sales have seen slow and steady growth, as the vehicles continue to gain converts among consumers and delivery fleet operators alike. But a consistent frustration for drivers has been pulling up to a charging station only to find that the charger has been intentionally broken or disabled.
To address that threat, the EV charging solution provider ChargePoint has launched two products to combat charger vandalism.
The first is a cut-resistant charging cable that's designed to deter theft. The cable, which incorporates what the manufacturer calls "novel cut-resistant materials," is substantially more difficult for would-be vandals to cut but is still flexible enough for drivers to maneuver comfortably, the California firm said. ChargePoint intends to make its cut-resistant cables available for all of its commercial and fleet charging stations, and, starting in the middle of the year, will license the cable design to other charging station manufacturers as part of an industrywide effort to combat cable theft and vandalism.
The second product, ChargePoint Protect, is an alarm system that detects charging cable tampering in real time and literally sounds the alarm using the charger's existing speakers, screens, and lighting system. It also sends SMS or email messages to ChargePoint customers notifying them that the system's alarm has been triggered.
ChargePoint says it expects these two new solutions, when combined, will benefit charging station owners by reducing station repair costs associated with vandalism and EV drivers by ensuring they can trust charging stations to work when and where they need them.
New Jersey is home to the most congested freight bottleneck in the country for the seventh straight year, according to research from the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), released today.
ATRI’s annual list of the Top 100 Truck Bottlenecks aims to highlight the nation’s most congested highways and help local, state, and federal governments target funding to areas most in need of relief. The data show ways to reduce chokepoints, lower emissions, and drive economic growth, according to the researchers.
The 2025 Top Truck Bottleneck List measures the level of truck-involved congestion at more than 325 locations on the national highway system. The analysis is based on an extensive database of freight truck GPS data and uses several customized software applications and analysis methods, along with terabytes of data from trucking operations, to produce a congestion impact ranking for each location. The bottleneck locations detailed in the latest ATRI list represent the top 100 congested locations, although ATRI continuously monitors more than 325 freight-critical locations, the group said.
For the seventh straight year, the intersection of I-95 and State Route 4 near the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, New Jersey, is the top freight bottleneck in the country. The remaining top 10 bottlenecks include: Chicago, I-294 at I-290/I-88; Houston, I-45 at I-69/US 59; Atlanta, I-285 at I-85 (North); Nashville: I-24/I-40 at I-440 (East); Atlanta: I-75 at I-285 (North); Los Angeles, SR 60 at SR 57; Cincinnati, I-71 at I-75; Houston, I-10 at I-45; and Atlanta, I-20 at I-285 (West).
ATRI’s analysis, which utilized data from 2024, found that traffic conditions continue to deteriorate from recent years, partly due to work zones resulting from increased infrastructure investment. Average rush hour truck speeds were 34.2 miles per hour (MPH), down 3% from the previous year. Among the top 10 locations, average rush hour truck speeds were 29.7 MPH.
In addition to squandering time and money, these delays also waste fuel—with trucks burning an estimated 6.4 billion gallons of diesel fuel and producing more than 65 million metric tons of additional carbon emissions while stuck in traffic jams, according to ATRI.
On a positive note, ATRI said its analysis helps quantify the value of infrastructure investment, pointing to improvements at Chicago’s Jane Byrne Interchange as an example. Once the number one truck bottleneck in the country for three years in a row, the recently constructed interchange saw rush hour truck speeds improve by nearly 25% after construction was completed, according to the report.
“Delays inflicted on truckers by congestion are the equivalent of 436,000 drivers sitting idle for an entire year,” ATRI President and COO Rebecca Brewster said in a statement announcing the findings. “These metrics are getting worse, but the good news is that states do not need to accept the status quo. Illinois was once home to the top bottleneck in the country, but following a sustained effort to expand capacity, the Jane Byrne Interchange in Chicago no longer ranks in the top 10. This data gives policymakers a road map to reduce chokepoints, lower emissions, and drive economic growth.”