| Job on the shop floor | Picks online orders from the store's shelves; some restock |
|---|---|
| Where it works | Sales floor aisles |
| Moves product? | Yes, within the reach of one arm on a wheeled base |
| Works around shoppers? | Must share aisles; check whether it works in opening hours |
| Where it stands today | Emerging; most in-store picking is still done by people |
| Main limit | Reach, grasp and speed across a full grocery range |
What it does
- A mobile manipulator drives to a shelf, identifies the item and lifts it into a tote, filling an online order without a person walking the aisle.[7]
Strengths
- Uses the store's existing stock, so no separate warehouse inventory is needed.
- Can share the robot with other tasks: Brain Corp positions its manipulator for both stocking and picking.[7]
Limits
- One arm on a wheeled base can't reach every shelf height or climb a step; check top and bottom shelves.
- Grasping a full grocery range (eggs, bagged salad, a 6-pack of water) is harder than picking uniform boxes.
- Public, independent figures on pick rates in live stores are scarce. Ask to time it.
Where it stands today
- Brain Corp announces an AI-powered autonomous mobile manipulator for robotic stocking and picking.[7]
Examples
Ask before you buy
- Which shelf heights and product types can it pick from?
- How many order lines per hour, timed in a live store?
- Who handles substitutions and the items it can't pick?
Jobs it takes on
- Restocking shelves: Getting product from the backroom onto the shelf, faced and in the right place.
- Order picking for online grocery: Collecting the items for online orders, from the store's shelves or from a dedicated store of stock.
Other types
- Humanoid restocking, stock rotation and order picking
- Shelf-scanning robots
- Floor-cleaning and hazard-spotting robots
- Delivery and pickup robots
- Fixed micro-fulfilment systems
Sources
Every numbered claim on this page links here. Open the source to check it.
- Robots, AI and autonomous technology for smarter operations (Brain Corp)BrainOS autonomy for commercial floor cleaning and shelf scanning; announces an autonomous mobile manipulator for stocking and picking.