Automating for Efficiency: Integrating Mobile Robots in High-Demand E-Commerce Logistics

The e-commerce industry has experienced an unprecedented surge in demand in recent years, with a growing number of customers making the decision to shop online. This has placed significant pressure on the logistics industry. The continued expansion of online shopping has placed significant demands on supply chains. To meet the challenges of this dynamic industry, automation, especially the use of mobile robots, has become a crucial factor. Manual labor alone is no longer sufficient to keep up with the ever-increasing volume of orders. Therefore, integrating mobile robots into logistics processes is essential to ensure customer satisfaction and maintain competitiveness.

Boosting Throughput in Warehousing with Bottobo's Advanced Robotics

Mobile robots from Bottobo are designed to integrate seamlessly with existing warehouse and logistics systems. They can work collaboratively with human workers, sharing the burden of moving goods, thereby increasing throughput. This translates into quicker order processing and reduced operational costs. Furthermore, Bottobo Robotics' products are scalable and adaptable, allowing e-commerce companies to deploy additional robots as order volumes increase without overburdening their resources.

Optimizing Space Utilization in Warehouses with NODE.OS

To overcome the challenges of robot localization and navigation in large and highly dynamic warehouses, Bottobo chose NODE Robotics as their partner. NODE's software platform, NODE.OS, helps optimize routes, avoid collisions, localize mobile robots and adapt to changes in the environment, helping to utilize every square meter of warehouse space. This results in accelerated order fulfillment and reduced operating costs.

Bottobo Robotics selected the NODE.OS solution because it is specifically designed to meet the unique demands of large warehouse layouts. NODE.OS employs advanced technologies such as Live SLAM (Continuous map updates) to facilitate rapid mapping processes. This eliminates the need for extensive post-processing or re-mapping, even in expansive warehouse environments. To address the challenge of localization in long, unstructured aisles, NODE.OS utilize a combination of 2D safety sensors and 3D sensors.

A highly dynamic environment with people walking around, and manual forklifts required the integration of dynamic route planning and obstacle avoidance. Path planners were connected to a safety layer that enabled optimal routes and movement commands in the safety field, allowing for safety-aware navigation. Despite the challenges in such an environment, the implementation was successfully completed. The deployment of the solution in five locations, with 50 robots in operation, has optimized their logistics and met industry demands.

P2G-Robots for High-Volume Challenges

P2G mobile robots are scalable and adaptable, allowing businesses to meet increasing order volumes without resource strain. Furthermore, these robots can adapt to changes in warehouse layout or workflow with minimal downtime or reprogramming. However, this growth led to increased traffic, necessitating efficient traffic management.

Efficient Traffic Management and Seamless NODE.OS Integration at Bottobo

The solution provided efficient traffic management, which was crucial in this situation. NODE Robotics implemented a combination of centralized and decentralized traffic management. The centralized approach defined special zones that limited the number of robots in certain areas to avoid traffic congestion. The decentralized traffic management enabled collaborative path planning to further optimize traffic flow. As a result, there was a significant improvement in traffic management that minimized congestion, making it much more efficient for robots to work together in a highly dynamic environment.

The implementation of NODE.OS was completed successfully and efficiently. The NODE Robotics team worked closely with Bottobo to ensure that the customizations were aligned with their specific needs and circumstances. The implementation timeline was minimal, as the solution is straightforward to use, allowing customers to become fully operational quickly. This approach helped overcome challenges and ensures a smooth integration into existing operational structures.

The feedback from our customers was extremely positive. Our solution has not only optimized warehouse and logistics processes but also enabled significant cost savings and increased customer satisfaction. “I’d like to extend my thanks to the NODE Robotics team for their professionalism and hard work”, said the CEO and Co-founder of Bottobo Robotics, Turgut Uluturk