robots Archives

Asendia Accelerates Parcel Processing at Heathrow DC

Posted on 23 June, 2022 by Keith McKinley

Asendia has successfully installed automated sorting and six new robots for over-labelling at its parcel processing centre at Heathrow, fully operational from the end of May 2022. The newly automated system will drive a significant parcel throughput increase on behalf of retailers, e-commerce brands and other clients, achieving a rate of up to 7,200 parcels per hour, with the site open seven days a week, and able to operate 24 hours per day. Asendia UK has invested £2.5m of CAPEX in these improvements.

Parcels arrive onsite and an automated cross-belt sorter, with scanners, printers, digital photography and six robots together take care of the relabelling, routing, sorting, weighing and dimension-checking of parcels. The system has maximum flexibility for despatch, able to sort into bags, pallet boxes, or onward into air containers. The automation project aims to improve capacity / throughput for Asendia e-commerce retailers. Employees who were previously engaged in manual labelling and sorting at the site are largely being redeployed to other essential supply chain operations within Asendia UK. The Heathrow hub moved to a 24-hour operation last.

Asendia selected technology partners who are well versed in automation, with Indian firm Falcon Autotech supplying the sortation solution, and UK based WSS providing engineering and technical design oversite as well as installing the system. Asendia then worked with Dorchester-based Loop Technologies, which specialises in customised robotics. Loop’s experience ranges from robotic arms for labelling fruit for supermarkets to equipping robotics for aerospace projects. The use of robotics for parcel labelling is believed to be an industry first.

All parcels are delivered to the centre and loaded onto one of the infeed belts. An automated overhead scanner then captures barcode details and an image of the label. The weight is then added from the inline scales and the data is shared via an API with the Asendia system, to enable carrier selection and label generation, mainly through the proprietary carrier label library which Asendia has developed. O&I Consulting provided project management expertise

The Asendia system processes the label details while the parcel travels up to the robotic over-labelling cell. The robotic cell scans every parcel and creates a 3D image which includes the exact location of every barcode on the parcel. It then checks with the Asendia system to see whether a final mile label is required. This can be done for parcels and packets of different shapes, sizes and materials. The label is generated and printed in either 6×4 or A5 format and the robot applies it directly over the original, ensuring the label is placed within the boundaries of the parcel and taking into consideration the parcel shape. Customs paperwork can also be printed as well if needed. The parcel then enters the cross-belt sorter which is designed to handle all retailer parcel types.

The ‘DIMS tower’ captures essential dimensions, takes a photo, and scans the final mile label – required to complete routing and determine which outfeed to sort the parcel to. Parcels are allocated to the correct chute and drop into either a bag or pallet box. Each chute position is designed to facilitate sortation to bags, magnums, cages or pallet boxes to provide flexibility and future proof the design. Once full, the chute auto-closes and the pallet or bag is prepared for outbound shipment. The barcodes for every package are linked to a unique container ID, enabling increased visibility and automated data processing. Asendia’s investment in automation and robotic over-labelling will increase the Heathrow site’s facility capacity, and speed up parcel processing allowing for earlier flights and road haulage departures.

Luis Barros, COO at Asendia UK said: “Retailers, many of whom have fast-growing e-commerce audiences around the world, will benefit directly from seeing their parcels pass through our facility faster than ever. It’s not surprising several big brand names have already signed up to use the facility.” He added: “Having volumetrics for all parcels will help with revenue protection and better control of sizing, which is a key driver within distribution networks. Equally, having photos of all parcels is a very good security benefit.”

Commenting on the investment, Simon Batt Asendia UK CEO said: “The successful launch of our new automated parcels hub is the culmination of a very complex project. The team worked incredibly hard to get this up and running and I’m incredibly proud of all involved. We have future-proofed our core Heathrow facility for some years to come, to further grow with our e-commerce retailers and build on the successes of the past few years.”

Autonomous Mobile Robots deployed in logistics centres in Japan

Posted on 19 August, 202125 July, 2025 by David Priestman

Musashi AI, a group company of Japanese Musashi Seimitsu Industry Co., Ltd., has successfully completed a POC for Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) at Suzuyo & Co. Ltd, a leading Japanese 3PL company, in partnership with Israeli 634AI, a Musashi Group affiliated company and the developer of MAESTRO, an industrial automation and mobility management software.

Suzuyo, a Japanese logistics conglomerate with an annual turnover of circa $ 1.2 Billion, successfully tested Musashi AI’s AMR powered by MAESTRO, a platform-agnostic control tower for logistics automation developed by Israeli company 634AI. The AMR autonomously moved pallets in the facility from one location to another smoothly and efficiently. The POC was performed in Suzuyo’s Shinshizuoka distribution centre in Shizuoka prefecture.

