Warehouse

Piaggio's Fast Forward innovation lab has launched a self-follow rolling flat-bed robot at the Modex trade show in Atlanta. The company says that the Kilo platform is aimed at helping businesses to "augment their workforce and enhance worker safety."

Due to the current pandemic, people are shopping online like never before. This means that distribution warehouses have become very busy places, where goods need to be transported quickly but safely – and that's where the LoadRunner comes in.

In recent years, both MIT and Fraunhofer have announced the development of systems that use flying drones to keep track of inventory in warehouses. The Ware system offers a unique take on that same idea, and is already in use at multiple locations.

​Online supermarket Ocado has made great efforts to automate the workplace, with pick and pack robots, for example, and a mechanoid helper for maintenance personnel. Now it has virtually opened the doors to a highly automated warehouse to allow customers to see how their shopping is handled.​

Tracking stock in warehouses is a huge challenge for businesses. Lost items reportedly cost American retailers over $45 billion annually, so tech that makes inventory tracking easier has the potential to have a huge impact. A new MIT system could do just that, using drones and RFID tags.

​Nike's newly-expanded European Logistics Campus covers 150,000 sq m (1.6 million sq ft) and allows the sportswear behemoth to serve its online, retail and wholesale customers across 38 countries from a single location. It also makes the firm more efficient, more responsive and more sustainable.

As internet commerce matures, consumers are expecting more immediate delivery of goods, but the packing warehouses need to keep up. To help speed up shipping, Fetch Robotics has unveiled Fetch and Freight; a robotic tag team that takes over the boring task of collecting and delivering stock.

In an effort to help supply logistics keep up with robotic manufacturing, the EU's Pan-Robots project is working to create warehouse robots that are faster, more efficient, and safer than both manual operations or current robotic systems.

From 1-Click shopping to the Fire phone, Amazon is known for its culture of innovation. Even its order fulfillment and logistics processes are highly refined, with talk of deliveries eventually being made by drones. Today, the firm has revealed how an army of robots runs its fulfillment centers

RoboCV's X-MOTION system, which is described as an intellectual pilot system, has been rolled out in a Samsung factory in the Russian city of Kaluga where warehouse vehicles can now zip around the factory floor autonomously.

House In a Warehouse, by Melbourne-based architectural firm Splinter Society, saw the transformation of an industrial space into a family home which features stormwater collection, solar hot water, and computer controlled lighting to reduce energy requirements.

University of Buffalo spinoff Tactus Technologies’ 3D Forklift Trainer uses gaming technology and software to produce a virtual environment where beginner forklift drivers can practice.