Symbotic LLC Offering Autonomous Technology for Distribution Centers
Symbotic LLC of Wilmington, Massachusetts, is looking to supply warehouses and distribution centers around the world with autonomous stocking and shifting, in an effort to cut costs related to labor, time and real estate for retailers.
As a part of its autonomous system, the company has robots that can freely travel between storage racks, can move up and down aisles to stack and retrieve cases, and can work in collaboration with other robots to perform simple tasks.
“What we’re doing with autonomous bots is not that dissimilar from what Google is doing with autonomous cars,” said Rick Cohen, who oversees Symbotic as a part of his larger grocery franchise in New England, C&S Wholesale Grocers Inc., in an article with the Wall Street Journal. “I think within five years, it’ll change distribution.”
Back in 2014, Symbotic began working with Target. Symbotic’s former chief technology officer Larry Sweet, who helped bring the company’s technology to Target, said that Symbotic saved Target a ton of money and trouble.
“Target was going to have to build a new facility in California, which is horrendously expensive. They wanted that facility to handle more volume, but they couldn’t do it. Symbotic was able to put a system in the building that helped that.”
Symbotic has agreed to a deal with Coca-Cola, and Wal-Mart has expressed interest in the technology as well.
