An inside look at the robotic revolution — and what it all means for you
How is technology helping fulfillment operations boost throughput and cope with the ongoing labor shortage? Experts share their insights in this special roundtable discussion.
David Maloney has been a journalist for more than 35 years and is currently the group editorial director for DC Velocity and Supply Chain Quarterly magazines. In this role, he is responsible for the editorial content of both brands of Agile Business Media. Dave joined DC Velocity in April of 2004. Prior to that, he was a senior editor for Modern Materials Handling magazine. Dave also has extensive experience as a broadcast journalist. Before writing for supply chain publications, he was a journalist, television producer and director in Pittsburgh. Dave combines a background of reporting on logistics with his video production experience to bring new opportunities to DC Velocity readers, including web videos highlighting top distribution and logistics facilities, webcasts and other cross-media projects. He continues to live and work in the Pittsburgh area.
Robotics and automation have never been hotter. And it’s not hard to see why. Squeezed by the ongoing e-commerce boom and a nationwide labor crunch, companies are finding they need these technologies to boost fulfillment speed and accuracy at a time when adding people is no longer an option.
To learn more about the current state of the robotics market as well as what lies ahead, DC Velocity Group Editorial Director David Maloney gathered experts from companies that participated in DC Velocity’s Robotics Forum at last month’s Modex show for a freewheeling discussion. Among the topics we address in Part One (Part Two will appear in our May issue) are recent advances in robotics technology, the different ways in which robots can help ease the DC labor crunch, and the future of robot design.
Roundtable Participants:
Jeff Christensen, Vice President of Product, Seegrid
Q: What do you consider to be the most significant advances in robotics technology within the past five years?
Jeff Christensen – Seegrid: The most important advancements today are in the development of intelligent autonomy technology. In order for autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and automation solutions to gain an extremely accurate understanding of their immediate surroundings, they need to see, collect, prioritize, and interpret a higher density of real-world live information. Any single sensor when used alone has its limitations. However, robotics companies that embrace sensor fusion will have solutions that offer an enhanced ability to perceive, plan, and control movement.
Matt Kohler – Bastian Solutions: Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered vision is a game-changer for robotics. Robots have always been great at handling repeatable tasks, which has led to their widespread adoption in manufacturing, but not so much in distribution, primarily due to the wide variety of products you see in a distribution center. AI-powered vision helps fleets of robots learn how to handle the complexities involved in handling tens of thousands of SKUs and the random nature in which they are presented to robots.
Nicola Tomatis – BlueBotics: One of the biggest changes in the last five years is that automated guided vehicles have become both the fastest-growing market and the largest market in service robotics. AGVs have overtaken both industrial robots and service robots working outside of industry.
Mike Futch – Tompkins Robotics: Vision systems have made significant strides. Many picking software providers have made continual improvements in these systems. Two of the biggest hurdles that picking vision must overcome are the wide variety of items in warehouses and the unpredictability of what items are in a picking container. While human intervention is still required, picking vision has progressed to the point where the systems can economically replace or supplement manual labor in the warehouse environment.
Kevin Reader – Knapp: Developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning have rapidly enhanced the capabilities of the latest generation of more capable robots, enabling them to perform more complex order picking tasks. At a time when labor shortages have risen to an unprecedented level of concern to supply chain practitioners, this category of robotics is moving from prototype consideration to the “proven business case” category.
Divya Prakash – SICK: Simplification of user interfaces has opened up the robotics technology market to a much wider audience of end-users. Also, increased processing power enabled by GPUs (graphics processing units) and stronger CPUs (central processing units) better supports enhanced sensor capabilities.
Dan Coote – Locus Robotics: The most important advancement in robotics technology lies in how robots are able to navigate around a warehouse. The granularity of a map within a warehouse along with the bot’s ability to navigate in a complex and convoluted environment both safely and efficiently have progressed by leaps and bounds. It’s a combination of the physical hardware that goes into the bots (including LiDAR sensors) and enhancements in the back-end software tools.
Romain Moulin – Exotec: Battery technologies have improved a lot in terms of efficiency, power density, and fast charging, which has allowed for new applications in mobile robotics.
Q: How can the increased use of robotics help distribution facilities cope with labor shortages?
Matt Kohler – Bastian Solutions: We hear about labor challenges all the time, and of course, implementing robotics in a distribution facility will help reduce labor requirements. But it also allows companies to re-allocate that labor to more value-add areas of their operations. I believe that is important because it will help those employees become more engaged and [will] hopefully increase retention.
Mike Futch – Tompkins Robotics: Robots have a bigger impact than just labor replacement. Consider that today’s workforce seeks out technology. They would much prefer to work in an environment where they can interact with high-tech solutions over traditional manual processes or even traditional automation. Further, facilities are continuing to see positive impact by adding in “gamification” to their operations. Robotic solutions greatly enhance this ability.
Dan Coote – Locus Robotics: Robotics reduces the requirements for the number of warehouse workers and increases productivity among the workers that a warehouse does have. During peak season, there’s enormous demand for people, and the number of people available is dependent on where they’re located. To counteract this, bots—and specifically RaaS (robots as a service) bots—offer the option of short-term rentals, which cuts down on the number of people required and provides the ability to [meet] your peak demands by augmenting throughput with a combination of people and robots. Also, the induction, training, and speed-to-competency times decrease with robotics.
Q: How will artificial intelligence and machine learning affect future robotic designs?
Kevin Reader – Knapp: AI and machine learning solutions have the capability to impact a great many areas, from manufacturing through operations, delivery to customers, and beyond to our daily lives. But in a general context, there is consensus that the future of robotic design is not just driven by AI, but that “cloud is the enabler, data is the driver, and AI is the differentiator.”
