The Robot Report

  • Home
  • News
  • Technologies
    • Batteries / Power Supplies
    • Cameras / Imaging / Vision
    • Controllers
    • End Effectors
    • Microprocessors / SoCs
    • Motion Control
    • Sensors
    • Soft Robotics
    • Software / Simulation
  • Development
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Human Robot Interaction / Haptics
    • Mobility / Navigation
    • Research
  • Robots
    • AGVs
    • AMRs
    • Consumer
    • Collaborative Robots
    • Drones
    • Exoskeletons
    • Industrial
    • Self-Driving Vehicles
    • Unmanned Maritime Systems
  • Markets
    • Agriculture
    • Healthcare
    • Logistics
    • Manufacturing
    • Mining
    • Security
  • Financial
    • Investments
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Earnings
  • Resources
    • Careers
    • COVID-19
    • Digital Issues
    • Publications
      • Collaborative Robotics Trends
      • Robotics Business Review
    • RBR50 Winners 2022
    • Search Robotics Database
    • Videos
    • Webinars / Digital Events
  • Events
    • RoboBusiness
    • Robotics Summit & Expo
    • Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum
    • DeviceTalks
    • R&D 100
    • Robotics Weeks
  • Podcast
    • Episodes
    • Leave a voicemail

Vicarious and GreyOrange announce goods-to-robot solution

By Mike Oitzman | March 5, 2021

Vicarious robotics demonstration of vertical picking for goods-to-robot application

Here is a look at a cobot arm controlled by Vicarious demonstrating a vertical bin picking application for goods-to-robot (image courtesy of Vicarious)

Goods-to-Person (G2P) autonomous mobile robot (AMR) provider GreyOrange announces a new autonomous vertical bin picking solution together with robotics integrator Vicarious. The solution leverages a collaborative robot (cobot) arm and AI-driven vision guidance to locate and acquire items out of vertical bins contained on a mobile storage unit (MSU).

Vicarious has raised more than $122M since 2012, and includes some high profile investors, such as Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Mark Benioff and Mark Zuckerberg. Vicarious’s investors believe that the company’s robots-as-a-service (RaaS) business model is the way of the future for scaling robotics in markets like warehousing and logistics. Vicarious leverages RaaS to enable customers to deploy in more robots during peak periods and then remove them if demand subsides.

The GreyOrange AMRs automate the movement of MSUs into and out of the cobot’s workcell as needed to fulfill customer orders. The complete solution is an example of warehouse automation workflows called Goods-to-Robot (G2R).

Vicarious bin picking

Vision guided bin picking has been one of the “holy grail” robotics applications for several decades. This application has been difficult to automate, due in part to the complexities of identifying the pose of items in the vision camera’s field of view and then moving a robot gripper into position to accurately and repeatedly acquire an item. The application of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms have evolved quickly in the last decade, due in part to research by companies like Vicarious.

Robots have been able to acquire randomly located items from conveyors and loosely fixtured items for decades. The hurdle has been how to teach new items to the vision system quickly and to figure out how to pick up a diversity of items with a single gripper design. This has been especially difficult given the variety of items found in a typical e-commerce warehouse or 3PL distribution center.

Vicarious is one of the few companies to solve this problem, first for items on a flat surface like a conveyor belt, and now for bin-picking. Bin picking adds an extra level of difficulty because items can be stacked on top of each other within the bin.

GreyOrange continues to expand globally

GreyOrange has a broad portfolio of AMRs, however, they are emerging as a global market leader in the G2P application segment. The company started in India, expanded to Asia and now is selling their solutions in North America and Europe. The company has raised more than $170M since it was founded in 2011, the last round was in 2018. E-commerce has seen a big bump over the past year, due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift in buying patterns from consumers. GreyOrange has grown in response to the expanding needs of warehouse operators.

Up until now, G2P applications have relied on human pickers to pull items from MSUs at manual picking stations. This solution automates the picking station with a collaborative robot, that can fit into the existing picking station footprint.

Takeaways

This announcement is one of the first of its kind and provides an automated solution for the picking station operation in current G2P operations. This collaboration could position the combination of GreyOrange AMRs and Vicarious bin picking workstations as early leaders in the G2R market. Robots-as-a-service remains one of the leading business models for warehouse robotics with most of the vendors offering some form of RaaS to help make automation affordable to new clients.

You may also like:

  • Locus Robotics
    Locus Robotics raises $150M Series E at $1B valuation
  • Order fulfillment tipping point reached for mobile robots, says Interact Analysis
    Order fulfillment tipping point reached for mobile robots, says Interact…

About The Author

Mike Oitzman

Mike Oitzman is Editor of WTWH's Robotics Group and founder of the Mobile Robot Guide. Oitzman is a robotics industry veteran with 25-plus years of experience at various high-tech companies in the roles of marketing, sales and product management. He can be reached at [email protected]

Tell Us What You Think! Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Articles Read More >

UR+ ecosystem adds module to automate blasting processes
Intuitive collaborating with Creo Medical to enhance surgical robots
scythe autonomous mower
Scythe Robotics autonomous mower cuts down commercial milestone
whiz
SoftBank Robotics America makes 6 senior appointments

2021 Robotics Handbook

The Robot Report Listing Database

Latest Robotics News

Robot Report Podcast

Robotics Summit 2022 recap
See More >

Sponsored Content

  • Meet Trey, the autonomous trailer (un)loading forklift
  • Kinova Robotics launches Link 6, the first Canadian industrial collaborative robot
  • Torque sensors help make human/robot collaborations safer for workers
  • Roller screws unlock peak performance in robotic applications
  • Making the ROS development cycle manageable

RBR50 Innovation Awards

Leave us a voicemail

The Robot Report
  • Mobile Robot Guide
  • Collaborative Robotics Trends
  • Field Robotics Forum
  • Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum
  • RoboBusiness Event
  • Robotics Business Review
  • Robotics Summit & Expo
  • About The Robot Report
  • Subscribe
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search The Robot Report

  • Home
  • News
  • Technologies
    • Batteries / Power Supplies
    • Cameras / Imaging / Vision
    • Controllers
    • End Effectors
    • Microprocessors / SoCs
    • Motion Control
    • Sensors
    • Soft Robotics
    • Software / Simulation
  • Development
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Human Robot Interaction / Haptics
    • Mobility / Navigation
    • Research
  • Robots
    • AGVs
    • AMRs
    • Consumer
    • Collaborative Robots
    • Drones
    • Exoskeletons
    • Industrial
    • Self-Driving Vehicles
    • Unmanned Maritime Systems
  • Markets
    • Agriculture
    • Healthcare
    • Logistics
    • Manufacturing
    • Mining
    • Security
  • Financial
    • Investments
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Earnings
  • Resources
    • Careers
    • COVID-19
    • Digital Issues
    • Publications
      • Collaborative Robotics Trends
      • Robotics Business Review
    • RBR50 Winners 2022
    • Search Robotics Database
    • Videos
    • Webinars / Digital Events
  • Events
    • RoboBusiness
    • Robotics Summit & Expo
    • Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum
    • DeviceTalks
    • R&D 100
    • Robotics Weeks
  • Podcast
    • Episodes
    • Leave a voicemail