By 2025, over 4 million commercial robots will be installed in over 50,000 warehouses, up from just under 4,000 robotic storage warehouse in 2018, according to ABI Research, a market-foresight advisory firm providing strategic guidance on the most convincing transformative technologies. The rapid rate of use will be driven by the need for flexible, reliable, and automated e-commerce fulfillment as same-day delivery becomes the norm. Global adoption of warehouse robotics will also be spurred by the raising affordability and Return on Investment (ROI) of a growing variety of infrastructure-light robots as they are an attractive and convenient alternative to customary fixed mechanical automation or manual operations.
 
“Flexibility and productivity have become biggest differentiators in the e-commerce fulfillment marketplace as retailers and Third-Party Logistics (3PLs) struggle to deal with volatile product demand, seasonal peaks, and rising consumer delivery expectations,” said Nick Finill, Senior Analyst at ABI Research. “Robots enable warehouses to scale operations up or down as required while providing great efficiency gains and mitigating inherent obstacles connected with labor and staffing.”
 
Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) and Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) Goods-to-Person systems can directly replace heavier mechanized automation that typically will require massive upfront investment and rigid physical infrastructure. Robots enable the optimisation of space in expensive warehouse facilities and can lessen the need for new and expensive greenfield fulfillment centers. Mobile robotic systems also offering major flexibility advantages. Robot vendors, such as Fetch, Geek+, and Invia, enable additional robots to be added to or removed from a fleet as operational demands require. They also allow easy and relatively fast reconfiguration of overall workflows and operations if product lines or fundamental operational requirements change. This is a big advantage in the unknown and dynamic e-commerce market.
 
Thanks to impressive development in computer vision, Artificial Intelligence (AI), deep learning, and robotic mechanics, robots are also growing to be more and more proficient at performing traditionally harder-to-automate tasks. Economically viable mobile manipulation robots from the likes of RightHand Robotics and Kindred Systems are now enabling a wider range of individual items to be automatically picked and placed within a fulfillment operation. By combining mobile robots, picking robots, and even autonomous forklifts, fulfillment centers can achieve greater levels of automation in an efficient and cost-effective way.
 
Many robot technology sellers are providing additional value by offering flexible pricing options. Robotics-as-a-Service models mean that large CapEx costs can be changed with more accessible OpEx costs that are exclusively proportional to the consumption of technologies or services, improving the affordability of robotics systems among the mid-market, further driving adoption.
 
“By decreasing the barriers to adoption for robots in the warehouse, vendors are disrupting the wider logistics value chain,” explained Finill. “If advanced automation becomes possible for mid-size e-retailers, they will be able to fight back against the dominant players and also bring fulfillment operations back in-house, disrupting the relationship between retailers and 3PLs.”
 
These findings are from ABI Research’s report Robotics in E-commerce Fulfillment application analysis report. This report is part of the company’s Intelligent Supply Chain service, which contains research, data, and Executive Foresights. Based on extensive primary interviews, Application Analysis reports present in-depth analysis on key market trends and aspects for a specific application, which could focus on an individual market or geography.

This article is originally posted on tronserve.com