10 Materials Handling Robotics Takeaways From MODEX 2022

Spring fever hits, as companies pair off

​Robotics 24/7 was inundated with press releases about corporate partnerships leading into MODEX 2022. Many of these reflect efforts to broaden product portfolios, gain access to adjacent markets, and deepen engineering teams.

Examples included Murata Machinery and AGVE Group collaborating on automated guided vehicles (AGVs), Vecna Robotics and Big Joe’s autonomous pallet jack, and GXO Logistics working with Locus Robotics, among other suppliers.

In addition, Honeywell demonstrated robot arms with OTTO Motors’ AMRs, Oceaneering chose BlueBotics’ navigation tech for its robots, while Berkshire Grey and Swisslog showed how AI can aid order fulfillment.

Still more partnerships included Addverb’s AMRs with Numina Group’s distribution software, as well as Caja Robotics and Ranpak’s packaging system. Plus One Robotics and Tompkins Robotics jointly offered systems for sortation.

Material Handling Systems (MHS) had one of the coolest displays, with black walls and red lights, plus a mixed-case palletizing demonstration with Mujin and HAI Robotics, as seen in this photo.