Smart and collaborative: the perfect supply chain robot

A new pilot test just completed by DHL together with W?rtsil? proves that robots in logistics are here to work with humans, not against them, and that they can be designed to both improve productivity and enhance safety for the employees.

A logistics warehouse is generally considered to be a place that requires considerable physical effort from employees. Unlike in other industries, such as car manufacturing, just 5% of current warehouses worldwide are automated. Employees therefore spend most of their time lifting heavy loads and moving them many meters aided by machines with minimum automation. In this context, employee health and well-being are at risk and their performance and productivity may be affected, which in turn will affect the service provided to customers.

As the global economy recovers, the demand for a body of workers big enough to withstand future workloads grows. The “Baby boomer” generation is approaching retirement and, consequently, the number of available and qualified workers will be decreasing. One way to deal with this issue will be employees having to work for more years. For the logistics industry, this is a challenge, given the physical work associated with this profession.

With this scenario in mind, complementing the work of logistics industry employees with the use of robots becomes a more than feasible solution to this challenge. Automating certain processes means companies ensure increased employee productivity and motivation. With this approach, the company is also dealing efficiently with an increasingly smaller staff and a growing demand for immediacy from customers.

Collaborative robots are designed to work alongside employees in a shared space. With this model, employees undertake the more organizational tasks within the process while robots are in charge of the physical elements, that is, transporting heavy parcels or moving those long distances inside the warehouse.

Exploring multiple applications for robotics in logistics and defining ways to create value through more efficient services is key in shaping the future of logistics. One of our initiatives is the recent engagement with Fetch Robotics, implementing autonomous mobile robots at a DHL Supply Chain site in Kampen, The Netherlands, where products by Finnish manufacturer W?rtsil? are handled. This is a system that relieves employees from physically strenuous tasks by simplifying autonomous point to point handling at the warehouse.

With minimum training, these smart, autonomous machines are ready to work fully within a few days. During an initial phase, they "learn" to move around the facility as they are walked around by an employee. The robot scans the environment and creates a map that is made available to all the other robots. They also learn about the different parcel locations and restricted areas.

The Fetch Robotics robots adapt to the dynamic workloads of today's logistics environments without the need for complex developments. With Fetch Robots technology, operatives can interact with machines by just touching a button on a screen. The robots have a loading capacity of 78kg and can cover a distance of up to 30km a day. They also know how to get their own batteries charged and can differentiate between dynamic and static obstacles, to avoid hindering the work of the human employees.

In just a few days, the results of the pilot testing at Kampen were noted. The warehouse increased both employee safety and productivity, leading to better customer service.

We at DHL are exploring these new ways of working with the end goal of offering more efficient services to our customers, reducing waiting times and offering the most innovative technologies within our processes. Pilot projects like these will bring us increasingly closer to a situation where robots will work alongside employees in a more efficient supply chain.

DHL Robotics Challenge 2017 – Calling all inventors and visionaries!

Our Robotics Challenge this year also addresses autonomous mobility and item picking in a typical warehouse environment. We invite startups, researchers, and university students to develop a prototype of a mobile piece-picking robot that can also save employees the trouble of walking and manually pushing a trolley through the aisles.

The three finalists of this challenge will be pitching their ideas to senior DHL executives in our Innovation Center in Germany and will have the chance to win the grand prize of 15,000 EUR. The winning concept will be displayed at the DHL Innovation Centers.

Where do you see the future of warehousing and the role of autonomous vehicles in solving some of your challenges?