Humatics Corporation, microlocation products and software company, is to partner autonomous logistics solutions company Vecna Robotics on navigation of self-driving vehicles and industrial robots in materials handling.
The integration of Humatics’ KinetIQ 300 microlocation system into Vecna’s fleet of self-driving vehicles enables them to navigate outdoor environments and access areas of the warehouse that had previously been considered difficult, such as loading docks.
Humatics’ technology also helps Vecna vehicles to detect centimetre size objects from over four and half football fields away. This increases navigation efficiency in warehouses with limited permanent infrastructure, as opposed to fixed shelving.
“We are excited to join forces with our Boston neighbor, Vecna Robotics,” said David Mindell, CEO and Co-Founder of Humatics.
“Navigation for autonomous mobile robots in the warehouse has hit limitations that can only be remedied with more precise microlocation.”
Utilising Humatics’ microlocation platform, Vecna self-driving vehicles and industrial robots can better navigate down to the centimetre in unstructured and highly dynamic environments.
A worker may be moving boxes with a pallet jack in and out of a loading dock area, which can slow robots only equipped with LiDAR or fiducial stickers for navigation.
Humatics’ KinetIQ 300 system enables them to recognise these changes without confusion, with 2-centimetre repeatability from up to 500 metres away. This allows them to quickly identify and navigate around the smallest of obstacles, leading to significant increases in productivity.
The technology also helps operation indoors and outdoors in all weather conditions. For example, Vecna vehicles can move pallets from an outdoor loading dock to an indoor warehouse storage area, or move goods to and from different buildings.
The Humatics Spatial Intelligence Platform combines hardware, software and analytics to help robots navigate more autonomously, both indoors and outdoors in all weather conditions.
