Robotics at a Tipping Point

3PL GEODIS is the latest example of how our industry is adopting robotics

“There’s something happening here,
What it is ain’t exactly clear”….Stephen Stills

Over the years, I’ve watched the adoption of any number of new technologies, from WMS to voice recognition systems to shuttle systems. In all three examples, technologies that we take for granted today were, in reality, fairly slow to become part of what Jim Rice at MIT calls “the dominant design” – just another tool in the tool kit.

I’m going to go out on a limb, but I’m now convinced that robotic materials handling is at a tipping point in materials handling, and it feels as if the adoption rate is about to take off.

Over the last two years, we’ve featured a variety of robotic applications, ranging from piece picking robotics at an eye wear manufacturer; mixed layer palletizing at L’Oreal; mobile robots in manufacturing at GE Healthcare and Whirlpool; a piece picking robot in order fulfillment at Rochester Drug; a collaborative mobile robot from Locus Robotics at Quiet Logistics, and robotic distribution at Medline. In the March issue of Modern, we are featuring DHL Supply Chain’s strategy for mobile robots in order fulfillment purposes, including its use of Locus.

Read the entire article in Modern Materials Handling here.