We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.
  • INDUSTRY PRESS ROOM
  • SUBMISSIONS
  • MEDIA FILE
  • Create Account
  • Sign In
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Free Newsletters
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
  • STRATEGY
  • GLOBAL
  • LOGISTICS
  • MANUFACTURING
  • PROCUREMENT
  • VIDEO
    • News & Exclusives
    • Viewer Contributed
    • CSCMP EDGE 2022 Startup Alley
    • Upload your video
  • PODCAST ETC
    • Podcast
    • White Papers
    • Webcasts
    • Events
    • Blogs
      • Reflections
      • SCQ Forum
    • Mobile Apps
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
  • STRATEGY
  • GLOBAL
  • LOGISTICS
  • MANUFACTURING
  • PROCUREMENT
  • VIDEO
    • News & Exclusives
    • Viewer Contributed
    • CSCMP EDGE 2022 Startup Alley
    • Upload your video
  • PODCAST ETC
    • Podcast
    • White Papers
    • Webcasts
    • Events
    • Blogs
      • Reflections
      • SCQ Forum
    • Mobile Apps
Home » Robots will collaborate with warehouse workers, not replace them, vendors say
Forward Thinking

Robots will collaborate with warehouse workers, not replace them, vendors say

July 20, 2017
Ben Ames
No Comments

Robot applications for logistics over the next decade will focus more on collaborating with human warehouse employees than replacing them outright, experts at a conference held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said Monday.

Industrial robot vendors are adding material handling capabilities to solve "low-hanging fruit" challenges of mobility, item location, and placement, said Jerome Dubois, co-founder at Waltham-Mass.-based warehouse robotics vendor 6 River Systems Inc. These products can boost warehouse worker productivity by two to three times its current pace without replacing the jobs they're doing, he said during a panel session called "Collaborative Robots at Work" at the TechCrunch Sessions: Robotics conference.

"Ultimately, we might have empty warehouses with people walking around outside without having to do that work," Dubois said. "But ... for a long, long time there will be plenty to do for robots in collaborating with human workers."

As robot vendors continue to build devices that work side by side with warehouse workers, they are continuing to improve software and hardware to create simpler designs, according to Dubois. "We have to simplify operations to make them easy to use for an operator who may or may not have a high school degree," Dubois said.

One source of worker inspiration is the type of consumer electronics device that features video game-based interfaces, such as the popular "Candy Crush" game played on smartphones. "The retention of skilled labor is incredibly expensive for these companies, so we need to make products that are easy to work with and that are fun to work with," Dubois said.

Creating warehouse robots with fun, familiar interfaces will help bring the technology to a wider market, fostering rising demand throughout the industry, the panelists agreed.

Another way that robot vendors can find more applications in the DC is to design robots that can operate in a warehouse without expensive retrofitting, said Clara Vu, CEO of Cambridge, Mass.-based Veo Robotics Inc., a developer of collaborative robotic picking arms.

"Logistics has been less automated than manufacturing, because people have always thought that if you wanted to add automation, you had to automate your entire line," Vu said. "But now they are realizing that's not true—you can drop in robotics at a specific point in your line where it makes the most sense."

  • Related Articles

    DHL says early pandemic lessons will ease distribution hurdles for Covid vaccine

    Combined MHI and WERC plan expanded conversations between material handling equipment vendors and users

    ELD vendors ramp up for demand as wireless carriers sunset 3G

Ben Ames is Editor at Large and a Senior Editor at Supply Chain Quarterly?s sister publication, DC Velocity.

Recent Articles by Ben Ames

U.S. regulators approve merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern

Port of Savannah gains national market share

Norfolk Southern releases two safety plans to prevent future derailments

You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

Most Popular Articles

  • Survey: most Americans unaware that truckers face shortage of parking spaces

  • Best practices in logistics sustainability

  • Postal Service plans to seize items mailed with fake stamps

  • Supply chain executives not yet seeing expected results from technology investments

  • Inflation drops again as interest rate hikes hit home, NRF says

Featured Video

20221107korber large vs

Enhancing Customer Experience with Your Supply Chain Strategy

Viewer Contributed
With the rise of e-commerce, many businesses have had to transform their warehouses to handle online orders in addition to regularly scheduled inventory shipments. This means warehouses need more information than ever before to ensure they can meet customers' needs. As a result, companies need to select warehouse...

FEATURED WHITE PAPERS

  • Guide to Pallet Rack Safety

  • 3PLs: Complete Orders Faster with Flexible Automation

  • A shipper's guide to navigating post-pandemic holiday freight

  • THE NEW WAY TO WAREHOUSE: 4 Innovations in Automation & Robotics to Boost Warehouse Productivity

View More

Subscribe to Supply Chain Quarterly

Get Your Subscription
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • E-NEWSLETTERS
  • ADVERTISING
  • CUSTOMER CARE
  • CONTACT
  • ABOUT
  • STAFF
  • PRIVACY POLICY

Copyright ©2023. All Rights ReservedDesign, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing