The Skypod system from robot start-up Exotec Solutions has been commissioned by French e-commerce company Cdiscount, making it the first user worldwide. The system consists of Skypod robots that can autonomously retrieve the right crate of products from a warehouse. Remarkably, the robots can move in three dimensions and climb scaffolding to pick the right crate.
Exotec Solutions is a French start-up founded in 2015 that has developed a system that can automatically prepare orders in large warehouses. This uses a fleet of Skypod robots, which autonomously drive through the warehouse and can simultaneously pick a large number of ordered products. These products are stored in containers, which are placed in special racks up to ten metres high. The robots automatically find their way to the right rack and can climb up along special guides. This allows the robots to pick up every container in a rack, while maximising storage capacity in a warehouse.
Load of up to 30 kilograms
Each Skypod robot can lift up to 30 kilograms of weight and move through the warehouse at a speed of 10 kilometres per hour. The robots find their way with the help of laser scanners. In practice, this means that there is no need to install special infrastructure in a warehouse to facilitate the use of the robots.
Once a Skypod has picked up the right container, it is delivered to a station manned by a human employee of the company. In the process, the Skypod rides up an elevation, allowing the employee to remove the desired product from the container without bending down. The robot then returns the container to the rack where it is stored. The station features a touchscreen that allows the worker to control the system. The robots communicate with the Fleet Control & WCS ASTAR, a module that connects wirelessly to the Skypod robots via Wi-Fi. Each Fleet Control & WCS ASTAR can control up to 1,000 Skypods.
Add or remove robots
The system can be modified without interrupting system operation. For example, additional racking can be added to expand warehouse capacity and the system can be expanded with additional Skypods. It is also possible to take Skypods out of service - e.g. for maintenance - without having to shut down the system.
Cdiscount is the first company in the world to deploy the Skypod system in practice. The robots are being used in a warehouse of the e-commerce company near the French city of Bordeaux. Cdiscount reports that the system can pick up to 400 products per hour. This results in significant productivity gains. For instance, the average number of products collected per hour in the e-commerce sector is 200 when using classical automation and 100 if products are collected manually in a warehouse.
Robots from Amazon
Exotec Solutions is not the only company to have developed such automation for warehouses. E-commerce giant Amazon, for example, uses more than 45,000 robots from Kiva Systems, a company acquired by Amazon in 2012. These robots are capable of picking up raised cabinets of products in their entirety and transporting them to human workers. These workers then remove the desired products from the cabinets, after which the robots drive the cabinets back to their place.
Another example is the Intra-Logistics with Integrated Automatic Deployment (ILIAD) project, which has received a grant from the European Union's (EU) Horizon 2020 programme. This project is working on forklift trucks to package, palletise and transport goods fully autonomously. The forklifts will be self-learning and therefore able to adapt independently to changes in their environment. The forklifts are specifically aimed at intralogistics, a form of logistics on companies' own premises.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Source: Exotec Solutions (pictured)
Source: Groupe Casino
