Warehouse Robotics | Minneapolis

Consider this: what would it mean to your business if you could slash your warehouse human resource expenses by 50% or more, add 24 x 7 shifts that could potentially double your productivity and have access to troves of live data on all aspects of your facility? Warehouse robotics systems can help you transform your business, reducing expenditures, increasing output and strengthening profitability.

Types of Warehouse Robots

Although some types of warehouse robotics technologies have been around for decades, others are bleeding edge solutions that may fundamentally change the distribution and warehousing industry as we know it. The main categories of robotics system are:

Articulated Robotic Arms: Robotic arms with multiple joints can pick up and move items in a warehouse. They're often used for receiving tasks, like relocating goods from pallets to racks, or in production scenarios, for picking and shipping.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Unmanned aerial vehicles, more frequently referred to as drones, can maintain real-time inventory data in a facility through the use of RFID technology.

Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS) : AS/RS can collect products from racks and put items in their correct storage locations. Examples of AS/RS solutions are horizontal or vertical carousel systems, aisle cranes and pallet shuttle systems.

Goods-to-Person technology (G2P): In lieu of using people to pick items from storage locations, G2P technology uses robots to supply items to picking stations, where workers are positioned to fill orders as items are delivered.

Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) : AGVs, like self-driving forklifts, carts or pallet jacks, transport inventory from one area to another within a warehouse. Cart based AGVs are often called AGCs, or Automatic Guided Carts.

Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) : Like AGCs and AGVs, AMRs can transfer products throughout a facility autonomously. In contrast to AGCs and AGVs, which traverse stationary routes often guided by magnetic strips or wire tracks, AMRs rely on cameras, maps and sensors to navigate non-static routes by analyzing their environment.

Applications For Warehouse Robots

Until recently, robotic applications in warehouses were limited to a handful of functions. As technology has advanced, robotic capabilities have exploded and they can now be used for almost any function in a warehouse:

Loading and unloading: Although full automation of unloading and loading trucks is not yet a reality, automated systems like conveyors and AGVs can be added to augment your loading dock operations.

Palletizing and de-palletizing: Robotic systems are ideal for monotonous, recurrent work like palletizing. Palletizizing robots generally make use of a specific End-of-Arm Tool to collect products and place them on a pallet. They're commonly coupled with conveyor systems that feed products to the palletizing area.

Sorting: Robotic sortation systems must be able to grab objects, identify them and place them in an appropriate storage slot or bin. As goods move along a conveyor, these systems use cameras to identify specific items and pick them out.

Picking: The vast majority of labor expenses in a warehouse come from picking activities, and robotic picking tehnologies have been around for quite some time to help tackle this problem. Nevertheless, contemporary robotic picking solutions offer increased speed, better accuracy, more efficiency and far better value versus systems of even a few years ago.

Packaging: Robotic solutions are ideal for repetitious and tedious functions like packaging. They can also be used for more advanced tasks like dimensioning, weighing and cartonizing.

Transportation: Robotic transportation systems are widely used in warehouses, from simple AGCs/AGVs to AMRs and conveyor systems that are integrated with AS/RS.

Storage: AS/RS implementations include several categories of warehouse robots, including pallet shuttles, mini-load systems and cranes. AS/RS is also sometimes used in combination with mobile racking systems to make the most of storage density.

Delivery: Major e-com businesses are experimenting with self-driving trucks, autonomous delivery drones and other technologies that will fundamentally change last mile delivery options in the coming years.

Replenishment: Using RFID to monitor inventory, warehouse drones can scan barcode labels in half the time of manual scanning and relay inventory data back to the warehouse management system instantaneously.

Industrial Robotics Companies Near Me

To find out more about industrial robotic solutions for your operation, speak with an automation expert at Associated today!

The Associated Minneapolis service area includes Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester, Bloomington, Duluth, Brooklyn Park, Plymouth, Woodbury, Lakeville, Blaine, Maple Grove, St. Cloud, Eagan, Burnsville, Coon Rapids, Eden Prairie, Apple Valley, Minnetonka, Edina, St. Louis Park, Shakopee, Mankato, Moorhead, Cottage Grove, Maplewood, Richfield, Inver Grove Heights, Roseville, Andover, Savage, Brooklyn Center, Fridley, Ramsey, Chaska, Prior Lake, Oakdale, Rosemount, Elk River, Shoreview, Owatonna, Chanhassen, Austin and all surrounding areas.

Associated | Minneapolis Material Handling Equipment Supplier

935 Blue Gentian Rd
Eagan, MN 55121
(651) 688-6175