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OTTO Motors announces new global channel partnerships that extend the availability of OTTO Motors’ products in Europe. In addition, OTTO Motors successfully completed third party safety assessments to demonstrate that the company’s products meet or exceed all relevant safety standards in Europe and in the United States, including the recent ANSI/RIA R15.08 safety standard.

The lineup of autonomous mobile robots (AMR) from OTTO Motors includes vehicles capable of moving cargo and material loads from 100 kg (22l lbs) to 1500 kg (3300 lbs). OTTO AMRs are deployed into applications for material handling and warehouse operations that include some of the largest AMR fleets in North America. The OTTO Motors Fleet manager coordinates the delivery tasks and operations of all of the vehicles within a facility.

OTTO comes to Europe

In order to make OTTO’s line of award-winning AMRs available worldwide, the company has partnered with leading system integrators around the world, and expanded its global partnership program. OTTO Motors is announcing partnerships with DesignPro Automation and Romias Robotics in Europe as well as global integration partner Grenzebach Group. This announcement is in addition to newly-operational warehousing operations in The Netherlands and Japan to better serve customers in those regions.

“One of the things that sets OTTO Motors apart is our process-first approach to automating material handling. It is how we’re able to achieve facility-scale transformation for our customers and why we’ve been very intentional about our growth. We partner with the very best integrators and tech leaders to provide customers with industry expertise to automate a wide range of workflows in their facilities and regional presence to provide top tier support,” said OTTO Motors Chief Revenue Officer Rick Baker. “Seventy percent of our customers are Global 500. We’re proud today to announce global coverage and safety compliance worldwide.”

Romias Robotics

Based in The Netherlands, Romias Robotics is a flexible organization that has already realized a large number of projects, while growing into a reliable partner for medium to large companies. Now, the company is reaching beyond The Netherlands.

“The value of the human worker has never been more pronounced, nor as scarce. Our partnership with OTTO Motors will help to introduce strategic automation into our customers’ workflow so that workers can avoid tasks that are dirty, dangerous or dull,” said Martijn Jansen, CEO and founder of Romias Robotics.

DesignPro Automation

Based in County Limerick, Ireland, DesignPro Automation is a leading provider of precision automation, robotics, and machine build services. The company predominantly focuses on advanced automation solutions for the medtech sector but have also delivered solutions to the pharmaceutical, automotive, aviation, cosmetics, and renewable energy sector.

“We are extremely pleased to partner with OTTO Motors and to bring the safety and reliability of their AMRs to a European audience. As labor shortages continue to hamper so many industry sectors, it is our hope that our partnership with OTTO will help to keep productivity high with our customers,” said Redmond McDonnell, CEO of DesignPro Automation.

Grenzebach Group

Headquartered in Hamlar, Germany, and with more than 20 offices around the world, Grenzebach is an acknowledged specialist in robotic handling technologies for the fulfillment logistics, glass processing, solar, building materials, and industrial process technology sectors. Grenzebach specializes in autonomous goods to person solution.

“The warehousing fulfillment and manufacturing industries are at a crossroads where supply can only meet demand through more efficient and effective automation. Our partnership with OTTO Motors is another large step forward in evolving our customers’ logistical arenas with strategic automations,” said David Schwebel, Executive Vice President, Grenzebach Group.

Other worldwide partnerships

• Bastian Solutions (Global)
• Altech (Japan)
• ADDE (Australia)
• CR Automation (New Zealand)
• Pulse Integration (North America)

Robot safety standards compliance

In its commitment to safety, OTTO Motors participated as a committee member on the ANSI/RIA R15.08 safety standards project. OTTO Motors was one of thirty plus vendors and end-user organizations that came together to develop this seminal safety milestone. As reported in our recent review of the R15.08 safety standard, the new safety guidelines bridge the gap in existing safety guidance, especially for mobile manipulators.

“As the AMR market has grown, so too has the need for accompanying safety standards in the U.S. and abroad,” according to Jeff Burnstein, President at the Association for Advancing Automation. “OTTO Motors’ participation on our standards committee and leadership on this issue has helped to raise the bar for worker safety.”

This standard addresses safety requirements for industrial mobile robots. The entire OTTO Motors fleet meets and exceeds these standards.

“Our solutions are a force multiplier to the talented people already deployed in these facilities, so we take their safety and productivity to heart as we purposely build and deploy automated solutions,” said Baker.

RIA R15.08 is the ANSI Standard most closely equivalent to ISO 3691-4 and CE Machinery Directive compliance in Europe. OTTO Motors also recently received CE certification across its fleet.

OTTO AMRs and charging systems also adhere to other safety standards, including ANSI/RIA R15.08-1 (2020), ISO 13849-1 (2015), ISO 12100 (2010), ANSI B56.5 (2019), IEC 60204-1 (2018), and a number of others.