2020-03-01_Fast_Company

Ideal for Robots

Attabotics’s

container- wielding

bots navigate each

storage unit from

above. To retrieve

items, they drop

through empty col-

umns, place their

container on an

empty shelf, and pick

up another con-

tainer on the way

down. After ferrying

the item to a box

packer on the border

of the unit, the bots

return to the top.

Saving Space

Traditional “pick

and pack” ware-

houses rely on

humans to retrieve

items, requiring miles

of space to accom-

modate low-slung

shelving units.

Attabotics’s robots

allow clients to stack

product closer

together and higher

up, reducing ware-

house space by

85% on average.

Cues From Nature

Gravelle says he was inspired to build the system while

watching a nature documentary about leaf-cutter

ants, which build their colonies vertically underground.

Automation company Attabotics

shrinks the typical sprawling

warehouse into compact, verti-

cal units, using robots to ferry

items from shelves to box packers. “I asked

myself, What [layout] would be ideal for a

robot, not a person?” says cofounder and

FOR PACKING

WAREHOUSES

(AND BOXES)

MORE

EFFICIENTLY

32

CEO Scott Gravelle. Attabotics’s system is in

six locations across North America, includ-

ing food and beverage and medical supply

facilities; in 2019, the company announced

a partnership with Nordstrom to build a

340,000-square-foot warehouse, down from

the company’s typical 1.5 million (or more)

square feet. The intent, Gravelle says, is to

put fulfillment centers in smaller spaces,

closer to customers, while easing the bur-

den on workers and reducing commerce’s

carbon footprint.

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