Smart Robotics, a provider of automation of picking as a service for warehouses and logistics processes, has launched its latest collaborative robotic system – the Smart Fashion Picker.
The company says the cobot’s “reliability and ability to operate continuously provides a faster return on investment – while responding to the logistics labor crisis and improving the physical and mental health of warehouse workers.”
Smart Fashion Picker addresses the pain point of transformation within warehouse automation. The need arises from the notion that the warehouse sector is quite late in automation, compared to other industries, and is now looking at a rapid transition to modern processes.
The transformation is much needed as warehousing efficiency plays a key role in creating a frictionless logistics course to follow.
The Smart Fashion Picker’s name derives from its function – the cobot can pick a large variety of fashion items, which are placed in protective wrapping, directly from a cart or bin.
Vision sensors, motion and task planning algorithms help the cobot calculate what to pick next, as well as how to accurately pick and place the item in the next bin, plus it can easily tell when the bin is empty or full.
Johan Jardenvall, CEO of Smart Robotics, says: “We are very excited to introduce this product to the wider market after successful implementation with our initial customers.
“It has proven to deliver consistent and reliable performance with the throughput needed to be relevant in a warehouse, while being able to handle the large range of frequently changing products that are typical of the industry.
“This product is an important step in our master plan to reduce repetitive and harmful work in warehouses around the globe.”
Picking items in warehouses is a repetitive process that is difficult for people who manually pick and place items. Thus, automation allows warehouse workers to lean toward robotic systems, rather than languishing picking and sorting items.
Smart Robotics says its cobot is capable of handling items at a pace that matches human pickers, requiring very little supervision. The system ensures reliable and uninterrupted operation and requires no special training from its operators and “can be safely managed by people of all skill levels”.
In addition, the Smart Fashion Picker is smarter in its ability to adapt to changing circumstances around it, such as changes in assortment, how the cobot interacts with people moving around it, etc. As such, Smart Fashion Picker is capable of working in the real world of warehouses, rather than a default, coded environment.
Smart Robotics has been developing cobot-based picking applications since 2017 and is confident that the Smart Fashion Picker will help provide more reliable capacity in high-demand logistics. This launch is a major milestone in Smart Robotics’ continued improvement of their cobot designs.
Smart Robotics says the Smart Fashion Picker is “one of many enhancements it has in the pipeline to make warehouse automation more versatile and dynamic in a high-performance logistics industry.”
