Robotic Piece Picking Archives

Robot Picking just like the real thing

Posted on 23 May, 202431 July, 2025 by David Priestman

Autonomous, robotic picking of pieces in warehouse order fulfilment relies on sophisticated ‘hand-eye’ coordination. David Schwebel, Vice President of Sales and Strategic Business Development for RightHand Robotics, spoke to David Priestman about the technology at Manifest, Las Vegas.

Massachusetts has always been a hotbed for science and tech. Some of our world’s most beautiful minds come to fruition at MIT and Harvard. So, for industrial robotic picking does this reputation precede itself accurately?

RightHand Robotics, based just outside Boston and founded in 2015, manufacture the most important part of the robotic picking arm – the ‘hand’. This product is called ‘RightPick’. The latest version of this is the RightPick 4 system, which can handle items up to 25% larger and 50% heavier, significantly reducing the need for human intervention. It can be used with various makes of robotic arm and the company collaborate with them on product development.

“We own pick and place and go beyond the limitations of known operations,” David Schwebel (pictured below) tells me. “The product has a broad scope for reach, range and reliability. We want to improve the delivery radius without over-automating, augment brownfield distribution centres and extend their value and longevity. Customers should optimise their DC space before moving.“

Robotic picking is not about replacing people, he argues. “It’s about enabling humans to not be robots. We take the back-breaking lift work. This frees-up staff to add a personal touch to customer order engagement, for example by writing a gift note for the package.”

Pick, place, decant

80% of the company’s sales are channel ones to system integrators such as Vanderlande and Element Logic, with whom is has partner programmes. Historically, RightHand Robotics (RHR) has achieved a mix of sales, with 40% coming from North America and the rest of the world and 60% coming from the EU.

RHR also provides to Movu Robotics the ‘Hand’ (Gripper), the ‘Eye’ (Vision), the ‘Arm’ (UP10e) and the ‘Brain’ (AI / ML software) that is embedded in the eligo presentation station and empowered by the escala shuttle system. What is the snoot, I asked Schwebel. “The Snoot is an extendable mechanism in the middle of our hand (gripper) that allows RHR to engage our myriad of suction cups to the item to be picked; it then retracts the picked item into the grasp of our hand, allowing the item to be safely and quickly moved to its next destination.”

David Schwebel

Pick, place, decant is how the RightPick operates. “That’s meaningless unless the warehouse’s ASRS and conveyors are synched with the picking,” Schwebel explains. “It’s low maintenance. If there is a problem, which is rare, you can cut the power, make a key turn and quickly replace a part. RHR understands that uptime is critical for the end customer (Practitioner), and we have developed our maintenance and repair operations for simple fixes and turn key replacements. For example, if you needed to change out the gripper, it takes less than 25 seconds – disengage the power and air, turn a key, and the entire hand can be changed out for the spare on site.”

Smallest footprint

The RightPick system can provide businesses with vital productivity as part of a lean material handling process. “It has the smallest footprint,” Schwebel points out. “RHR is arm agnostic, and when we use a collaborative arm, the entire footprint needed for a robotic piece picking system is the smallest in the industry.” The system learns as it picks, building a database of knowledge that allows customers to benefit from fleet learning. Each new robot benefits from 100% of the previous experience creating better AI with better analytics, metrics and training data.

Staples Deploy AI-Powered Picking Robots

Autonomous Robotic Piece-Picking System

Posted on 25 January, 202429 July, 2025 by David Priestman

RightHand Robotics, a provider of data-driven, autonomous robotic picking solutions for order fulfillment, announces the launch of its next-generation solution, the RightPick™ 4 system. The groundbreaking piece-picking system revolutionizes the level of autonomy and reliability of robotic order fulfillment in modern warehouse operations and distribution centers.

The RightPick 4 system showcases enhanced AI-based software algorithms, an upgraded sensor suite, and newly designed hardware that enables a larger picking range of item SKUs, advanced item handling capacity, and increased system autonomy. With improved picking and grasping techniques, the RightPick 4 system maximizes reliability and enables faster integration through novel approaches in both software and hardware.

