ON THE SHOW FLOOR

In the category of nimble and adaptable, Tompkins Robotics showed off several of its new order fulfillment solutions at the show. The PickPal product series currently includes two pick assist (PA) autonomous mobile robots. The standard PickPal can carry 60 kg of orders, while the PickPal+ handles up to 100 kg. It is the company’s first foray into the goods to person market, according to Mike Futch, Tomkins Robotics president and CEO. Futch said at the show that it is designed for third-party logistics operations that want a low capital expenditure and don’t have the volume to need a fixed order fulfillment solution. The company is offering it on a robot-as-a-service (RaaS) model to keep outlay low.

Dutch Toyota subsidiary Vanderlande showed off its second-generation order fulfillment system, Fastpick, with a fully operational goods-to-picker (GtP) 2.0 modular workstation integrated with a RightHand Robotics piece-picking robot. According to Jake Heldenberg, the company’s head of solutions design, warehousing, North America, the system is faster, and can be customized with different grippers designed for the type of product being picked. He said the three-finger configuration they showed is extremely versatile and can handle soft items like textiles in bags as well as more regularly shaped items. He also pointed out that robot can now use its digits to reposition an item in a tote in order to be able to grasp it correctly.