Ocado Intelligent Automation (OIA), part of Ocado Group, introduced Porter AMR, a pallet-moving autonomous mobile robot (AMR) that navigates warehouses to automate several warehouse workflows such as cross-docking, bulk-item picking, putaway, and pallet movement.
“Porter from OIA automates low-value, manual tasks and fosters a more productive workplace by supporting associates, increasing case picking rates, and automating the movement of high volumes of inventory,” says Jeff Larson, director of solutions design for Ocado Mobile Robot System at OIA. “Companies in third-party logistics, retail, e-commerce, distribution, and healthcare can maximize warehouse productivity and scale operations up or down easily without depending on manual forklifts and expensive certified forklift drivers.”
Key takeaways:
- OIA’s patented system-directed software intelligently orchestrates each Porter autonomous pallet-moving robot–or a whole fleet of them–to reduce travel times and avoid warehouse congestion.
- Ocado’s fulfillment execution system (FES) groups orders to maximize case picking, optimize route plans and reduce steps between picks. Meanwhile, machine learning prioritizes and plans pallet stacking intelligently to avoid product damage.
- Porter picks, moves and places pallets directly from the floor with precision, even when they are aligned back-to-back. It recognizes its surroundings to safely handle and transport heavy loads autonomously and can be configured to handle cages, increasing flexibility and expanding fulfillment capabilities.
- Porter AMR features include an onboard touchscreen with live front-camera view; a 3,300-pound payload capacity to transport densely packed pallets; the ability to transport one pallet or two roll cages on a single trip; dynamic task-switching software that seamlessly transitions Porter between inventory movement and case-picking tasks as operational needs evolve; advanced built-in sensors to detect, recognize and handle any open or closed standard pallet types; and a slim, counterbalance-free design.
- Porter integrates with existing wall-to-wall fulfillment platforms, warehouse execution systems (WES), warehouse control systems (WCS) and warehouse management systems (WMS) to seamlessly prioritize tasks with minimal disruption and increase warehouse productivity.