“Retailers continue to have challenges with growing demand for faster and more accurate order fulfillment, in part due to ongoing labor challenges. With the launch of the RightPick 4 system, we have created a new piece-picking solution that delivers increased autonomy, reliability, and serviceability,” said Brendon Bielat, VP of Product & Marketing. “We have trained our system by leveraging more than a petabyte of operational data, gathered for over eight years from picking tens of millions of items around the globe. This massive amount of data has helped us create a smarter, more robust solution for real-world fulfillment challenges.”

The RightPick 4 system is reducing the need for human intervention by deploying advanced gripping strategies to pick and place more items, even those it has never seen before. With improved smart grasp and suction seal quality detection, RightHand Robotics can enable autonomous piece-picking for market verticals such as general merchandise, office supplies, apparel, pharmaceutical products, cosmetics, and 3PLs. Powered by RightPick™ AI, the RightPick 4 system is continuously learning and improving on the overall range of items that can be picked successfully.

“We are thrilled to unveil RightPick 4, a product realized through collaboration with customers and partners. We have hardened our product with a focus on reliability and autonomy so that our customers can increase their operational capacity without being hindered by labor volatility,” said Brian Owen, President & CEO. “The total market potential for the RightPick 4 system is staggering, especially in global, post-pandemic logistics. It’s no longer just early adopters approaching our technology. The general awareness of robotic piece-picking has increased, and omnichannel retailers are realizing it’s a necessity. The RightPick 4 system is a competitive advantage with a quick time-to-value for stakeholders within the supply chain.”

Gripping Innovation for Robotic Piece Picking

Posted on 20 November, 202329 July, 2025 by David Priestman

Movu Robotics, supplier for designing, developing, and implementing innovative and easier warehouse automation solutions, announces the launch of the innovative Movu eligo robot picking arm.

A fully integrated robotic bin picking solution, developed in close collaboration with Righthand Robotics, Movu eligo can automatically piece-pick from a single-SKU source bin and place the individual items into multiple mixed-SKU destination bins. Developed to close the gap between manual and fully automatic pick operation, Movu eligo provides warehouse operators with a huge step forward in order picking. It also provides a solution for labour shortage issues, with a robot that can work through inconvenient work hours at reduced cost but with higher pick accuracy and quality. Other key benefits include:

• Reliable and effective robotic picking of up to 600 items per hour at any time;
• Enabling the picking and placing of a wide variety of SKUs;
• Providing a unique plug and play sub-system that is integrated with the Movu escala bin shuttle, resulting in an innovative end-to-end automated solution from storage to picking;
• Easy way to automatically pick SKUs that are suited for robotic picking, store the bins and then finish the order with a manual pick when the time is convenient
• Reduced cost per pick, resulting in a strong Return on Investment (ROI).

Provided with seamless integration as a pick station option for the Movu escala bin shuttle, the Movu eligo combines advanced software with intelligent grippers and machine vision to ensure reliable throughput. Gently grasping an item from a bin retrieved from the escala while picking, the robot then places the item in a delivery bin. Providing feedback on grasp success, the intelligent grippers ensure an accuracy of 100%. In addition to a low gripping failure rate the Movu eligo reduces the number of manual ‘touches’ required for order fulfilment or replenishment and can reach a pick success rate greater than 99%.

The robot arm stands 2.2 metres high and has an operating radius of 1.3 metres. A safety interface makes robotic work cells safe when human interaction is required.

Driven by software, the system leverages machine learning to continuously improve picking. Movu eligo runs on a plug-and-play Application Programming Interface (API) which integrates directly with the Movu escala bin storage solution. This user-friendly complete solution allows the seamless integration of robotic and manual picking operation for maximum efficiency. Movu escala interacts with overlying Warehouse Management Software (WMS), Warehouse Control Software (WCS) and Warehouse Execution Software (WES) as needed to mission the piece picking operations. By planning tasks for the robot such as robot arm movements around the source and destination bin exchange phases, the software optimises pick cycle times to maximise throughput.

