Japanese firm Renatus Robotics has launched what it claims is the world’s first automated robot warehouse system with one-stop pick-and-pack technology.

This lets a single worker perform picking, consolidating and packing operations all in one stop, operations that have traditionally required workers and dedicated material handling equipment at each step. This could change inventory management and order fulfilment in all segments of logistics including ecommerce.

The system is a 3D storage rack system with Renatus Shuttles and high-speed lifts that operate inside, managed and controlled by the Cortex proprietary software and algorithm package.

Other automated warehouse systems require the use of buffering and sequencing equipment as well as conveyor systems to consolidate all the goods in an order for packing, which can get costly in equipment and labour costs. With this system, goods arrive to workers completely sequenced and consolidated without additional equipment, a feature made possible through the fleet control and dispatch algorithm in Cortex. Adding the capability to supply and seal shipping boxes automatically, it lets a single worker fulfil an order by picking, consolidating and packing in one stop.

The technology unlocks picking speeds up to 500 lines per hour per worker. The use of dedicated transport methods for the horizontal and vertical transport of goods enables some of the fastest performance in the industry, with speeds of up to 4m/s – 2m/s² acceleration for Renatus Shuttle, 4m/s² for the high-speed lifts.

Goods are also stored and supplied inside tote bins, which simplifies and speeds up the picking workflow as well as reduces human error compared with picking goods from a rack or shelf.

Traditionally, resolving the issue of congestion and collisions among robots has been difficult for automated warehouse systems at large scales. With this, however, Cortex realises optimised, collision-free path planning for fleets of shuttles of up to 2000 units simultaneously. Communications within the system are done over local 5G for stable, high-speed performance. The combination of software and hardware helps the systems be capable of storing a million bins and shipping over 300,000 lines per day.