The Rovolution has started
TGW rings in a new era of robotics in the material handling industry.
TGW Logistics Group developed a revolutionary system for fully automatic split case picking using a robot. "Rovolution" will celebrate its world premiere at LogiMat 2018. TGW's innovation is intelligent, self-learning and extremely flexible, as it is based on findings from cognitive robotics and machine learning. Unexpected events are corrected autonomously and without human intervention, which allows for uninterrupted operation around the clock. Therefore, Rovolution is another high-performance element of the FlashPick® solution and seamlessly fits into TGW's system environment.
Although robots have been used for quite some time in the automotive industry, they have basically only been used for full case handling in the material handling industry up until now. However, e-commerce with more single orders and split cases as well as an increasingly difficult search for workers create new challenges. Rovolution provides the solution and is convincing because it massively increases productivity. Possible applications range from the apparel business and the grocery industry to general merchandise. The perfectly harmonised modules significantly decrease total cost of ownership. "The advantages range from initial cost to ongoing operations to maintenance and spare parts supply", confirms Christoph Wolkerstorfer, CSO of TGW Logistics Group. "This means that TGW offers a custom-made 360° logistics solution."
Intelligent, self-learning, flexible
From a technical point of view, Rovolution is based on three main advantages: The system is intelligent, self-learning and extremely flexible. TGW's robot uses autonomous, intelligent processes to correct unexpected events. Rovolution can not only detect such situations, but it can also deal with and correct them on its own. This makes manual intervention unnecessary and minimises downtime. The material flow is never interrupted, the completeness of the customer's order and correct inventory are a top priority.
High flexibility concerning item types and packaging
Furthermore, Rovolution is extremely flexible. In contrast to other applications already available, TGW's solution can handle a huge variety of item types. Both rigid and soft packagings can be gripped accurately, whether they are T-shirts in a polybag or a box of toys. Even deformed bags or messily arranged items are no problem. If the packaging changes, Rovolution learns from it and automatically adapts to it.
Performance is increased by ten percent
Markus Winkler, Head of Advanced Technology Development at TGW, sums up the advantages: "Compared to commonly used systems, Rovolution achieves ten percent more performance. At an installation with ten robots, for example, you avoid more than 2,500 hours of downtime per year." Moreover, users benefit from short commissioning periods, as the usual initial teaching process is kept to a minimum.
The modular concept of TGW's innovation even allows for a later upgrade or a variable combination with picking workstations such as PickCenter ONE. With it, TGW rings in a new era of robotics in the material handling industry and integrates Rovolution as an additional high-performance element in its system environment.
