Robotic piece picking

The robotic arm can pick at 600 to 1,200 pieces per hour depending on the item

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN – Dematic has introduced a Robotic Piece Picking Module designed to improve accuracy and productivity during the last touch — the point where items of varying sizes and shapes are processed by hand — of the fulfillment process.

Traditionally, the last touch has been a manual process, but the Robotic Piece Picking Module completes the automation of the fulfillment chain. The module selects, grips, lifts and places individual items of varying sizes into containers or bins to complete a shipment. It delivers pick rates of 600 to 1,200 items per hour ensuring on time delivery of a wide variety of SKUs, such as personal care items, cosmetics, packaged food, office supplies and variety of other package types, shapes and fragility.

The system integrates advanced vision, image processing software, a robotic arm and gripper technologies to rapidly scan and verify the contents of an incoming container.

“Distribution centers are facing increased pressure to find reliable, qualified and available labour,” said Crystal Parrott, vice-president of the Robotics Center of Excellence at Dematic.

“Our robotics offerings, such as the Robotic Piece Picking Module, help warehouse managers streamline processes through advanced technology and software that operate 24/7 with extraordinary accuracy, drilling down labour costs and improving fulfillment efficiency. The key to success is in identifying the system solution that meets the unique needs of a customer’s application.”

The Robotic Piece Picking Module is part of a suite of automated solutions built around process improvements, robotic technology, vision and software within the Dematic Robotics Center of Excellence.

“We are committed to solving the toughest logistics challenges by investing in the development of feature-rich modules using advanced technologies and pairing that with the global integration expertise of Dematic for successful project execution,” continued Parrott.

Dematic promotes the robotic picking as parts of its complete ‘lights out’ warehouse system.