Business & Money | Sunday 30 August, 2015 6:29 am |

Robots interacting seamlessly with humans will be one of the big attractions at the Materials Handling Middle East exhibition next month, as automation takes another step toward revolutionizing the regional warehouse and intralogistics landscape.

‘Automated Item Pick’ is developed by global warehouse and distributions solutions provider Swisslog in partnership with parent company KUKA, integrating Human-Robot-Interaction (HRI) with Swisslog’s AutoStore automated storage and picking system. 

The system – which is the first-ever interactive human-robot picking station – features KUKA’s collaborative lightweight robot, LBR iiwa, picking items from AutoStore’s storage ports and placing them in delivery bins, as commanded by a human operator. 

Visitors to Materials Handling Middle East 2015 will see live demonstrations of the groundbreaking system in action when the three-day trade show opens on Sept. 14-16 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The demonstration will underline the enormous potential of the latest warehouse automation technologies that provide customized storage and distribution solutions for a wide range of industries with high throughput, including retail and F&B. “We are very excited about bringing Automated Item Pick and the incredibly popular AutoStore to Materials Handling Middle East,” said Frédéric Zielinski, General Manager of Swisslog Middle East.

“The growing importance of automation in the region, particularly in the retail and F&B business, makes our latest product offering very pertinent.  Some companies are already using the latest automated warehousing technologies, and the increased cost of land, the development of manufacturing, and more demanding customers have triggered the need for more warehouse automation.”

Automation in materials handling has been a significant theme in the build-up to Materials Handling Middle 2015, the region’s only dedicated trade and networking event for intralogistics, warehousing, supply chain management, freight and cargo.