Nimble robotics location install#

Interest in robotic picking is up considerably in the pandemic as e-commerce orders have surged and competition for workers intensified, accelerating broader demand for logistics automation. “That doesn’t mean we reduce manpower … It’s pretty much a labor shortage which we face.”

“I believe automation is the future,” Mr. The robots perform with about 99% accuracy, about as well as their human counterparts, and can run for two shifts straight, said Helmut Leibbrandt, Puma’s senior vice president of supply-chain management for the Americas.

Remote operators are on hand to assist if the robot has trouble picking up an object. The technology from Nimble Robotics Inc., whose customers include Best Buy Co. and Victoria’s Secret & Co., uses a combination of cameras, grippers and artificial intelligence to pluck items from bins that another automated system delivers to workstations usually staffed by people.

Nimble robotics location install#

the company plans to install more robots at another site outside Indianapolis. Puma North America Inc., a division of Puma SE , is using several robotic arms to assemble orders of clothing and shoes at a distribution center in Torrance, Calif. But the latest steps show warehouse robots are evolving as the computer vision and software that guide them grow more sophisticated, allowing them to take on more tasks that have been largely done by people. More robots that can pick up separate objects are moving from laboratories to warehouses as the technology improves and labor-strapped logistics operators look to automation to meet surging demand.īusinesses are using software-powered robotic arms to sort clothing and e-commerce parcels, pack bread and industrial supplies and, in some cases, pick electronics and consumer products from larger bins to prepare orders for delivery.Įxperts say the technology isn’t replacing human workers anytime soon.

Advances in technology are moving automated picking systems from the lab to labor-strapped warehousesĪutomatons from Nimble Robotics help fill orders at Puma North America’s warehouse in Torrance, Calif.