Boosting E-commerce Fulfillment Efficiency with Smart Warehouse Robots, Syrius Robotics Landed Its First AMR OpenLab in Hong Kong

Last week, Syrius Robotics opened its first AMR (autonomous mobile robot) OpenLab in Hong Kong, offering demonstration and POC of AMR operation in actual warehouse environment. Riding on successful experience in Japan, Syrius is bringing robot-assisted efficiency boost to warehouses and fulfillment centers in other Asian markets. To further strengthen co-innovation with Asian partners, Syrius also plans to land a OpenLab in Singapore recently.

As an international trade port, Hong Kong’s warehousing industry is highly developed with distinctive characteristics. According to statista.com, average monthly warehouse rent in Hong Kong has reached up to HKD $189 per square meter in 2019. Raising cost in rent and labor has made efficiency crucial to profiting. Under the “shadow” of COVID-19 which brings business uncertainties, warehousing management is facing more critical challenges. 

In fact, neighboring markets such as Japan and Singapore also shared these similarities. For one instance, Asian warehouses generally have narrow aisles, crowded racks and irregular layout. Previous automation systems like AGV are not suited for such environment. AMR, signature by its sensing and obstacle avoidance capabilities, can move freely and autonomously in complex environment. Using our multi-sensor algorithm, Syrius AMRs can perform perfectly in aisles as narrow as 80cm, there’s no need to change your existing layout and racks for the robots at all. What’s more, it has been proven that picking accuracy and space utilization can be effectively optimized after implementing Syrius AMRs.

Facing the increasingly unpredictable demand spikes, scalability is also a major concern for warehousing. Syrius has been committed to make scaling as smooth and fast as possible for customers. Using our rapid deployment solution, AMRs can be “on duty” within 2 to 24 hours of arriving at the scene, eliminating the complicated configuration, coding and setups. Daily operation can be maintained uninterruptedly during deployment. With Syrius’ system, scaling up and down is effortless at anytime, anywhere. We’ve also recently launched a remote deployment service.

In terms of human-robot collaboration, Syrius AMRs do not follow your human employees. Instead, they bring the work to human. Take picking as an example, upon receiving a task, the robot would calculate the best picking route and “walks” to the first picking location, instruct associates to locate, scan and put the item into the correct bin. The robot would then move towards the next picking point to collaborate with another  associates. With Syrius’ smart AMRs at work, 80% of human walking time and 90% of picking error can be slashed, boosting overall delivery efficiency by 2-5 times.