Among the three exhibit halls at ProMat last week were several systems positioned as alternatives to automated storage and retrieval systems, or ASRS. GreyOrange Inc. introduced Relay Pick, a tote-to-person system using artificial intelligence and its GreyMatter software.
The Roswell, Ga.-based company said it designed Relay Pick for high-density, high-speed, and cost-efficient fulfillment. The new system integrates with Certified Ranger Network (CRN) partner hardware, offering a more efficient alternative to traditional ASRS, claimed GreyOrange.
“Relay Pick was developed in response to market demand for greater storage density, higher throughput, and flexibility—all while delivering strong ROI [return on investment],” stated Akash Gupta, co-founder and CEO of GreyOrange. “GreyMatter orchestrates every aspect of the warehouse in real time, ensuring peak performance.”
Tote-to-person automation demand rises
According to Interact Analysis, 80% of warehouses worldwide still operate manually, leaving significant room for further automation adoption. It attributed the shift from goods-to-person (G2P) to tote-to-person (TTP) automation to e-commerce growth and omnichannel fulfillment.
By 2025, TTP revenues could reach $1.5 billion, surpassing G2P’s $1.3 billion, reflecting an industry-wide transition to scalable automation, noted the research firm.
Founded in 2012, GreyOrange said it focuses on innovation, orchestration, and customer satisfaction. The company said its systems “offer a competitive advantage by increasing productivity, empowering growth and scale, mitigating labor challenges, reducing risk and time to market, and creating better experiences for customers and employees.”
Relay Pick has an edge over ASRS, says GreyOrange
GreyOrange asserted that Relay Pick offers several advantages over cube-based ASRS:
- Higher storage density – The new system stores totes up to three rows deep and 12 m (39.3 ft.) high, optimizing space.
- Faster throughput – It moves totes at 4 m/s (8.9 mph), enabling 400 tote presentations per hour, per station.
- Greater flexibility – Unlike rigid ASRS infrastructure, Relay Pick adapts to changing inventory needs and allows incremental deployment.
Unlike legacy ASRS, which takes 12 to 18 months to deploy, Relay Pick is fully operational in just nine months, said GreyOrange. The company said its modular design makes the system suitable for both greenfield sites needing full-scale automation and brownfield sites seeking upgrades without major infrastructure changes.
“Relay Pick delivers best-in-class density, speed, and cost-effectiveness,” added Gupta. “Its rapid deployment and AI-driven orchestration make automation more accessible and future-proof.”
AMRs part of GreyMatter ecosystem
Inspired by relay races, Relay Pick uses autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) to pass totes bot to bot, reducing congestion and optimizing throughput, according to GreyOrange. Unlike static systems, this dynamic handoff process improves efficiency and minimizes wait times, it said.
The company said that its GreyMatter AI-driven orchestration platform enables real-time SKU allocation and optimizes picking in real time. It also integrates with multi-vendor robotic fleets and maximizes utilization across vertical tote movers (VTMs) and horizontal tote movers (HTMs), said GreyOrange.
Relay Pick is the latest innovation in GreyOrange’s fulfillment ecosystem, which includes:
- Ranger Forklift Bots for pallet handling.
- CAPTIS Cycle Counting for automated inventory tracking.
- P2G Cobots for human-robot collaboration.