“Lights-out” facilities are coming within reach, according to Brightpick. The company today announced that its latest software updates enable its Autopicker robots to pick and buffer orders without human intervention.
With physical AI and picking in motion, Autopicker eliminates the need for overnight staffing and allows companies to extend their operating hours at no additional cost, claimed Brightpick.
“Autopicker robots are a game-changer for logistics operations seeking to expand throughput without adding cost,” said Jan Zizka, co-founder and CEO of Brightpick. “By enabling lights-out overnight operation, the toughest shift to find staff for, we help our customers maximize the productivity of their investments and unlock the full value of automation around the clock.”
Brightpick said it is a leading provider of AI-powered robotics for warehouses. Autopicker combines an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) with machine vision, machine learning, and a robotic arm to pick directly to onboard totes.
The company claimed that its mobile manipulator can fully automate order picking, buffering, consolidation, dispatch, and stock replenishment. The system earned Brightpick a 2024 RBR50 Application of the Year award. Brightpick said it takes just weeks to deploy and allows companies to keep their warehouse labor to a minimum.
Brightpick addresses staffing challenges
Night shifts are often the most challenging and costly for companies to staff, noted Brightpick. It asserted that warehouses can use Autopicker to extend their operations overnight with only a small number of supervisory staffers on site. This would reduce reliance on shift workers and temporary labor, especially during holiday peak season.
Extending operations overnight can also speed up delivery times and improve customer satisfaction, Brightpick said. Orders picked overnight are autonomously buffered inside the Autopicker system, ready for immediate packing and shipping at the start of the next shift, increasing warehouse throughput.
Autopicker robots use advanced 3D vision and force-sensing grippers to dexterously pick individual items from shelves and totes. Brightpick said its robots use lidar sensors to navigate aisles and shelves, even in low-light environments.
The company explained that its Intuition software “empowers each robot to see, think, and act with human-like responsiveness and adaptability.” It continuously evaluates what’s happening across the warehouse and directs each robot to its next task.
Embedded within Intuition is a suite of proprietary physical AI models that Brightpick said enable Autopicker to understand and adapt to its surroundings with human-like judgment. Multiple Brightpick customers, such as The Feed, have already automated their overnight operations, and it said it expects more warehouses to do so soon.
Autopicker 2.0 available through RaaS model
In June, Brightpick unveiled Autopicker 2.0, which boosts throughput by 50% per robot in comparison with its first-generation model. The system can pick up to 40% faster and travel 20% faster.
“This equates to an average of 70 to 80 picks per hour, matching the productivity of a typical warehouse associate,” the company said.
Brightpick’s Intuition software coordinates and orchestrates the robots as a fleet, ensuring that the optimal robot is assigned to each task in real time. Autopicker robots can also switch among workflows, including picking, order buffering, replenishment, and sortation.
To help customers rapidly deploy and scale overnight fulfillment, Brightpick offers Autopicker systems through a flexible robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) model. Customers can hire robots from under $2,000 per month with no large upfront investment.
The company said this provides a faster return on investment (ROI) and reduced financial risk at an even lower cost with longer-term agreements. Traditional capital expenditure purchase options are also available.
With new headquarters in Austin, Texas, Brightpick said it has more than 250 employees and hundreds of AI robots deployed with customers across the U.S. and Europe.
