{"id":4018,"date":"2021-08-30T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/?p=4018"},"modified":"2021-12-10T15:20:46","modified_gmt":"2021-12-10T21:20:46","slug":"robots-talking-to-robots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/30\/robots-talking-to-robots\/","title":{"rendered":"Robots Talking to Robots"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Is Interoperability the Key to Widespread AMR Adoption?<\/div>\n
BY TOM GRESHAM<\/span><\/div>\n
Link to digital version of article in MHI Solutions.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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A<\/span>s autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) assume increasing importance in the supply chain, more and more vendors are emerging to build these robots to complete specific tasks. Each of these companies\u2019 creations is unique\u2014based on their own distinctive language, algorithms and software. That makes coordination among them almost impossible.<\/p>\n

But, imagine if robots could talk to other robots\u2014no matter where or how they were designed and built?<\/p>\n

Many in the field of AMRs believe that interoperability among robots will be crucial to more widespread adoption of the technology in factories, warehouses and distribution centers. Interoperability would allow robot fleets from different vendors to coordinate activities, share data and adopt the same operating conventions.<\/p>\n

Toward that end, MassRobotics, a nonprofit focused on robotics solutions, announced the release of open-source interoperability standards for AMRs in May. The standards, which were created by an industry working group, will be tested at a FedEx warehouse in Tennessee this year with robots from multiple vendors.<\/p>\n

Jason Walker, CEO and co-founder of MHI member Waypoint Robotics, one of the participants in the creation of the standards and the initial test with FedEx, said interoperability\u2019s importance is only going to grow, and the standards represent an essential step toward making interoperability achievable.<\/p>\n

“I do believe that everyone in the community recognizes how important interoperability is, and how detrimental it could be if we didn\u2019t address it early,” Walker said. “And the fact that so many key players stepped up and made it a priority to establish a standard in cooperation with MassRobotics, I think it\u2019s a really big deal.”<\/p>\n

\u2018A closed loop\u2019<\/h2>\n

As it currently stands, AMRs are running on “a kind of closed loop” that prevents coordination among multiple vendors in a facility, said Melonee Wise, CEO of MHI member Fetch Robotics.<\/p>\n

“It gets a sensor signal, it does what it\u2019s supposed to do, and it continues doing it \u2026 but all of that changes when you want to have System A talk to System B,” Wise said. “Now, the input is coming from some other system, and that\u2019s where you see a lot of challenges today.”<\/p>\n

Jeff Christensen, vice president of product for MHI member Seegrid, said robotics are complex enough that no single vendor will ever have a robot for every task.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s untenable,” he said. “And since customers are buying a solution to a business problem, and not a set of robots just because robots are cool, that means that they need to be able to apply the technology to the business problem in the way that makes the most sense for the business. That will mean different vendors, and that will mean interoperability.”<\/p>\n

“It is inevitable that everybody who has enough diversity in the needs of their AMR, they\u2019re going to hit this wall,” added Walker. “You have robots with operational parameters that are relatively narrow. and that means that you\u2019ve got all kinds of different tasks that need to be solved.”<\/p>\n

The wide scope of needs means there\u2019s a variety of options when it comes to solutions. “Everybody\u2019s trying to solve a lot of different kinds of tasks in different ways. And pretty much all of them are useful in one way or another,” said Walker. \u2018So, because it is necessary to have heterogeneous fleets, it\u2019s necessary to have interoperability between those fleets. If you\u2019re the customer \u2026 and you need a fork robot, a deck load robot, a scanning robot, and a pallet-moving robot, then being able to have one system that can work with all of those other systems, and also have those other systems interact and coexist in the same facility together in a safe and productive way\u2014everybody in the community really thinks that\u2019s going to be the next choke point.”<\/p>\n

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A fully connected future<\/h2>\n

Interoperability offers an array of potential benefits, said Zachary Dydek, CTO of MHI member Vecna Robotics.<\/p>\n

“To me, it looks like a warehouse of the future that has robots from many different vendors, as well as people, all doing the things that they are good at, respectively, in a coordinated way,” Dydek said. “And they\u2019re not just coexisting, but actually coordinating with each other to drive the efficiencies that we need in the supply chain right now to deal with increasing consumer demand.”<\/p>\n

Chris Caccioppo, CTO and cofounder of MHI member 6 River Systems, said interoperability is the key to operating an efficient and successful automated warehouse system.<\/p>\n

“Warehouse systems and the AMRs\u2019 software need to be able to share data between them, but those systems are not all the same and may have different data formats,” Caccioppo said. “Interoperability standards solve this challenge by allowing applications to seamlessly integrate, sharing data, such as inventory data, shipping information and purchase orders. It should be flexible enough to adapt to changing business models, satisfy operational requirements and keep pace with industry best practices and regulatory compliance requirements.”<\/p>\n

In addition, Caccioppo said interoperability will require less human assistance or intervention when system changes occur.<\/p>\n