Robotics & Automation News

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MassRobotics partners with Chewy to launch $30,000 prize competition

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MassRobotics, in collaboration with Chewy, a pet food and care products retailer, has launched the CHAMP (Chewy Autonomous Mobile Picking) Challenge.

This innovation challenge invites robotics developers and innovators to tackle a pressing issue in warehouse automation: designing a system that efficiently grasps, lifts, and places heavy, awkwardly shaped items in confined warehouse spaces.

The CHAMP Challenge focuses specifically on the challenges of grasping and picking large, bulky items, such as bags, boxes, and pails of dog food and cat litter. [Read more…] about MassRobotics partners with Chewy to launch $30,000 prize competition

Amazon adds two new robots, including one humanoid, to the 750,000 already working in its warehouses

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Amazon has revealed that it now has over 750,000 robots working collaboratively with employees, taking on highly repetitive tasks and freeing employees up to “better deliver for our customers”.

With all of these efforts under way, Amazon has just launched a new robotic system in time to help fulfill customer orders for holiday shopping this year. Sequoia is the name of this new technology, and it’s now operating at one of the fulfillment centers in Houston, Texas.

By reimagining how the company stores and manages inventory at its sites, Sequoia will help Amazon delight customers with greater speed and increased accuracy for delivery estimates, while also improving employee safety at the company’s facilities. [Read more…] about Amazon adds two new robots, including one humanoid, to the 750,000 already working in its warehouses

US retailer Meijer to launch beach and water cleaning drones in the Great Lakes

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US Midwest retailer Meijer is launching its participation in the Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup Program with the use of two innovative technologies – the BeBot and Pixie Drone, partly based on the WasteShark produced by Ranmarine – to clean up Midwestern beaches and waterways in partnership with the Council of the Great Lakes Region. 

This initiative is supporting the single largest deployment of these types of eco-friendly and remote-controlled devices across multiple states in the Great Lakes, which encompass the largest surface freshwater system in the world.

Rick Keyes, Meijer president and CEO, says: “It is a privilege to live near the Great Lakes, which inherently comes with the responsibility to protect them. [Read more…] about US retailer Meijer to launch beach and water cleaning drones in the Great Lakes

Eyewear retailer brings in robot from Osaro to keep up with e-commerce orders

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Osaro, a developer of advanced robotics for e-commerce, has partnered with Zenni, an online eyewear retailer, to automate the “last meter” of Zenni’s fulfillment center in Novato, California.

Three Osaro Robotic Bagging Systems will take on the responsibility of readying eyewear orders for shipment to US customers.

The implementation is also an industry first. This is the first time a robot will be assigned the responsibility of working with an automated mechanical bagging system to ensure a customer’s unique order is placed into the correct bag for shipment. [Read more…] about Eyewear retailer brings in robot from Osaro to keep up with e-commerce orders

Yandex partners with Majid Al Futtaim to bring autonomous robot delivery to Dubai

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Yandex Self-Driving Group has signed an agreement with Majid Al Futtaim Retail – a shopping mall, communities, retail, and leisure company with interests across the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia – to enhance Carrefour’s last-mile delivery capabilities via autonomous technology solutions.

The partnership will make Carrefour the first omnichannel retailer in the region to use self-driving robots to deliver orders.

Carrefour customers in selected neighborhoods across the UAE will be able to receive their online orders via Yandex autonomous delivery robots, as part of a pilot program set to launch in early 2022. [Read more…] about Yandex partners with Majid Al Futtaim to bring autonomous robot delivery to Dubai

Decathlon to implement PAL Robotics’ StockBot in facilities worldwide

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Sports goods giant Decathlon and PAL Robotics have launched a global partnership after PAL Robotics’ StockBot inventory tracking and data collection solution was selected for rollout across Decathlon stores in multiple countries, assisting the team and elevating in-store experience.

The retailer has implemented the solution in order to improve in-store operations and efficiencies so that teammates are able to dedicate more time helping customers for a better customer experience, as well as helping improve product availability rates.

PAL Robotics’ StockBot solution was first implemented in Decathlon Singapore, as well as more recently in France, The Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Ireland, Italy, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Australia. Discussions are also ongoing on further deployment opportunities in other countries. [Read more…] about Decathlon to implement PAL Robotics’ StockBot in facilities worldwide

SSI Schaffer provides Coop with ‘one of the largest automation solutions in the world’

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Coop, one of the leading food retailers in Sweden, has chosen SSI Schaefer as its general contractor for intralogistics to provide a highly automated logistics solution for the company’s new 77,000 sqm distribution center in Eskilstuna, Sweden.

Coop’s new distribution center, strategically positioned in the heart of Sweden, will handle the distribution of goods to Coop’s 800+ stores around the country.

The majority of the material flow will be processed by two highly automated robotic case picking systems for chilled and ambient products. The result will be a sustainable warehouse that will handle more than 600,000 units per day. [Read more…] about SSI Schaffer provides Coop with ‘one of the largest automation solutions in the world’

Swisslog to install ‘highly automated’ warehouse for Jaycar Electronics

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Swisslog is to install a purpose-built, high-tech, highly automated storage, handling and picking solution for Jaycar Electronics.

Jaycar, an electronics retailer and e-tailer, says it is investing in the advanced warehouse in Sydney so it can deliver the efficiency and performance needed to drive its growing business into the future.

Logistics automation specialists, Swisslog, has been chosen to provide the highly automated storage, handling and picking solution at the core of the new-build site. [Read more…] about Swisslog to install ‘highly automated’ warehouse for Jaycar Electronics

Cleveron robots go to work at Decathlon

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Retail click-and-collect company Cleveron’s lockers and parcel robots have been deployed by Decathlon in Hungary.

According to Decathlon Hungary’s Online Marketing Director Gergely Román, the total number of parcels ordered via their online store has grown by 40 per cent in one year.

Decathlon uses Cleveron 402 and two Cleveron 301’s to hand out online orders. Customers who have placed an online order come to the store, insert their order code at the parcel robot and retrieve their parcel.

[Read more…] about Cleveron robots go to work at Decathlon