KNAPP, technology partner for intelligent value chains, and Covariant, a leading global AI robotics company, strengthen their partnership to further develop AI-powered robot solutions and expand their market presence. So far, KNAPP and Covariant have successfully implemented multiple projects together, with KNAPP’s picking robot – the Pick-it-Easy Robot – at the forefront of their endeavors. The robot’s ability to handle a wide range of items and suitability for various sector applications have proven their value in improving warehouse efficiency across numerous industries.
Several customers in North America, Europe and Australia, such as US pharmaceutical wholesaler McKesson, run their warehouses with an automation solution combined with the Pick-it-Easy Robot. McKesson can count on their Pick-it-Easy Robot as it works reliably around the clock. Powered by the Covariant Brain, a sophisticated artificial intelligence, the robot is able to recognize different packaging and characteristics on the medicinal products. The robot processes orders fully automatically, while fulfilling all the legal requirements to ensure patient safety. “US medicine packaging is very complex, posing a great challenge to fully automatic robotic picking. Getting there was not exactly easy, but today we can pick a large part of the product range with the Pick-it-Easy Robot,” says Todd Kleinow, Vice President of Strategic Distribution and Operations at McKesson.
AI-powered brain masters current challenges in picking
The demands for quality, efficiency and performance on logistics processes are increasing. The range of items is also becoming more and more diverse while cost pressure is intensifying. On top of that, space and qualified personnel are becoming increasingly scarce. Against this backdrop, fully automatic picking is the solution. The robot reliably handles items with different characteristics. Various grippers, AI-based object recognition and grip point determination from Covariant mean that the Pick-it-Easy Robot can handle a broad range of items for many applications in diverse sectors. By carrying out monotonous and physically strenuous tasks swiftly, around the clock, the robot permanently takes the strain off employees.
The right choice for a wide variety of items
The Pick-it-Easy Robot, powered by the Covariant Brain, grips items of various sizes, weights and shapes with ease, as well as items with different types of surface and packaging: from cubical, round and cylindrical items to bottles and polybags as well as items with transparent surfaces or reflective packaging. Another essential advantage is the gentle and space-optimized placement of the articles in the order tote. Thanks to its versatility, the Pick-it-Easy Robot can be used in a number of different industries, such as e-commerce, food retail, electronics, cosmetics, fashion and pharma.
Pick-it-Easy Robot handles customer orders at Obeta
The electrical wholesaler Obeta, with 28,000 customers and 64 branches throughout Germany, picks thousands of customer orders every day with the help of the KNAPP robot. Pick-it-Easy Robot, powered by the Covariant Brain, effortlessly picks up the articles and gently places them in the designated target totes. It is in operation for up to 14 hours a day. “We can rely on the robot to do its job without having to worry that it won’t be able to handle the workload, which is a huge benefit for us,” says Michael Pultke, Head of Logistics at Obeta in Berlin.
Learning with every grip
Especially the enormous range of e-commerce items makes it extremely difficult for robots to find the ideal grip point. The Pick-it-Easy Robot, powered by the Covariant Brain, has mastered this issue using its powerful camera system and AI-based object recognition software, enabling it to recognize objects and determine the ideal grip point and picking speed. Equipped with machine learning, the robot learns continuously while picking. It can also access collective intelligence from around the globe made available by cloud robotics, offering true added value to KNAPP customers. Whenever one robot learns, the knowledge it acquires is immediately available in all the other robot stations.
Automatic insertion of fashion items into pockets
“Combining KNAPP’s industrial-grade robotics systems with Covariant’s cutting-edge AI is the key to delivering consistently high performance autonomous stations to our customers. Through our tight partnership with KNAPP, we will continue to bring innovative solutions to market. By expanding into multiple industries, our AI platform, the Covariant Brain, gets smarter everyday and guarantees our customers always have access to the best AI” concluded Peter Chen, CEO of Covariant.
Press Contact
Margit Wögerer
Press Relations
Günter-Knapp-Straße 5-7
8075 Hart bei Graz | Austria
Tel.: +43 5 04952 2501
presse@knapp.com
Visit us at the trade shows and learn more about the Pick-it-Easy Robot:
MODEX, Atlanta, Georgia, March 28–31, Booth B6811
LogiMAT, Stuttgart, May 31 – June 2, Booth B05 in Hall 3
Downloads
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KNAPP’s Pick-it-Easy Robot is an intelligent, reliable and industrial-grade picking solution. It fully automatically picks a wide range of single items and is suited for many different industries (©KNAPP/Niederwieser).
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The AI-powered robot is an essential part of Obeta's warehouse operations. It exceeds the performance requirements for manual stations and operates autonomously (©Obeta/Magnus Pettersson).