Collaborative robot milestone reached: 1 million units picked in five days

The robotic revolution in the supply chain marches on. 6 River Systems' (6RS) collaborative robot solution helped warehouses across the nation fulfill a million units in just five days, the company said today.

The developer of warehouse fulfillment robots said it achieved the milestone with its warehouse and distribution center customers in the week leading up to Cyber Monday. 6RS' collaborative solution pairs robots with cloud-based software for warehouse fulfillment automation and is in use at 25 sites in the United States, the company said.

"This is a huge win not just for our customers, but for the entire collaborative robotics industry," Jerome Dubois, co-founder and co-CEO of Waltham, Mass.-based 6RS said in a statement announcing the goal. "This proves what we've known for quite some time now: logistics leaders have new options for automation. They don't have to settle for the status quo, traditional automation that is clunky, nonscalable, and expensive."  

The 6RS solution is powered by robots called "Chucks" that communicate with cloud-based software to coordinate all the tasks on the warehouse floor, the company said. The result is a "fleet of Chucks working seamlessly and collaboratively with associates to eliminate long walks, reduce in-aisle walking and speed up tasks, including put-away, picking, counting, replenishment, and sorting," according to the company.

6RS customers include third-party logistics providers, retailers and manufacturers. Its solution helps them meet challenges associated with rising online sales as well as labor shortages that continue to plague warehouses and distribution centers, especially on the fulfillment side, the company said.