00:00This is the world's most advanced e-commerce warehouse, run entirely by AI robots
00:05This entire operation is managed by 48 Bright Pick AutoPicker robots, and these robots, they handle everything from replenishing inventory to robotically picking orders and getting them ready for dispatch
00:17And that's how this facility, operated by leading sports nutrition retailer, The Feed, is able to work 24/7 and pick 50,000 items per day, all while just using a handful of actual people
00:30That's right, this is the future of e-commerce fulfillment, and I am going to be taking you behind the scenes to give you a closer look at the cutting-edge technology and processes that make all of this possible, from robotic picking to human picking order
00:46buffering, packout, and stock replenishment
00:48We're even going to hear from the people who work inside this warehouse and hear directly from them about what it's like to work alongside these robots, so you'll definitely want to stay tuned till the end so you don't miss out on that
01:00At the heart of any e-commerce operation is picking customer orders
01:03Now, in a traditional warehouse setting, that also happens to be one of the most grueling jobs
01:09I mean, imagine walking two marathons a week just to fulfill customer orders
01:13Well, here, we do things a little bit differently
01:16Think of these bright pick auto-pickers as humans with carts moving in and out of the warehouse aisles autonomously, picking and consolidating orders without ever getting tired or making a mistake
01:26So here's how it works
01:29The robot starts by grabbing an empty box called a tote, which is where it will collect picked items from one or multiple customer orders
01:36It then heads into the storage area, picks the necessary items from the storage totes, and places them into the order tote, like a diligent little shopper checking every item off of its list
01:47And the robot does this repeatedly until the entire order is picked and ready to go
01:51So, how is it that these robots know exactly what to pick and when? Well, that's all made possible by AI
01:59Using the data from this 3D scanner, the AI maps out all of the individual items inside the storage tote and identifies the optimal picking point for each item based on Its size, shape, and form
02:10And the best part is that these robots, they don't care what they're picking, whether it's a bottle, a poly bag, or something completely new
02:18The AI technology ensures that these robots can reliably pick items, even if they've never seen them before
02:24And the best part is, let's say this robot does fumble a pick, well, it's actually going to learn from its mistake using machine learning and improve for its next attempt
02:33Talk about smarts! Now, inevitably, there are going to be some items that these robots just can't pick on their own, whether that's due to a lack of a smooth, grippable surface, excessive weight, or an unstable center of gravity
02:45Well, that is where these goods-to-person stations come into play
02:50These Stations function similarly to the robotic picking, only instead of a robotic arm moving items from one tote to the next, a human operator steps in, assisted by this intuitive user interface found right here on each robot
03:04And what's impressive about this setup is that each station can handle up to four robots at one time from all four sides, ensuring that there is zero idle time between picks for the operator
03:18Working with the robots is a lot different than our old location
03:20At our old warehouse, we had to walk around with a box and manually pick everything, and sometimes the boxes were empty, and we'd have to go find things
03:31So now it's much more automated
03:34We don't, obviously, have to do that anymore
03:37The robots do all the picking for us
03:38And we can just focus on packing and getting the product out the door
03:43Training on the system was pretty seamless, actually
03:45Don't really remember training, other than we just kind of wait for the robot to approach us, push the button, and send it on its way
03:54So now, let's talk about the final picking process, known as pallet picking, which is meant for fast-moving items and bundles
04:01Imagine you have a few best-selling products, or you're running a promotion with a free gift for every order
04:06We storing these items within the automated system wouldn't make sense because you'd be replenishing them almost as fast as you were picking them out, kind of like trying to refill a leaky bathtub
04:16So instead, these items are stored manually in cases
04:18or on tests the same way they arrive to the warehouse
04:24Here is where human workers step in to pick the items directly from the pallet, and then they will place them into the order totes, which are carried by the robots
04:31The auto-pickers pull up to the designated pallet positions, request items that they need on the tablet, and the human operator quickly fetches them from behind
04:39This method not only speeds up the picking process for these high-demand items, but it also makes replenishment incredibly simple
04:46Now, this also works great for kidding, where you can have designated stations to assemble custom customer bundles that the robots then pick up
04:56So, as you can see, the beauty in the Brightpick solution is the seamless integration of all of these components, from robotic picking to good-to-person and pallet picking, all within the same system
