Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs)

In many markets, labor has been hard to find, expensive, or both since well before 2020. But in the wake of the supply chain disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies have moved to re-shoring at least some of their warehousing operations and establishing a Just-in-Case inventory model.

As companies look to find ways to move products and goods through their facilities, AMRs have proven to be an affordable, flexible alternative to manual labor. They are also less expensive than many fixed systems, can be deployed in as little as a month, and have the added benefit of keeping the floorspace usable for operators and other equipment.

Like many automated warehouse solutions, AMRs can help save labor by reducing the time operators spend walking the floor to put away or retrieve merchandise. But the manner in which AMRs do this enables facilities to improve their operation’s organizational efficiency in a number of key ways.

Compared to other automation that offer similar benefits to AMRs — including improved safety, accuracy, and efficiency — AMRs simply take up less space. They don’t require specialized racking and can use the same routing as traditional forklifts and tuggers. Moreover, because they are connected to the facility’s network, they can help clear out bottlenecks and reduce the time that products spend in staging areas.

Depending on the exact technologies used, AMRs can even be integral parts of sortation and consolidation processes, which help warehouses minimize the space their products take up in storage.

AMRs require some basic infrastructure to get up and running, which most facilities either already have or desperately need. This includes a Warehouse Management System (WMS) capable of directing all of a warehouse’s many moving parts, and time spent mapping the AMRs routes.

Once those fundamental components are in place, a fleet of AMRs can be scaled up or down on a nearly as-needed basis. With Robotics as a Service (RaaS) payment options, if a facility knows it’s entering a season of peak demand, it can simply on-board more units. And when the demand is over, the units can be returned to their owner — the service provider. This also allows the units to be treated as an operational, as opposed to capital, expense.

Fixed automation like conveyors and storage and retrieval systems certainly have their place in material handling. But they require dedicated floor space to function and can take as much as 18 months to implement. During this time, this space is typically not usable until the fixed solution is operational. This means a temporary loss of use of that space, which can be detrimental to ongoing operations.

While AMRs have some parameters that have to be met — including enough space in an aisle to turn around or slot merchandise — the only infrastructure they require is for a minimal amount of space to be dedicated to their charging stations. Other than that, they are designed to function in the same paths as other material handling solutions like forklifts and tuggers. This enables them to be integrated into a facility in as little as a month, with minimal effect on the rest of a facility’s operations.

One of the primary benefits of most automated material handling solutions — AMRs included — is that they remove operators from an injury-prone task. Operators who walk miles every day on unyielding concrete can develop problems in their feet and knees. If they are repeatedly moving heavy objects, they are subject to sprain and strain injuries. And driving heavy machinery like forklifts are some of the most dangerous jobs in a warehouse, for both the operators and nearby pedestrians.

On top of that, AMRs are equipped with a suite of safety features, including audible alarms, visual signals, and emergency bump stops, to keep operators in the area safe. AMRs continuously scan their environment using lidar (light detection and ranging) or similar technologies, and can detect when their path is obstructed by people, equipment, or merchandise. They are capable of finding alternate routes or, if none are available, will stop instead of putting anyone or anything at risk.

AMRs are an integral component in many material handling operations, including the movement of heavy pallets. This can be achieved in a number of ways, depending on the needs of the facility.

AMRs can be equipped with top-side conveyors, can lift pallets from a transfer stand, or can look and act like conventional forklifts and pull merchandise from static racking. They can take goods from shipping to storage, pull pallets to pick faces in a goods-to-person operation, and easily move goods between environmental zones. In nearly any operation in which pallets need to be moved in predictable, repeated patterns, AMRs can be integrated to improve the consistency, accuracy, and throughput.

AMRs can enable lean manufacturing processes by moving goods in and out of storage in a way that is dynamic enough to support line-side and point-of-use operations. AMRs can bring tools and inventory directly to operators at a height that is ergonomic.

This can help lean operations reduce their inventory and control their wasted motion, time spent transporting goods, and time wasted waiting for goods.

As the use-case for AMRs has grown, manufacturers have continued to meet the industry’s demand, and AMRs are being developed with increasingly user-friendly designs. Peer Robotics, for example, has developed a line of AMR cobots (collaborative robots) that can independently move totes, small cases, or eaches.

Peer Robotics cobots use state-of-the-art, no-code deployment solutions that enable their system to be deployed in minutes. They can be used to deliver goods autonomously, or can be equipped with an appropriate user interface to work directly alongside an operator.