Global robotics company ABB Robotics has announced a new addition to its range of automated logistics solutions with a new Robotic Item Picker powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
“The explosive growth of e-commerce, changing customer needs and global labor shortages require flexible automation solutions that make order processing and shipping faster and more efficient,” said Daniel Navarro, head of global business line consumer segments and service robotics at ABB Robotics.
“Thanks to its ability to learn and adapt to ever-changing warehouse environments, our AI-powered Robotic Item Picker identifies items and decides how to pick them – at a speed that has an efficiency of more than 99.5 percent . This helps companies to master their challenges and become more resilient.”
The solution uses machine vision and AI to determine optimal gripping points for each item before the vacuum gripper picks up the item and places it in the intended container.
According to ABB, the system does not require human supervision or information about the physical characteristics of the items to be picked.
What’s more, with a pick rate of up to 1,400 items per hour, companies can handle more orders without increasing staff or time.
Equipped with vacuum grippers and special image processing software, the Robotic Item Picker was developed to automatically take on complex pick and place tasks for a large number of items such as cuboids, boxes, polybags and blister packs, the handling of which would otherwise require a human employee.
The Robotic Item Picker is available with one of the following three ABB industrial robots: IRB 1200, IRB 1300 and IRB 2600.
Its maximum payload is three kilograms with a reach of up to 1.65m.
In addition to this, the Item Picker can control the robot using application software, which ABB claims can integrate with all parts of the system and interact with other peripherals, giving customers and partners the ability to add more components and other functions.
