Brightpick Giraffe reaches new heights for mobile warehouse picking

Giraffe can retrieve and place totes on shelves up to 20 ft. high. Source: Brightpick

Mobile manipulation is growing upward. Brightpick, which has developed the Autopicker robots, today added Brightpick Giraffe to its product line. It said the new system can reach up to 20 ft. (6 m) high, enabling warehouses to triple their storage density compared with manual operations and double their density compared with Autopicker.

“Brightpick has always excelled at providing high throughput and maximum labor savings at a competitive price,” said Jan Zizka, CEO of Brightpick. “Now, with Giraffe, we deliver these same benefits as well as improved warehouse space utilization through expanded storage density.”

Erlanger, Ky.-based Brightpick said its AI robots can automate order fulfillment, from picking and consolidation to dispatch and stock replenishment. It won Application of the Year in the 2024 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards for Autopicker, which combines an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) with machine vision, machine learning, and a robotic arm to pick directly to onboard totes.

The business unit of Photoneo s.r.o., whose vision unit Zebra Technologies Corp. acquired in December, has more than 200 employees and has deployed hundreds of robots across the U.S. and Europe.

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Brightpick Giraffe to work alongside Autopicker

The Brightpick Giraffe has a telescopic lift that retracts during travel, reducing its height to 8.5 ft. (2.6 m), so it can be loaded and unloaded from a truck pre-assembled and upright. The mobile manipulator is designed to be deployed “out of the box” in warehouses in just a few hours, Zizka told The Robot Report.

At 31.4 in. (80 cm) wide, Giraffe has the same footprint as Autopicker. Why did Brightpick add Giraffe to Autopicker rather than replace the AMR?

“There’s no one perfect robot. It’s surprisingly complex to come up with simple ideas,” replied Zizka. “We’ve focused on autonomous mobile picking, our core technology, but some customers preferred going higher. We split them in two groups — high throughput and high storage. It’s ultimately some combination for each customer.”

Giraffe uses a new withdrawer to retrieve storage totes from upper-level shelf locations and deliver them to lower levels, where Autopicker can access them for picking at heights up to 11 ft. (3.4 m).

After the pick is completed, Giraffe can efficiently return the product tote to its original upper-level location. The rigid mast ensures stability for precise picking, Zizka said.

The system’s software can maximize both density and throughput by storing slower-moving items on higher levels accessible to Giraffes and fast-moving products within reach of Autopickers on lower levels.

Giraffe can increase space utilization without the infrastructure of an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) or the specialized shelving and smaller payload of shelf-climbing robots, asserted Zizka.

“Eighty percent of picks are created by 20% of SKUs,” he said. “With Giraffe, warehouses don’t need to buy as many robots to double storage.”

Brightpick said a typical setup will include one Giraffe for five Autopickers to optimize cost, density, and performance. Beyond its primary tote-retrieval function, Giraffes can also handle inventory replenishment and order picking using goods-to-person (G2P) stations.

“Warehouses are struggling to hire workers. We automate 100% of walking and 90% of picking,” said Zizka. “While many people measure return on investment or ROI as the period between installation and when the solution is profitable, we have a very important story about the amount of money saved in the coming year.”

“While there’s a lot of excitement with humanoid robots, Giraffe can reach places they can’t at higher cycle times,” he added. “People need to realize that robots are like forklifts, which humanoids won’t replace.”

Brightpick Giraffe is designed to work with Autopicker, on the left, for maximum throughput. Source: Brightpick

U.S. installations to come in 2025

Two U.S. companies plan to install Giraffe this year, as Brightpick continues its U.S. expansion. The Feed is an existing customer currently operating 48 Autopickers at its fulfillment center in Broomfield, Colo.

The e-commerce retailer expects to add 25 Autopickers and six Giraffes to boost throughput by 50% to 75,000 picks per day and double storage capacity, Brightpick said.

The second customer, McGuff Company Inc., a family- and veteran-owned business established in 1972, is a medical wholesaler. It plans to deploy 12 Autopickers and four Giraffes at its California warehouse.

The integrated system will enable a throughput of more than 850 picks per hour for precise handling and faster fulfillment of critical medical products, according to Brightpick.

The company is now taking orders and said it will demonstrate a prototype of Brightpick Giraffe next month at LogiMAT in Stuttgart, Germany, in Booth 8B53 in Hall 8.

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