Modula and MiR collaborate on fully autonomous storage, picking

Leading smart storage manufacturer Modula and Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR), a leader provider of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), recently unveiled a joint partial or fully automated solution for materials handling in warehouses, production and distribution centers.

Supporting various configurations, the solution can fully or partially automate material handling processes. The configurations include:
• Semi-automated picking of single items. With this process, human operators pick single items from Modula’s storage unit and places them onto MiR’s mobile robot for autonomous transportation to designated areas such as consolidation centers.
• Semi-automated picking with picking-carts. An operator can pick multiple items and place them onto a picking station. Once picking is completed, the MiR robot hooks onto the picking station and moves it to the designated area.
• Fully automated picking of single items. MiR robots are equipped with a robotic arm that picks single items from Modula’s storage unit and transports them easily and safely to the next picking zone or consolidation area.
• Fullly automated case picking. In this situation, MiR robots are equipped with a customized top module that lifts, picks, and places totes or bins directly from or to a tray on Modula’s Vertical Lift Module (VLM), facilitating picking and replenishment without human intervention.
• Fully automated with pallets. MiR robots are specially equipped to pick large and heavy items off Modula’s VLM model for pallets.

The partners position the solution as providing considerable savings in time and space, improving productivity and enhancing intralogistics. According to Modula’s CEO Massimiliano Gigli, workplace safety and employee satisfaction are also among the primary benefits of Modula and MiR’s joint solution.

“By taking over repetitive, physically straining and otherwise dangerous tasks, this system significantly improves the working conditions in warehouses, factories and distribution centers,” Gigli said. “Faced with labor shortages, businesses looking to automate storage, picking and material handling stand to gain more than just greater productivity by offering their employees more valuable responsibilities and a safer work environment.”

The system can generate a return on investment (ROI) as early as six to 18 months from installation, according to Modula and MiR.

The system was announced at this year’s LogiMAT Trade Show in Stuttgart, Germany, and will first be presented in the U.S. at the Groceryshop 2022 trade show in Las Vegas September 19-22.