Hai Robotics has been selected to supply more than 1,500 rack-climbing robots for a major European fashion fulfillment center, in what the company describes as the largest deployment yet of its HaiPick Climb technology.
The unnamed retailer already operates multiple HaiPick systems in Europe and is expanding its relationship with Hai Robotics as online order volumes increase. The new facility will use HaiPick Climb robots in a goods-to-person system designed around high-density, double-deep storage.
The size of the project makes it notable beyond the automated storage market. Large mobile-robot deployments are increasingly affecting the broader material-handling equipment mix inside distribution centers, including the work traditionally performed by forklifts, order pickers and other operator-driven equipment.
HaiPick Climb robots travel through conventional-style rack structures and retrieve totes or cases for delivery to workstations. This allows automation to be added without relying exclusively on large fixed automated storage and retrieval machinery.
“Being selected to deliver the world’s largest deployment of rack-climbing warehouse robots is an important milestone for Hai Robotics,” the company said in its announcement.
Systems such as this do not necessarily eliminate lift trucks. Instead, they can change where forklifts are used. Pallet receiving, replenishment, shipping and bulk movement may remain forklift-intensive while repetitive case movement and order fulfillment migrate toward robotic systems. That increasingly creates a hybrid warehouse in which forklifts, autonomous lift trucks, conveyors and mobile robots share responsibility for different portions of the material flow.
The Hai Robotics project is another indication that warehouse automation is moving beyond isolated robot installations. Deployments involving hundreds or even thousands of mobile units are becoming part of mainstream fulfillment design, particularly in high-volume e-commerce operations.
Source: Hai Robotics announcement
Related Article
Hai Robotics and Ferag Expand Warehouse Automation Partnership Across EMEA
