Warehousing is the age-old process of storing goods safely after they are brought from manufacturer and before shipping them off to the distributor or customer. Though the definition remains the same, the process has undergone a considerable change over the years. With the increasing diversification of logistics and enterprise models, warehousing has also been modernized to a great extent. During this unprecedented COVID-19 situation, world economy has definitely seen a rise in e-commerce sales and trade, leading to increase in the demand for optimum warehousing solutions specially for e-commerce giants like #Amazon and #Flipkart. The latest trend in this is Warehousing Robots.
At Rucha Yatra LLP we focus on building commercial and industrial Mobile Robots to meet the customer requirement. However, the newest member of our family – VAMEN is specifically designed keeping in mind the material handling requirements in the industry, especially the Warehousing Industry.
Why Robots: Manually transporting the material from one place to other in an industrial warehouse is a tedious task mainly because the material is bulky. Although for ecommerce companies, the material may not be heavy, the quantity is more and hence the warehouses are spread out over areas as large as 500000 Sq. Ft. Imagine moving tonnes of goods from the warehouse to packaging manually or even using forklifts or pallets is a time-consuming job. Robots/ AGVs work autonomously to do this job without any manual intervention.
Why VAMEN: VAMEN is the tunnel type and 
Flat Bed AGV which is extremely low in height– even less than 300 mm. This makes it very easy to slide under a trolley carrying a big load and lift it easily without requiring any manual help. It ensures completely automatic load carriage including automated picking and placing of the pallets, carts or trolleys. The specialised mechanism of the AGV bed allows to transport load of up to 500 Kg without the need of any hooking or tying. This saves man hours and effort making 100% automation possible. Due to inherent flexibility and accuracy, it is also ideal alternative to the heavy stationary conveyors or gantries on assembly lines occupying permanent spaces. This video of VAMEN shows how it automatically lifts up the trolley and carries load https://youtu.be/OSz3RrHMKSo.
VAMEN comes in two variants based on navigation technology requiring no floor and structural modifications – Coloured path guidance technology which is 3x more flexible and lower in maintenance than traditional magnetic tape or laser based navigation or a more advanced SLAM based Natural Navigation based technology which relies on static natural features in the environment and does not need additional navigation aids like tapes, reflectors etc. This makes it easier to accommodate in the tight spaces in a warehouse.
VAMEN additionally deploys 2 collision detection sensors, one at front and other at rear side while ensuring complete 360-degree protection against safety incidences during material carriage on factory floor. This makes it very easy to operate in the warehouse along with fellow workers. Another advantage is, it is extremely user friendly and low maintenance.
Additionally, we have also added a disinfectant tank to VAMEN as an advanced safety feature in these trying times. VAMEN can thus automatically disinfect the surroundings and the complete premises of the warehouse. This reduces the risk of infection to employees and also makes the sanitation process easier.
What do you think about this trend in warehousing? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
