OFFLOADING THE “4D” JOBS
There’s a platitude among engineers that the best applications for robots in the workplace are the “4D” jobs: tasks
that are too dangerous, dull, dirty, or dumb for human
laborers to perform efficiently.
That applies in the DC, too, where managers first brought
robotic platforms like automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) and automated guided vehicles (AGVs) into
their operations to enable high-density storage and to help
ease a worker shortage.
“(Items needed to fill orders) are getting moved to peo-
ple, so people can concentrate on higher-level processes
and value-add jobs,” said Earl Wohlrab, robotic and pallet-
izing systems manager for Intelligrated, a Cincinnati-based
systems integrator. “There are lots of peripheral operations
that people can be doing, aside from just pushing a cart
around.”
The trend will gather steam as labor becomes increas-
ingly scarce and as the technology used in robotic systems
advances, Wohlrab predicts. Still, there are many tasks
where humans will always outperform robots.
“There’s nothing better than a human picker,” Wohlrab
said. A human has no trouble distinguishing between items
that are “the same object but a different flavor,” he points
out, but you can’t make that assumption with machines.
“That’s intuitive to humans, but it needs to be taught to
automated platforms.”
CHANGING FACE OF ROBOTICS
That ability to handle variability in warehouse work is one
of the features that distinguish a true robotic system from
one that’s merely automated. As part of a complex system,
robots can add flexibility to automation, a crucial ingredient in the age of omnichannel fulfillment, said Jeremiah
Miele, manager of research and development at Genco,
a Pittsburgh-based third-party logistics specialist (3PL)
recently acquired by FedEx.
Most warehouses were designed to pick and ship pallets
and cases, but as the e-commerce revolution takes hold,
retailers find themselves filling more and more orders for
individual items or pieces. As a result, fulfillment centers
today are handling a greater portion of small bins, bags, and
boxes than they did in the past.
“(Robotic intelligence) is even more important in logistics than in manufacturing, because change is happening
constantly, as opposed to maybe quarterly or annually,”
Miele said.
Given that reality, it’s probably no surprise that designers at Genco are looking beyond the autonomous mobile
robots of the type built by Kiva Systems (now known as
Amazon Robotics) to more creative robotic platforms, such
as indoor flying drones.
“We’re really interested in drones right now; they have
untapped potential as a platform for delivering robotic
(capabilities) within a DC,” Miele said. “There’s also a very
large enthusiast community to provide expertise. But we
haven’t seen them used before besides scanning buildings
and yards. Drones are just a platform for mounting intelli-
gence; with a vision system and enough time, we can build
anything.”
Another robotics firm experimenting with new platforms
is Clearpath Robotics, a Kitchener, Ont.-based company
that in September, unveiled a self-driving warehouse robot
called Otto.
Designed for intelligent heavy-load transport in industrial environments, each Otto platform uses laser-based
“lidar” scanning to sense and map a building floor, then