Following the successful POC, the companies are now engaged in scale-up discussions to deploy 634AI’s cutting edge MAESTRO navigation and fleet management software with MusashiAI’s AMRs across Suzuyo’s distribution centres in Japan.

634AI and MusashiAI have been partnering since mid-2019 to leverage the unique combination of Israeli cutting-edge AI and computer vision software technology with Japanese world-renowned hardware engineering and industrial expertise, to bring practical, state of the art solutions to the Japanese market. Musashi AI’s core business is AI visual inspection and 634AI’s core business is software development for industrial mobility orchestration, including for AMRs. The companies plan to further increase their R&D and commercial collaboration.

Onn Fenig, CEO of 634AI said: “We are honoured to be partnering with Musashi and Suzuyo, two global industrial giants, to introduce the sizable benefits of our MAESTRO software system. This Proof of Concept has been another excellent showcase of our MAESTRO software, demonstrating its unique capabilities for orchestrating indoor logistics while providing insightful information to facilitate safe and effective floor operations. We are humbled and proud that Suzuyo is considering adopting our MAESTRO AMR navigation and Fleet Management software in their facilities across Japan.”

Murata Sota, CEO of Musashi AI said: “Our proprietary AMR technology, fully compatible with 634AI’s MAESTRO industrial mobility management software, is just another example of our vision to introduce practical solutions that solve real human problems. In a world of labor shortage, autonomous logistics becomes a viable solution for many companies wanting to increase their resilience and business continuity, especially following a global pandemic such as COVID-19.”

Ken Kawashima, General Manager of 3PL Business Development Department at Suzuyo said: “We are always thinking about improving the safety, quality and productivity of our distribution centers and providing our customers with a high level of distribution service. We believe MAESTRO offers a virtually unique ability to manage AMRs, and allows humans and robots to work together in sophisticated hybrid environments. Both Musashi AI and 634AI have the power to make the world’s logistics network function more efficiently than ever. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with these companies.”

Why Human Psychology is Key to Effective Human-robot Interaction 

Posted on 19 August, 202129 July, 2025 by David Priestman

Craig Summers, UK Managing Director of Manhattan Associates, reflects on Manhattan Associates’ annual virtual event, Momentum Connect and its biggest takeaway. This was being treated to an excellent speaker session from Kate Darling, Professor of human-robot interaction, tech policy and ethics at MIT, looking at how people project human traits, qualities and emotions onto not just animals, but also robots too.

The recent news from DHL that the logistics giant plans to deploy an additional 1,000 Locus Robotics (the Massachusetts-based robotic start-up) picking robots to more than twenty locations across the USA and Europe by the end of next year, is only the latest in a long line of news over the last twelve months to underline that robots (particularly in the warehouse and supply chain context) are very much here to stay.

Anthropomorphise

It’s critical that organisations not only look at the technology practicalities of these deployments (such as software, platform and API integration) but also the ‘softer’ elements such as the psychological interactions between human workers and their metallic co-bot colleagues.

If you own a pet, be it anything as small as a goldfish, right up to the size of a dog or even a horse, the chances are, you will have heard of the terms anthropomorphism. Deriving from its verb form anthropomorphise, itself derived from the Greek word ánthrōpos (ἄνθρωπος, lit. human) and morphē (μορφή, form), the term simply means to project human traits, qualities, emotions and behaviours onto non humans. According to Darling, these projections are not exclusive to just our pets, however instead they are tipping over into our increasing interactions with robots too.

Robots as Living Things

According to Darling, humans feel a certain empathy towards robots; even ones as simple as a Roomba vacuum cleaner. “It is not the most sophisticated machine in the world, it just moves around the floor cleaning it. Even so, 80% of people who own one have their own name for it. Furthermore, according to iRobot (the manufacturing company), when these Roombas suffer a breakdown, most people prefer to have their automated vacuum cleaners repaired rather than replaced with a new one.” This shows the illogical, yet very real bond humans will readily form with even the most basic of robots.

Darling went on to explain that even she (a professor in the study of human-robot interaction) has experienced feelings for basic robots in the past. In 2007 she bought a toy robot dinosaur; “because it had motors, touch sensors and an infrared camera. I thought it was really interesting because it  reproduced certain behaviours very well. When I showed it to my friends, some of them grabbed it by the tail and twisted it until it would cry. Even knowing that it was a robot, I felt a certain anguish.” It was as a result of this experience, the researcher became interested in the field of social robotics.

