Autonomous Mobile Robots

A somewhat new class of DC automation in which robots self-navigate to accomplish work. There are mobile robots for piece picking, case picking, and pallet picking (robotic AGVs), with different capacities (weight/cube), and storage configurations. Piece picking mobile robots generally work by meeting a picker at a location. The worker is directed to pick items into a carton/tote being carrier by the robot. The same worker may be asked to pick another item if it is nearby. If it is further away, the robot may be directed to meet another picket, the process repeating until the order is complete and the robot moves the items to packing. Another version of this is to use a robot that can pick up a pick cart with multiple slots,” enabling “cluster picking,” or picking the same item for multiple orders assigned to the cart, reducing travel time.