05:06For example, Bolt here could start off his day with a few robotic picks, then move on over to G2P picking, and then finish his day by handling some pallet picks, making this entire operation seamless and efficient
05:22Once an order has been fully picked, one of two things will happen
05:24Either the robot can take the order tote directly to pack out, or if the order isn't ready to go out immediately, the robot can temporarily buffer the order to inside the system and then retrieve it for pack out when it's needed
05:37This feature offers two big advantages
05:39First off, it allows the robots to continue picking orders
05:43overnight while everybody else is asleep, ensuring that the orders are ready to be packed and shipped as soon as that first morning shift comes in
05:52And second, it helps to smooth out the picking volumes throughout the day, reducing the huge spikes that tend to happen during peak hours
06:00Both of these benefits enable this fulfillment center to ship out more orders every day without having to spend more money on automation or labor
06:09Now, we're in the packout area, which is the final step before shipping orders out to customers
06:13You can see that these packout stations are highly flexible, making it super easy to reconfigure them or add more stations
06:21This adaptability, combined with the order buffer, makes ramping up or down for peak season incredibly straightforward, and check this out
06:27This warehouse features a fully automated packaging machine
06:32It will take the picked items and automatically package them into cartons
06:36Honestly, I could watch this thing work all day
06:41We were able to go from, you know, 50 to 100 people to completely automated with the Bright Peg solution
06:47Now, we had homes for all the people that were already working here, so we didn't have to remove any staff because the business was growing fast enough
06:54But we really could almost stop hiring
06:56Like, when the police said, wait, we don't have to do all this walking anymore, and we don't need to go pick this stuff, and now we can focus on finishing orders properly, doing the transfer from the Bright
07:09pick system to our automated packaging solution, they were thrilled
07:13So now that you've seen how orders are picked and packed, you're probably wondering, how is it that we replenish the inventory in storage? Well, that all starts here at the decanting station
07:24This is where human operators will transfer items from the cases into the individual storage totes
07:28The robots then take these totes and they autonomously move them back into storage
07:35The robots use a technique called dynamic slotting to strategically place these totes into optimal storage locations
07:41For example, items that are meant for human picking are going to be stored closer to the goods-to-person stations, while fast-moving items are going to be stored closer
07:49to the pick stations to minimize travel time
07:51This system can store up to 11,000 totes using 10-foot-tall shelving, along with additional pallet storage for pallet picking
08:00Now, these shelves, they can be extended higher to increase storage capacity further, or you can split the storage totes into smaller compartments to maximize utilization
08:11At the core of the Brightpick philosophy is simplicity
08:13Let the robots do the heavy lifting while everything else in this warehouse remains low-tech and straightforward
08:19I mean, take the shelving, for instance
08:21It's cheap, simple to assemble, and it can easily be moved or reconfigured
08:25There's no conveyor, and there's no complicated wire guides or QR codes on the floor for navigation
08:33These robots, they can navigate all on their own using LiDAR and AI, all while maintaining incredible precision, passing within less than an inch of each other and their surroundings at speeds up to 5 mph
08:44And what's more is, these robots, they'll stop if they see you, meaning there's no need for any safety fencing
08:52And any certified technician or employee can step in without having to pause the entire operation
08:58All of this makes this system incredibly easy to install, scale, or even move to a different warehouse if needed
09:07The brain behind the entire operation is the Brightpick intuition software
09:11This software orchestrates all robot workflows, directing each robot on what task to complete and when
09:17It also optimizes the travel paths for each of these robots for maximum speed and efficiency, ensuring that these robots take the shortest path possible without blocking or slowing each other down
09:31Think of Bright Pick intuition as the conductor of an orchestra, ensuring that every robot plays its part in perfect harmony
09:38Additionally, the software tracks every tote and skew within the system, maintaining full visibility and control over inventory
09:45It's connected directly to the warehouse's WMS system and it's constantly exchanging order and inventory data, ensuring smooth and efficient operations
09:57And that is a wrap on our tour
10:00Thank you so much for joining me here on this journey into the future of e-commerce fulfillment
10:04If you want to Learn more about this cutting-edge operation
10:08Be sure to check out our video case study by clicking the link in the end screen
10:12Remember to hit like, subscribe, and stay curious.