We are certainly at a very interesting moment in human history when it comes to the merging of the robot-human world. For at least the last six decades we have had robots in factories and warehouses, but now they are reaching out into other spaces, even our homes and workplaces. While the levels of AI and ML have rapidly accelerated, to the point that these new generations of robots can think, make autonomous decisions and learn, they are not alive and they cannot feel; instead it’s us as human beings who feel for them.   It’s this eureka moment of clarity that Darling insists we need to recognise, emphasise and keep in mind in order to integrate technology more effectively into our daily working (and personal) lives.

Different Types of Intelligence

A commonly made mistake according to the MIT’s Darling, is comparing artificial intelligence with human intelligence: “It’s an analogy that doesn’t make sense to me,” she commented. “Sure, it is true that there are already machines that are much more intelligent than us; that can do infinite calculations, beat us at chess and identify patterns that we would not recognize. However, they are not able to perceive the world or learn in the way that a human does – it is a different type of intelligence.”

Robots therefore should be seen as complementary to human roles not as a replacement for them, such as a co-bot interacting and assisting a picker in a warehouse environment when a product is too heavy or an awkward size.  A greater understanding of how we’re hard wired as a species to interact with other non-human objects, is the key to designing more effective and efficient robots. In relation to supply chains (more broadly) and warehouses (more specifically), both stand to significantly benefit from the exploration and advances in understanding our need to anthropomorphise robots.

With the pandemic finish line in sight - queue a collective inhalation of breath and crossed fingers - now is the perfect time to start assessing which areas of society, commerce and business have been most changed by the events of the past 18 months.   In terms of robotics, investments and uptake have gone through the roof in the last year for obvious reasons and certainly show no sign of slowing down any time soon, so now may well be the perfect time to seriously consider robotics and automation as part of your organisation’s long-term business strategy.

The Future of the Robot

Covid-19 is destined to have a long-term, profound and lasting impact on the way we all work and live; and increasingly, robots and automation are going to play a significant role in both. We may be on course for a true watershed moment in terms of robot uptake in warehouses and supply chains. With more research into the human need to anthropomorphise robots including both warehouse co-bots and in-house automated helpers, the robots of the future will likely look, feel (see I’ve done it right there; robots can’t feel!) and behave very differently to those which we interact with on a near daily basis today.

Read the article on this from our September issue here.

Cobots.ie Becomes a Distributor for MiR in Ireland

Posted on 15 January, 202125 July, 2025 by David Priestman

Cobots.ie, a leading distributor of collaborative robotic solutions, today announced its new partnership with Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR) which sees Cobots.ie become a distributor for MiR in Ireland. This new collaboration will enhance Cobots.ie long term growth strategy and will strengthen the deployment of advanced robotic solutions in Ireland. MiR is a leading global supplier of autonomous mobile robots (AMR’s) in a growing international robotics market. MiR’s fleet of flexible, easy to program and safe AMR’s are a proven solution for companies looking to optimize their production and increase their competitiveness.

Cobots.ie is experiencing an increasing demand for flexible automation solutions. With their strong presence in the Irish market and excellent reputation, Cobots.ie are well placed to become the leading distributor for MiR in Ireland. “With the addition of the MiR range to our product portfolio, we are giving our customers not only the possibility of task-oriented automation but also the option of automating internal logistics,” said Dan Buckley, CEO, Cobots.ie.

“MIR represents everything we look for in a partner, a global leader in terms of innovation and product development. We can ensure our customers are investing in quality products that have the flexibility to adapt to an evolving industrial landscape,” Buckley added. The MiR range of products with its impressive handling capabilities and intuitive interface manage internal logistics easily and cost effectively often with a payback period of less than a year. “Often, we find the main block for companies when it comes to automation adoption is where to start the automation journey. When demonstrating our range of collaborative robotic solutions to customers, they are often surprised at the flexibility and ease of use. The MIR range offers the same level of flexibility and ease of use as the other collaborative solutions we offer, and we look forward to a very successful partnership,” says Martin Buckley, CTO, Cobots.ie.

Cobots. ie will offer the entire fleet of MiR’s flexible range of AMR’s which are leading the way in terms of how businesses move goods within their facilities. Both the MiR1000 and MiR500 are both designed to automate the transportation of heavy loads and pallets. The MiR100, MiR200 and MiR250 are more suitable for the transportation of lighter goods. The MiR250 is the latest addition to the MiR family and is even more agile than its predecessors and the most adaptable to challenging environments particularly where space is restricted. Customized top modules from the MiRGo range such as bins, racks, lifts, conveyors and even a collaborative robot arm are also available. “We are excited to partner with Cobots.ie to bring MiR solutions to more customers in Ireland. Cobots.ie is a leading collaborative automation solutions provider that offers a product range where MiR’s collaborative and autonomous mobile robots are a good fit and will add value,” says Jakob Møhl Bebe, Sales Director Scandinavia, UK & Ireland, MiR.

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