You know what’s better than a robot worker? Two robot workers that work together! At least, that’s the idea behind the new system that San Jose-based Fetch Robotics has developed, which the company claims will make warehouses much more efficient, which means you Amazon shipment will get out the door faster. Much like the robots that currently inhabit many warehouses, these two will assist their human counter parts rather than replacing them.
As of just a few months ago, all we knew about Fetch Robotics was that the core team from Unbounded Robotics, all of whom had been at Willow Garage before that, were working on not just one but two brand new robots designed to tackle the logistics market. Today, Fetch Robotics is announcing Fetch and Freight, a beefy mobile manipulator and zippy mobile base designed to automate logistics in places like warehouses. We have all the details, exclusive video of the robots in action, and an in-depth interview with Fetch Robotics CEO Melonee Wise about why these robots are exactly what companies like Amazon and Google desperately need. Fetch and Freight are designed to do fulfillment in warehouse environments. Companies like Amazon have enormous warehouses full of shelves of stuff, and when you order said stuff, someone has to go get that stuff off of whatever shelf (or shelves) that it’s on, put it into a bin, and then send it all off to get packed up for shipping. This can be a miserable experience for the humans who work at it, who end up walking from one end of the warehouse to the other, hauling carts of whatever it is that you desperately need to have at your doorstep in two days or less.
