Grupo Sesé

WHAT IS ROBOTIC LOGISTICS?

Let’s start with a wide definition of the words that compose Robotic Logistics; robots are tools that can perform tasks independently, extend human capabilities and even replicate human actions. They can autonomously sense, reason, action and plan different tasks. The word robot is derived from the Czech word “robota” which means “forced labor”.

Along with it, the logistics term includes a huge number of different processes, transportation, warehousing, picking, packing, delivery, inventory control, and ordering just to name a few of those processes.

By “robotic logistics” what we mean is the space where engineering processes, computer science, and technology all meet applying that result to one or more of these processes, it could be a large number of tasks normally repetitive and also not the most suited for humans. These tasks performed by robots become much more efficient in all senses for our industry.

FROM THE EARLY DAYS UNTIL TODAY

We have come a long way from the first years of utilizing robots in the logistics industry when a robot was only able to move goods a small distance and it was used only in industrial processes due to the lack of security for people to be around them. Over the last few decades many companies have worked hard to improve the initial setup and bring other parts of the logistics processes to interact with those early day robotics. Communicating with WMS systems (Warehouse Management Software), introducing machine learning, improving sensors and responses, etc.

Nowadays it is very rare to see a large warehouse that doesn’t operate with some kind of robotics, from a simple palletizing machine to a more complex AMR warehouse system. As an example, we have in the market companies like Alibaba, Amazon, JD who have invested billions of $ into robotic logistic infrastructures. The estimations of the experts are very optimistic with some of them saying that the robotics sector will be worth over 250 billion by 2030.

APPLICATION OF ROBOTS, ROBOTS IN LOGISTICS

At this time we can see robots operating in so many different industries. Their presence is seen in industrial production, military, medical, entertainment and so on. In the logistics industry these days we can see many more companies adding many more resources into these developments, either approaching the processes as a whole or specifically focusing in the automation of one of their processes, like it could be the packaging, the transportation of goods, etc.

"I believe that instead of the usual thoughts that the robots and automated processes will cause a reduction in human labor intervention, there will be a change in the skills needed and kind of jobs which will be performed by humans"

Below we can see some examples of how we apply robots to the logistics industry:

• Automated Mobile Robots (AMR): Used to deliver inventory all over the warehouses using different type of sensors, this way they are able to understand their environment using maps and computer systems. Key features are that they are small and have a big level of accuracy.

• Aerial Drones: One of the most challenging tasks in warehouses are the inventory counts which with these robots can be fully automated. These drones and the RFID technology can perform this task much more accurately and faster. A key factor is that they don’t take much space.

• Automated Storage (AS) and Retrieval Systems (RS): This type of system can be placing or retrieving goods from set locations. They vary depending on the system, the task, the kind of goods which define their setup. They have multiple ways of being programmed with defined paths, cranes to retrieve between locations or even aisle climbing.

WHAT IS NEXT

We have no doubt that during the last two decades we have seen an amazing development in the automation of the logistics. In my humble opinion with the globalization and the “removal” of country borders within the eCommerce space, we have created a huge demand of products consumption and more importantly at a significantly higher speed, the combination of these factors plus other reasons is changing the scope of the Supply Chain industry. At the same time this development has been pushed by other external circumstances like the pandemic has also played a big factor. We are seeing that the sustainability of the original way of global trading is suffering the increase in costs, lack of human labor, speed of product manufacturing, …

Despite the initial investment in robotics seems daunting and the reactions from many people who sees robots performing more and more tasks in many industries that were performed purely humans a challenge we should approach it in a different way.

I believe that instead of the usual thoughts that the robots and automated processes will cause a reduction in human labor intervention, there will be a change in the skills needed and kind of jobs which will be performed by humans. We are forgetting the amount of technology companies and jobs that have only surged because of this new era where robots are playing a key role.

We don’t have to go very far back to see that the same has happened during other important human transitions like it was for example the industrial revolution. I’m sure more often we will see people working in new technology jobs related to robotics and more robots blended in our daily routines.