Modex 2020: Moving from "warehouse now to warehouse next"

Honeywell Intelligrated’s press conference today at the Modex 2020 trade show focused on how the material handling solution provider is helping its customers’ distribution centers move into the next generation of automation.

Two key parts of this focus are Honeywell Intelligrated’s commitment to robotics and its focus on providing integrated solutions.

The company’s commitment to robotics could be seen its “Cookie Monster” robotic truck unloader solution, which has been on the market for a year. This robotic solution uses computer vision and machine learning to guide a conveyor system and a unit of suction cups on extendable arms into a trailer. From there the suction cups can pick up and handle a wide variety of products from shoeboxes to dishwashers, according to Matt Wicks, chief robotics solution architect for the company. The products can then be placed on the conveyor which will funnel them out of the trailer and into the distribution facility. The solution does not require any modifications to the trailer.

Meanwhile the Honeywell Intelligrated’s ability to provide integrated technology solutions could be seen in a demo where a picker used the company’s voice technology to communicate with Fetch automated mobile robots to come pick up an order that he had just finished picking from a pick-to-light wall.