Matt Kohler – Bastian Solutions: The biggest impact will be in the sheer number of different robotic applications that those technologies enable. But from a robotic system design standpoint, I see the biggest impact being on “end of arm tooling” (EoAT) designs. AI will be able to evaluate products presented to the robot and determine how best to handle the product. AI can tell the robot to use only certain suction cups on a particular product surface or to only clamp a product in a certain location, or it may even tell the robot to swap out its current EoAT to use a different style of EoAT to handle a particular product.
Jeff Christensen – Seegrid: Robot design will benefit from AI and machine learning as the software will increasingly take on decision-making. Industrial automation solutions will move from robots that have to do many things to robots that will be more task-specific. This specialization, along with coordinated flow and interoperability across these disparate robot types, will enable process innovation and ongoing AI-driven optimization. Not only will movement be automated through the robots, but the optimization of flow and continual improvement will also be automated.
Divya Prakash – SICK: As artificial intelligence and machine learning advance, they will allow robots to complete more complex tasks in a shorter time. In the context of increased sensor capabilities, such as being able to localize mixed parts in a bin, this will lead to more advanced robot capabilities to support the additional sensor capabilities. Seven axis arms may become more common. More advanced flexible tooling (soft grippers) will come to market. Ease of use will need to be maintained or improved.
Romain Moulin – Exotec: Artificial intelligence, coupled with new generations of sensors, allows robotics to tackle operations that once could only be done by human operators. Bin picking is still the most typical application.
Q: How has warehousing software evolved to make it easier to integrate the robots that are taking on a growing role in fulfillment operations?
Jeff Christensen – Seegrid: In the past, warehouse software interacted with automation such as AMRs and automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS), but had no visibility to the progress of work once it entered these systems. Tighter levels of integration through generic APIs (application programming interfaces) give today’s warehouse software much better visibility into automation and robotic technologies. This also allows for changes to either system without time-consuming and costly integration changes.
Kevin Reader – Knapp: As with most technologies these days, when it comes to warehouse and fulfillment operations, software is not stand-alone but rather, integrated across an array of areas—from overall inventory management to sequencing, order picking, device control, and daily operation. One of the most significant improvements is the development of control tower technologies that focus on warehouse and fulfillment center management and are designed to manage overall resources. Best-of-breed warehouse management systems are also being re-architected for the real-time nature of the latest technology, including goods-to-person systems, robotic palletizers, and fully robotic order picking.
Nicola Tomatis – BlueBotics: Software has improved in two key areas: human usability and machine interfacing. Warehouse software today is easier to use, while at the same time, it needs to interface with more vehicles and systems than ever before. It has improved, but a lot remains to be done.
Q: What will robotics look like by the end of the decade?
Nicola Tomatis – BlueBotics: Two trends will define this decade in robotics: ease of use and interoperability. Robotic systems will be simpler to put in place and easier to use on a day-to-day basis. We will also see more and more different types of robots—and even brands of robots—working together as interoperability becomes the default.
Romain Moulin – Exotec: More and more operations associated with picking, packing, and loading/unloading will be fully automated.
Divya Prakash – SICK: The merging of sensors and robotic systems into a more cohesive, pre-engineered application-based product will allow for more advanced applications to be solved. Rather than customizing automation to existing processes, existing processes must mold to the needs of the automation system. Some of the newer tasks being attempted with automation are complex enough that there may only be one or two ways to solve them. This contrasts with the past in robotics, where there were many ways to solve an application and customize to the user’s existing processes.
Dan Coote – Locus Robotics: By the end of the decade, it will be commonplace to have a multitude of bots performing various functions across the warehouse or [robots from] a multitude of vendors deployed within the warehouse.
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
Serious inland flooding and widespread power outages are likely to sweep across Florida and other Southeast states in coming days with the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which is now predicted to make landfall Thursday evening along Florida’s northwest coast as a major hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
While the most catastrophic landfall impact is expected in the sparsely-population Big Bend area of Florida, it’s not only sea-front cities that are at risk. Since Helene is an “unusually large storm,” its flooding, rainfall, and high winds won’t be limited only to the Gulf Coast, but are expected to travel hundreds of miles inland, the weather service said. Heavy rainfall is expected to begin in the region even before the storm comes ashore, and the wet conditions will continue to move northward into the southern Appalachians region through Friday, dumping storm total rainfall amounts of up to 18 inches. Specifically, the major flood risk includes the urban areas around Tallahassee, metro Atlanta, and western North Carolina.
In addition to its human toll, the storm could exert serious business impacts, according to the supply chain mapping and monitoring firm Resilinc. Those will be largely triggered by significant flooding, which could halt oil operations, force mandatory evacuations, restrict ports, and disrupt air traffic.
While the storm’s track is currently forecast to miss the critical ports of Miami and New Orleans, it could still hurt operations throughout the Southeast agricultural belt, which produces products like soybeans, cotton, peanuts, corn, and tobacco, according to Everstream Analytics.
That widespread footprint could also hinder supply chain and logistics flows along stretches of interstate highways I-10 and I-75 and on regional rail lines operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX. And Hurricane Helene could also likely impact business operations by unleashing power outages, deep flooding, and wind damage in northern Florida portions of Georgia, Everstream Analytics said.
Before the storm had even touched Florida soil, recovery efforts were already being launched by humanitarian aid group the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). In a statement on Wednesday, the group said it is urging residents in the storm's path across the Southeast to heed evacuation notices and safety advisories, and reminding members of the logistics community that their post-storm help could be needed soon. The group will continue to update its Disaster Micro-Site with Hurricane Helene resources and with requests for donated logistics assistance, most of which will start arriving within 24 to 72 hours after the storm’s initial landfall, ALAN said.