Enterprise technology giant Zebra Technologies Corp. announced three new autonomous mobile robots today as part of a new fulfillment system for warehouse operators.

The Fetch Robotics-branded system is powered by a fulfillment software package for order or batch picking called FetchCore that’s used to manage warehouse operations and control the three robots.

Zebra is a massive enterprise technology player that often flies under the radar, despite generating more than $4 billion in annual revenue. A member of the Fortune 500, Zebra sells technology to customers in the manufacturing, supply chain, retail and healthcare industries.

Its products include various ruggedized mobile devices, thermal barcode label and receipt printers, RFID smart label printers and encoders, handheld readers and antennas, card and kiosk printers and specialty printers. It also designs and sells the software needed to run those devices.

Many of its products are already used in warehouse operations, so robotics is a natural fit for Zebra. The company entered the business only in July when it acquired a company called Fetch Robotics Inc. for $290 million. But it has moved fast, and the new robots – FlexShelf, FlexShelf Guide and RollerTop Guide – will help extend its position in warehouse automation.

The autonomous mobile robots, or AMRs, are said to provide some unique advantages over existing warehouse robots. FlexShelf and FlexShelf Guide are built atop the proven Fetch Freight100 platform and offer more flexible configurations for bin sizing and spacing, Zebra said, meaning they can pick up a wider range of items than existing AMRs.

They also improve picking accuracy by incorporating put-to-light and pick-side lighting, which Zebra said can be critical during peak periods when order volumes are much higher. Moreover, Zebra claims, the robots help to reduce worker training times and even boost employee retention because they reduce the time pickers spend walking around the warehouse by as much as 60%.

Safety is taken very seriously too, with all three robots compliant with the ANSI RIA R15.0 industrial robot safety standard. There are also features such as forklift detection, which allows them to avoid forklift blind spots and move out of harm’s way when necessary.

As for the RollerTop Guide AMR, Zebra said businesses that deploy this model will be able to integrate each picking workflow with existing fixed conveyance, sortation and automated storage and retrieval systems.

The secret sauce is the FetchCore enterprise cloud software, which Zebra said will be used to modify workflows on-demand and manage warehouse operations. The platform, which integrates with existing warehouse management and warehouse execution software, enables the dynamic orchestration of human workers and robots, Zebra said. Companies can optimize order, batch, case and pallet picking workflows.

There’s also a warehouse annotation feature that superimposes the physical pick locations in a warehouse logically into FetchCore. That eliminates the need for QR codes and makes it easy for the AMRs to adjust when reslotted into a new part of the warehouse.

Not surprisingly, Zebra makes some impressive claims, saying its robots operate 50% faster than other kinds of AMRs, delivering up to a threefold productivity improvement in fulfillment operations.

Interact Analysis Senior Research Director Ash Sharma said AMRs that can support manual picking operations in fulfillment centers are in big demand these days as retailers struggle to keep up with customer demand.

“Fetch Robotics, now part of Zebra Technologies, has responded to this demand by developing an integrated fulfillment solution so that retailers and 3PLs can now not only streamline each picking operations, but leverage the entire portfolio of Fetch AMRs to automate any manual workflow in fulfillment and distribution centers,” Sharma said.

Photo: Fetch Robotics