Ocado’s Porter AMR can automate pallet and cage dealing with and full-case success duties, together with choosing, cross-dock, putaway and stock strikes. | Supply: Ocado
Ocado Clever Automation (OIA), a part of Ocado Group, launched Porter AMR at ProMat 2025 this week.
Porter is a pallet-moving autonomous cell robotic (AMR) that navigates warehouses to automate a number of warehouse workflows akin to cross-docking, bulk-item choosing, putaway, and pallet motion.
“Porter from OIA automates low-value, handbook duties and fosters a extra productive office by supporting associates, growing case choosing charges, and automating the motion of excessive volumes of stock,” mentioned Jeff Larson, Director of Options Design for Ocado Cell Robotic System at OIA. “Corporations in third-party logistics, retail, e-commerce, distribution, and healthcare can maximize warehouse productiveness and scale operations up or down simply with out relying on handbook forklifts and costly licensed forklift drivers.”
The corporate’s patented system-directed software program intelligently orchestrates every Porter autonomous pallet-moving robotic, or a complete fleet of them, to cut back journey occasions and keep away from warehouse congestion. In the meantime, Ocado’s Achievement Execution System (FES) teams orders to maximise case choosing, optimize route plans, and scale back steps between picks. In the meantime, machine studying prioritizes and plans pallet stacking intelligently to keep away from product injury.
Ocado received its begin creating automated storage and retrieval methods (ASRS) for the grocery trade. Lately, nonetheless, the firm has been attempting to convey extra robots into the fold and develop its operations to new industries.
In July 2023, Ocado acquired AMR maker 6 River Methods from Shopify, including AMRs to its portfolio for the primary time. The corporate paid simply $12.7 million to accumulate 6 River Methods. For comparability, Shopify paid $450 million to accumulate 6 River Methods in September 2019. In 2020, Ocado acquired two U.S.-based robotics corporations for $287 million.
Porter’s key options
Porter picks, strikes, and locations pallets immediately from the ground with precision, even when they’re aligned back-to-back. It acknowledges its environment to soundly deal with and transport heavy masses autonomously and may be configured to deal with cages, growing flexibility and increasing success capabilities.
Porter AMR options embrace:
- An onboard touchscreen with a dwell front-camera view, enabling associates to soundly maneuver Porter in handbook mode.
- A 3,300-pound (1,500 kilograms) payload capability to move densely packed pallets.
- The power to move one pallet or two roll cages on a single journey.
- Dynamic task-switching software program that seamlessly transitions Porter between stock motion and case-picking duties as operational wants evolve.
- Superior built-in sensors to detect, acknowledge and deal with any open or closed commonplace pallet sorts, together with Commonwealth Dealing with Gear Pool (CHEP), Grocery Producers Affiliation (GMA) and European Pallet Affiliation e.V.(EPAL) pallets.
- A slim, counterbalance-free design with a decent turning radius to function in pallet lanes as slender as 51 inches (1.3 meters) huge.
The corporate is displaying Porter at ProMat this week in Sales space S2712.
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Porter integrates with warehouse operations
Porter can combine with present wall-to-wall success platforms, Warehouse Execution Methods (WES), Warehouse Management Methods (WCS), and Warehouse Administration Methods (WMS), to prioritize duties with minimal disruption and enhance warehouse productiveness. These methods can collaborate to choose and move advanced orders throughout a number of robots, automate inbound and outbound pallet motion from an ASRS from Ocado or different Unique Gear Producers (OEMs), and connect with robotic arms to ship or decide pallets from palletizing and depalletizing areas.
Moreover, Porter’s superior imaginative and prescient system permits it to navigate safely and autonomously with out requiring infrastructure adjustments or handbook intervention. Transferring at speeds of as much as 4.5 miles per hour, the AMR dynamically adjusts its pace when detecting folks or gear within the space, making certain office security.
Porter intelligently parallel parks itself in aisles to cut back congestion, preserving operations seamless for each robots and human associates. Porter AMR is a part of the Ocado Cell Robotic System (OMRS), a complicated success system for clever workflow orchestration.