Real-time operational data is presented to staff stationed away from the active systems to resolve exceptions quickly and efficiently. Performance dashboards enable warehouse operations to visualise current and historical data. Available with full 24/7 support, the Movu eligo allows customers, particularly those involved in pharmaceuticals, apparel, e-commerce, manufacturing and kitting, to realise the benefits of reliable robotic piece-picking without worrying about integrating all the elements.

Stefan Pieters, CEO of Movu Robotics, commented: “Movu eligo is the next level for Movu Robotics to offer innovative and easier Automation solutions to our customer. It is a data-driven, intelligent piece picking platform unlike any other. Automating the conventionally manual operation or piece picking results in a lower cost per pick, leading to a strong return on investment. Integrated seamlessly as a work station for the Movu escala bin storage system, eligo offers a flexible and scalable automation solution for predictable and accurate order fulfilment, adding value for warehouses pursuing improvements in efficiency, productivity and customer service levels.”

Gripping Innovation Transforms Robotic Piece Picking

Posted on 29 September, 202329 July, 2025 by David Priestman

Movu Robotics, one of the leader suppliers for designing, developing, and implementing innovative and easier warehouse automation solutions, announces the launch of the innovative Movu eligo robot picking arm

A fully integrated robotic bin picking solution developed in close collaboration with Righthand Robotics, Movu eligo can automatically piece pick from a single SKU source bin and place the
individual items into multiple mixed SKU destination bins. Developed to close the gap between manual and fully automatic pick operation, Movu eligo provides warehouse operators with a huge step forward in order picking. It also provides a solution for labour shortage issues with a robot that can work through inconvenient work hours at educed cost but with higher pick accuracy and quality.

Provided with seamless integration as a pick station option for the Movu escala bin shuttle, the Movu eligo combines advanced software with intelligent grippers and machine vision to ensure reliable throughput. Gently grasping an item from a from a bin retrieved from the escala while picking, the robot then places the item in a delivery bin. Providing feedback on grasp success, the intelligent grippers ensure an accuracy of 100%. In addition to a low gripping failure rate the Movu eligo reduces the number of manual ‘touches’ required for order fulfilment or replenishment and can reach a pick success rate greater than 99%.

Able to achieve 600 picks per hour, depending on the specific implementation, the robot can pick goods up to 2kg and with dimensions of 1cm minimum to a maximum of 30cm. Being completely product agnostic gives it the flexibility to handle changing product mixes. The robot arm stands 2.2 metres high and has an operating radius of 1.3 metres. A safety interface makes robotic work cells safe when human interaction is required.

Driven by software, the system leverages machine learning to continuously improve picking. Movu eligo runs on a plug-and-play Application Programming Interface (API) which integrates directly with the Movu escala bin storage solution. This user-friendly complete solution allows the seamless integration of robotic and manual picking operation for maximum efficiency. Movu escala interacts with overlying Warehouse Management Software, Warehouse Control Software and Warehouse Execution Software as needed to mission the piece picking operations. By planning tasks for the robot such as arm movements around the source and destination bin exchange phases, the software optimises pick cycle times to maximise throughput.

Available with full 24/7 support, the Movu eligo allows customers, particularly those involved in pharmaceuticals, apparel, e-commerce, manufacturing and kitting, to realise the benefits of reliable robotic piece-picking without worrying about integrating all the elements.

Stefan Pieters, CEO of Movu Robotics, commented: “Movu eligo is the next level for Movu Robotics to offer innovative and easier Automation solutions to our customer. It is a data-driven, intelligent piece-picking platform unlike any other. Automating the conventionally manual operation or piece picking operation results in a lower cost per pick, leading to a strong return on investment. Integrated seamlessly as a as a work station for the Movu escala bin storage system, eligo offers a flexible and scalable automation solution for predictable and accurate order fulfilment, adding value for warehouses pursuing improvements in efficiency, productivity, and customer service levels.”

Pick, place, decant

Smallest footprint

Subscribe