Locus Robotics launches new hardware and software suite with omnichannel support

Locus Robotics, (Booth S3212), a leader in autonomous mobile robots (AMR) for fulfillment warehouses, has announced the launch of its Spring 2019 software and hardware suite.

The release features new functionality as well as enhancements to the company’s multi-bot software, hardware, and user experience. The latest suite is designed to further improve productivity, operational flexibility and performance for retail/e-tail, third party logistics (3PL), distribution and industrial specialty customers.

The new software and hardware capabilities also enable Locus to fully support all omnichannel methods including retail, wholesale, and e-commerce fulfillment. With Locus’s task interleaving support, multiple omnichannel order types may be fulfilled simultaneously on a single bot.

“Our Spring 2019 release incorporates several powerful, productivity-driving enhancements into our multi-bot solution,” said Rick Faulk, CEO of Locus Robotics. “We’re especially excited to introduce the industry’s first, full omnichannel support that seamlessly handles all aspects of fulfillment for retail, wholesale, and e-commerce channels.”

Primary features of the Spring 2019 release include:
• Omnichannel Support: This enables efficient picking of complex retail shipments and permits simultaneous picking for retail store replenishment, wholesale, and ecommerce orders on a single robot.
• Putaway Functionality: LocusBots are fully enabled to handle putaway functionality, allowing items to be easily and accurately restocked or returned to inventory. This significantly improves productivity and efficiency while allowing workers to interleave pick and put tasks.
• Multi-Order, Multi-Tote Picking: LocusBots can easily accommodate a full range of picking containers. Mix and match different cartons and totes of all sizes to work with any pick process or workflow, further enhancing fulfillment productivity and throughput.
• Bulk Item Picking: Easily pick larger quantities of goods for later sorting.
• LocusBot Top-Off Auto-Charging: A sophisticated, dynamic auto-charging system ensures LocusBots are always charged, eliminating downtime. Locus’s proprietary software automatically recognizes lulls throughout the day and directs the LocusBots to recharge periodically, or “top off”, ensuring optimal charge states during peak operational periods.
• Accessory Power Port: The new, mast-mounted accessory power port allows LocusBots to add a wide range of mobile hardware for use during piece handling. For example, onboard printers can be tasked to print while driving, saving time that would otherwise be spent walking to printers for shipping labels, pick tickets, and more.
• Gamification: Using real-time order picking data, Locus customers can create fun and engaging internal competitions to motivate and reward warehouse workers for achieving higher order fulfillment levels, improving the working experience for employees while maximizing productivity and throughput. This feature is especially valuable for companies with an incentive program.
• Real-Time Traffic Flow Management: Locus’s software dynamically balances workloads with real-time traffic management and flow control to significantly improve picking velocity and productivity, allowing the LocusBots to actively adapt to dynamic changes in the warehouse.
• Custom Robot Branding: Locus can add customer-branded graphics or fun graphical themes to extend branding to a fleet of robots.

Locus’s Spring 2019 Release is currently on display and available for demonstration at Booth #S3212 at ProMat 2019, which runs from April 8th - 11th at Chicago’s McCormick Place. The Company’s new Gamification feature is also a finalist for MHI’s annual Best New Innovation Award, selected as one of the most innovative new products out of 108 submissions from this year’s ProMat exhibitors. Award winners will be announced on April 10th during ProMat’s MHI Industry Night with Craig Ferguson.