Enterprise technology giant Zebra Technologies Corp. today announced three new autonomous mobile robots as part of a new fulfillment system for warehouse operators.
The Fetch Robotics brand system is supported by an order or batch pick and fulfillment software package called FetchCore, which is used to manage warehouse operations and control three robots.
Zebra is a large enterprise technology company, and despite its annual revenue of more than $4 billion, it is often overlooked. As a member of the Fortune 500, Zebra sells technology to customers in the manufacturing, supply chain, retail, and healthcare industries.
Its products include a variety of rugged mobile devices, thermal barcode label and receipt printers, RFID smart label printers and encoders, handheld readers and antennas, card and self-service terminal printers, and special printers. It also designs and sells the software needed to operate these devices.
Many of its products are already used in warehouse operations, so robotics is very suitable for Zebra. The company only entered the business when it acquired a company called Fetch Robotics Inc. for $290 million in July. But its development is fast, and new robots-FlexShelf, FlexShelf Guide and RollerTop Guide-will help expand its position in warehouse automation.
It is said that autonomous mobile robots or AMRs have some unique advantages over existing warehouse robots. Zebra said that FlexShelf and FlexShelf Guide are built on the proven Fetch Freight100 platform and provide more flexible bin sizes and spacing configurations, which means they can pick up a wider range of items compared to existing AMRs.
They also improve picking accuracy by combining placement lighting and picking side lighting, which Zebra said may be critical during peak periods when orders are much larger. In addition, Zebra claims that robots can help reduce worker training time and even increase employee retention rates because they reduce the time pickers spend in the warehouse by 60%.
Safety is also very important. All three robots comply with ANSI RIA R15.0 industrial robot safety standards. There are also functions such as forklift detection, which allows them to avoid the blind spots of forklifts and avoid injuries when necessary.
As for RollerTop Guide AMR, Zebra stated that companies deploying this model will be able to integrate each picking workflow with existing fixed transportation, sorting, and automated storage and retrieval systems.
The secret is FetchCore enterprise cloud software, which Zebra said will be used to modify workflows and manage warehouse operations on demand. Zebra said that the platform integrates with existing warehouse management and warehouse execution software to enable dynamic orchestration of human workers and robots. The company can optimize the order, batch, container and pallet picking workflow.
There is also a warehouse annotation function, which can logically superimpose the physical picking positions in the warehouse into FetchCore. This eliminates the need for QR codes and allows the AMR to be easily adjusted when it is re-placed in a new part of the warehouse.
Not surprisingly, Zebra made some impressive claims, claiming that its robots run 50% faster than other types of AMRs and triple the productivity of performing operations.
Ash Sharma, senior research director of Interact Analysis, said that as retailers struggle to keep up with customer demand, AMRs that can support manual picking operations in fulfillment centers are now in high demand.
"Fetch Robotics is now part of Zebra Technologies and is responding to this need by developing an integrated fulfillment solution, so retailers and 3PL can now not only simplify each picking operation, but also use the entire portfolio of Fetch AMR to automate any fulfillment. Manual workflow and distribution center," Sharma said.
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