Imagine reducing your warehouse workforce expenditures by nearly half, adding 24 hour shifts that squeeze even more production out of your facility and having visibility of troves of up to the minute information on every aspect of your facility. Warehouse robotics systems can help you transform your business, lowering costs, supercharging productivity and enhancing performance.

Types of Warehouse Robots

While some types of warehouse robotics solutions have been available for decades, others are cutting-edge engineering marvels that may disrupt the warehousing industry as we know it. The main types of robotics system are:

Articulated Robotic Arms: Robotic arms with multiple joints can lift and move products in a warehouse. They're typically applied to receiving tasks, like moving items from pallets to racking, or in production settings, for picking, packing and shipping.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Unmanned aerial vehicles, more commonly referred to as drones, can deliver real-time inventory insight within warehouses by leveraging RFID technology.

Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS) : AS/RS can pick up goods from shelves and return items to their designated storage slots. Examples of AS/RS solutions are cranes that retrieve goods between aisles, vertical or horizontal carousel systems and shuttle systems.

Goods-to-Person technology (G2P): In lieu of using people to pick items from bins and racks, G2P systems use robots to supply products to picking stations, where workers are stationed to fulfill orders as items are delivered.

Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) : AGVs, including self-driving forklifts, carts or pallet jacks, transport products between locations within a warehouse. Cart based AGVs are often called Automatic Guided Carts, or AGCs.

Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) : Similar to AGCs and AGVs, AMRs can move goods throughout a facility autonomously. Unlike AGVs and AGCs, which move along set routes often controlled by magnetic strips or wire tracks, AMRs rely on maps, cameras and sensors to negotiate non-static routes by evaluating their surroundings.

Applications For Warehouse Robots

Until recently, robotic applications in distribution centers and warehouses, warehouses and distribution centers were restricted to a small number of jobs. As technology has improved, robotic capabilities have exploded and they can now be applied to almost any function in a warehouse:

Loading and unloading: Although total automation of unloading and loading trailers is not yet a realistic possibility, automated systems like AGVs and conveyors can be employed to augment your loading dock speed.

Palletizing and de-palletizing: Robotic systems are ideal for tedious, repetitious work like palletizing. These types of robots normally employ a special End-of-Arm Tool to collect products and position them on a pallet. They're commonly used in combination with with conveyor systems that transport products to the palletizing area.

Sorting: Robotic sortation systems must have the ability to select objects, identify them and place them in the proper storage slot or bin. As goods advance along a conveyor, these robots use cameras to identify specific items and select them.

Picking: Most of the human labor expenses in a warehouse originate from picking functions, and robotic picking solutions have been around for decades to help resolve this concern. Nevertheless, today's robotic picking solutions offer increased speed, improved accuracy, more efficiency and superior value as compared to systems of just a few years ago.

Packaging: Robotic solutions are well suited for recurrent and tedious jobs like packaging. They may also be used for more complicated tasks like dimensioning, weighing and cartonizing.

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

Storage: AS/RS solutions include many types of warehouse robots, including cranes, pallet shuttles and mini-load systems. AS/RS is also sometimes used in combination with mobile racking systems to make the most of space utilization.

Delivery: Large e-commerce companies are conducting research on autonomous delivery drones, self-driving trucks and other technologies that will fundamentally change last mile delivery options in the next decade.

Replenishment: Using RFID to keep track of inventory, warehouse drones can scan barcode labels up to 50% faster than manual scanning and transmit inventory information back to the WMS in real time.

Industrial Robotics Companies Near Me

If you're interested in learning more about industrial robotic solutions for your operation, talk to an automation expert at Raymond West today!

Raymond West's Los Angeles facility serves much of Los Angeles County, including Santa Fe Springs, Whittier, La Mirada, Downey, Pico Rivera, Los Angeles, Montebello, El Monte, Rosemead, Alhambra, South Gate, Lynwood, Compton, Westmont, Gardena, Torrance, Carson, San Pedro, La Habra, City of Industry, Walnut, Inglewood, Hawthorne and all surrounding areas.

Raymond West | Los Angeles Material Handling Equipment Supplier

9939 Norwalk Blvd
Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670
(562) 944-8067