ID Logistics presents the first autonomous inventory robot that operates with artificial intelligence. It is called ASTRID and has been developed jointly by ID Logistics and the French companies E-Dentic and Wyca. This robot represents a worldwide innovation in the logistics market, since it does not need human intervention to know its route, direct it or carry out inventory work.
Guarantee of accurate stock tracking with ID Logistics
Taking inventory is a complex and time-consuming task for both the logistics company and its customer. Against a backdrop of product disruptions related to supply chain difficulties and global health crises, inventories and warehouse sizes tend to increase. Logistics providers must find solutions to ensure reliable tracking of all stock. This monitoring must be regular, autonomous and reliable to guarantee the availability of the products and the productivity of the warehouse.
ID Logistics has developed, together with the companies E-Dentic and Wyca, a new stock management tool: the ASTRID autonomous inventory robot. This technology responds to two challenges:
- Regularly optimize the reliability of the warehouse stock, performing an inventory of pallets at high speed in a 100% autonomous way.
- Provide all the necessary information in real time for the correct management of the supply chain of its clients.
A collaborative project between three major players in innovation
The ASTRID autonomous inventory robot was born from a collaborative project between ID Logistics, Wyca Robotics and E-Dentic. ID Logistics, thanks to its business experience, was the promoter and coordinator of the project. Wyca Robotics is a specialist AMR company, a pioneer in the development of autonomous robots and a specialist in linear store inventory. For its part, E-Dentic is a computer integrator specializing in artificial intelligence and a partner of ID Logistics since 2016. E-Dentic and ID Logistics have co-developed cargo tracking using electronic beacons and have made the first deployments of video tracking solutions .
In the ASTRID project, Wyca Robotics was in charge of the robotic platform, and E-Dentic, of the HMI (Human Machine Interface), as well as the analysis of the photos by means of artificial intelligence.
The technology will be deployed in three stages:
- A deployment in France among ID Logistics customers, with 11 robots installed in 2022/2023.
- A marketing in France, from September 2022.
- An international opening, for ID Logistics subsidiaries, starting in 2023.
E-Dentic, which is the integrator of the solution, will be in charge of the marketing, the implementation, the hotline, as well as the coordination of the maintenance operations.
What do you think from ID Logistics, Wyca Robotics and E-Dentic?
«ASTRID is the latest addition to our innovation department and, after 3 years of research and development, we are especially proud to be able to launch its operational deployment. This is a true innovation that responds both to the request of our customers to make their stock management more reliable and to improve the working conditions of our teams. From ID Logistics we thank our partners Wyca Robotics and E-Dentic for joining us in this process.” Eric Hémar, President of ID Logistics.
“We are proud of this technology partnership with ID Logistics, a major contract logistics player recognized for its high-tech offering and operational excellence. This collaboration puts robotics at the service of companies and people, facilitating the daily tasks of employees, optimizing and making processes more reliable. This co-innovation confirms the ambition of Wyca Robotics to offer mobile vehicles and robots capable of operating in complex environments in coactivity and autonomy, without external help or adaptation of the environment. This new generation of autonomous vehicles is a decisive step towards the adoption of mobile service robots in all sectors open to the public or professionals. It is a demonstration of our teams’ unique know-how in industrial robotics and indoor autonomous vehicles.” Patrick Dehlinger, CEO of Wyca Robotics.
“The realization of a technological innovation lies above all in the conviction and perseverance in an idea. And if it is shared, the result is even more rewarding«. Gilles Tassery President of E-Dentic
ASTRID: the inventory robot
A true technological gem, ASTRID (Autonomous Stock Taking Robot by ID Logistics) is an autonomous mobile robot, designed to support stock managers in their day-to-day. Capable of photographing pallets and reading barcodes, it also detects empty and full locations. You can work at night both completely autonomously and co-actively, in accordance with current safety regulations.
Inventories carried at an unprecedented rate
ASTRID single-handedly checks 5,000 pallets per hour, which is 20 times faster than a drone that typically requires the presence of an operator nearby, and 100 times faster than manual inventory. In this way, the frequency of inventories can be increased dramatically without any additional effort for stock managers. This allows tax inventories to be carried out automatically, making the stock more reliable, improving the quality of the service and increasing the productivity of the forklift operators or preparers.
The stock manager has the option to start regular routines or one-off tasks. ASTRID will then launch your mission, take inventory, send photos and/or reports of your mission to the web portal. Finally, the stock manager will analyze deviations and changes in stock.
Innovative union of the latest technologies
Developed by 3 companies specialized in technological innovation, ASTRID is equipped with the latest cutting-edge technologies.
To guarantee the management of inventories and stocks, without any human intervention, ASTRID is equipped with
- SLAM Navigation: to be 100% autonomous, without human intervention or infrastructure.
- robotic vision: For a read rate close to 100% and a capacity for all types of barcodes.
- Artificial intelligence: for the automatic analysis of all types of pallets (80×120, 100×120 or large).
- A retractable mast with cameras: for the passage between cells, the management of obstacles in height and the taking of photographs up to 11.5 m in total autonomy.
- Induction charging: for continuous operation day and night, even in the presence of employees.
- State-of-the-art security equipment: Like 3D Lidars that detect any obstacle and allow the robot to stop instantly.
Finally, ASTRID’s return on investment is less than 18 monthsdue to the significant savings in the cost of general or rotating inventories in manual mode, as well as the added value provided by the greater availability of products for the customer.
Innovation: the DNA of ID Logistics
ID Logistics places investment in new technologies at the center of its strategic thinking. ID Logistics is co-developing disruptive innovative projects to improve the quality and efficiency of its operations. ASTRID is the result of three years of development and testing: its series production has just started.