Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.92
…general merchandise, spare parts. Our systems are inherently omnichannel. COVID was a stress test—we had multiple sites that literally went from 10% e-commerce and the remainder retail to 100% e-commerce. We support ship from store to pickup from ordering online and all the permutations. GreyMatter is not customized per customer site. We're a SaaS [software-as-a-service] platform, and all our customers share the same services. The customizations are in the upstream integration, as wholesale warehouses decide which algorithm to use—theirs or ours. We help run massive wholesale facilities, business-to-business parts replenishment, and robots as pickup lockers inside a store. All of…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.88
…disputes with China and supply chain disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, many e-commerce and logistics providers have described an acceleration of demand. Increases that were predicted for five years coincided first with staffing shortages and then the need for social distancing. “A lot has changed in the past year,” acknowledged Prather. “The pandemic may have brought attention to end users on how to do this. Do you want to be the last holdout for automation?” “Where is your industry in this journey?” he asked. “Manufacturing is even further ahead than my industry—they see how this is going to play out.”…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.86
…and mobile robots to automated storage and software. With post-COVID-19 e-commerce shifts, ongoing labor shortages, and recessionary fears as a given, most of the speakers, exhibitors, and attendees at this year's Manifest were still bullish on automation. They acknowledged the challenges of identifying the best robots for a particular job, as well as the growing needs for interoperability and easy ways to collect, analyze, and present data. Manifest attendance doubles in second year More than 3,000 people attended Manifest at Caesar's Forum—at least double the 1,500 attendees at last year's inaugural event, according to event organizers. Conference sessions began on…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.86
…one venue, especially after everything we've gone through with COVID and supply chain disruptions, it was quite remarkable. The OPEX Infinity solution was impressive. No surprise—OPEX traditionally has a high standard for its technology. With Infinity, the company has done a great job of solving high-density racking while maintaining tremendous throughput. Berkshire Grey's Spectrum Gripper, a picking arm with a single suction end, is solving for enormous assortment and size of materials. This flexibility will enable warehouses to lower operational costs. Matt Wade, BlueBotics Wade: It was interesting to see more automated vehicle suppliers showing examples of fleet operation and…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.84
…throughput is changing. Remember what e-commerce looked like before Covid. Quite different, actually. Modular is important because it allows the easiest path to adapting to dynamic conditions. Robust is important because it accommodates the first four requirements on the list. Requires little to no teaching is important because this is the future, which, to a great extent, is already here. Suppliers generally agree that artificial intelligence (AI) advances that allow robots to learn on the fly are the single greatest technical advancement in the past couple of years. We’ll round this out with a fourth best practice: The best solution…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.81
…WiBotic has benefited from heightened e-commerce demand during the COVID-19 pandmic. “There was an initial dip in activity, but it rebounded very quickly in the robotics space,” said Matt Carlson, vice president of business development at WiBotic. “People who have been dabbling in robotics started to buy more and actually put them to use. Our best two quarters were the fourth quarter of 2020 and first quarter of 2021.” Robot fleets and interoperability “In addition to order fulfillment, demand for UV disinfection robots went way up,” Carlson said. “We have a couple of customers developing and deploying these robots. Lots…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.79
…throughput is changing. Remember how different e-commerce looked before COVID-19. Modular is important because it allows the easiest path to adapting to dynamic conditions. Robust is important because it accommodates the first four requirements on the list. Requires little to no teaching is important because this is the future that is already here. Suppliers generally agree that artificial intelligence advances that allow robots to learn on the fly are the single greatest technical advancement of the past couple of years. 4. Integration over point solutions We’ll round this out with a fourth best practice: The best solution is an integrated…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.78
…and ever-growing needs for actionable data and throughput. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated e-commerce demand and heightened worker shortages, but maturing automation can help, according to inVia Robotics Inc. Westlake Village, Calif.-based inVia provides the Picker goods-to-person autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and the inVia Logic software for orchestrating tasks and the movement of goods. The company raised $30 million in Series C funding in July. 1. Robots aid rather than replace workers If robots handle repetitive tasks in quantity, that can free up people for qualitative work, such as creatively boxing orders, maintaining quality control, and collaborating with vendors to meet…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.76
…increase in e-commerce sales since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, that’s got to hurt. “The sheer magnitude of returns, especially in e-commerce, has been so enormous in the past 18 months that reverse-logistics practices have not generally caught up with the increased volumes yet,” said Tony Hasman, principal consultant at Dematic. Furthermore, nearly 30% of consumers deliberately over order, and 19% of consumers order multiple styles, according to Barclaycard Research. Ouch. With that in mind, reverse logistics should rank higher on the list of to-dos than cleaning out the cellar or reorganizing the garage. That said, many reverse-logistics operations…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.75
…to achieve production targets. Post-pandemic supply chain stabilization The COVID-19 pandemic challenged supply chain regimes across the world. The temporary closure of ports of entry deprived manufacturers of critical supplies, which in turn caused a slowdown in manufacturing activities. In 2022, most sectors of the economy are rebounding. Governments are slowly easing pandemic control measures, and international borders are opening up. Manufacturers learned several lessons from the pandemic period. The financial losses, which ran to billions of dollars, were a wake-up call for manufacturers to explore innovative methods to increase supply chain resilience. Manufacturers are struggling to replace all jobs…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.75
…she'll follow up throughout the day and tomorrow.” The COVID-19 pandemic heightened awareness of the need for social engagement, said Skuler. “Early customers may have gotten ElliQ for different reasons, but we're now seeing higher alignment with the value of having a roommate they can depend on,” he said. Intuition Robotics partners for additional services ElliQ’s service comes with a series of wellness coach sessions to help older adults define their goals. ElliQ then proactively motivates them to take control of their physical, mental, and social health, said Intuition Robotics. In a recent pilot study, ElliQ was shown to more…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.74
…it is open for reservations. Nommi noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed consumer expectations “for high-quality, low-touch, and speedy food options.” With restaurants operating with 2.8 fewer employees in the front of house and 6.2 fewer workers in the back of house, automation is increasingly seen as necessary for survival, it said. The company's team includes food and robotics experts from Miso Robotics, SBE, C3, Walt Disney Imagineering, and iRobot. Nommi claimed that its standalone robotic kitchen can be customized for a variety of cuisines and brands. C3 fills digital kitchen orders Nommi has partnered with C3 (Creating Culinary…