Italian firm Comau has designed an intelligent robot aimed at transforming warehouse management for ecommerce operations.

The robot is for the picking process, where individual items are selected from shelves to fulfil customer orders.

Powered by vision systems, AI and collaborative robotics, it can autonomously recognise, handle and sort items of vastly different shapes, weights and consistencies, adapting in real time to shifting workflows.

In addition to ensuring operational continuity and flexibility, the core centres on the human operator. The technology was designed to work alongside people during the most strenuous tasks, improving workplace ergonomics and reducing physical strain.

The project is part of Masterly (masterly-project.eu), a European initiative to accelerate the transition from traditional mass production to flexible, customised manufacturing systems, and was tested by sports goods retailer Decathlon (www.decathlon.com), one of the project partners, in its warehouse logistics environment.

The system leverages Comau’s MyCo collaborative robot with a ROS2-based software architecture and integrates intelligent sensors and a modular gripper to manage picking, handling and palletising tasks autonomously across variable product flows.

The project parameters were driven by Decathlon’s operational requirements within the targeted fulfilment process, which has provided the foundation for implementing and validating several functionalities. Partners included Decathlon itself and Stam (www.stamtech.com), a Genoa-based systems integrator, alongside the broader Masterly consortium.

In addition to the MyCo collaborative robot and intelligent gripper, engineered to manipulate objects varying in shape, weight and material, it incorporates sensors, vision-based object recognition, digital-twin capabilities and workflow orchestration tools. As a result, it can manage the rigid, soft and porous materials commonly found in ecommerce fulfilment environments. The system also grants real-time optimisation and seamless interaction between operators and the automated processes, ensuring flexibility while maintaining consistent throughput and operational reliability.

Furthermore, the knowledge gained and functionalities validated during the project will contribute to the continued evolution of Comau’s MyCo collaborative robotics platform and are expected to become part of its broader portfolio of advanced intralogistics capabilities.

“Comau’s role in the Masterly project is fully aligned with our commitment to advancing next-generation manufacturing by promoting reconfigurability, efficiency and human-centric automation,” said Alessandro Piscioneri from Comau (www.comau.com). “The project also highlights the strategic value of combining intelligent robotics, digital technologies and systems integration to create highly flexible logistics and fulfilment operations capable of adapting to rapidly changing production and market demands while maintaining operational continuity, scalability and ease of use.”

Comau’s growing focus on intralogistics includes strengthening its capabilities through the recent acquisitions of Automha (automha.com) and Invent (www.invent-corp.com), which enable it to deliver increasingly integrated and intelligent products across the warehouse and production value chain.