Warehouse drones
Infinium Robotics won the popular vote for the Startup Challenge at DHL Asia Pacific’s Innovation Day. The company has devised ways to automate warehouse stocktake and inventory processes with autonomous drones.
In a statement issued on Thursday (16 March), DHL said that the platform and Infinium’s drone hardware will be “further explored by DHL for piloting in real operations”.
Junyang Woon, the CEO of Infinium Robotics, explained how the system works: “When flying indoors, drones face none of the regulatory issues that have stymied their widespread adoption for last-mile deliveries and other outdoor applications.
“Infinium’s platform automates everything from highly precise indoor navigation to recharging at a network of charge points, allowing warehouse operators to reliably track, manage, and optimize their inventories in real-time and at significantly reduced costs. That, in turn, improves everything from worker safety – often put at risk due to the sheer height of warehouse racks – to the productivity of warehouses in today’s 24/7 fulfilment environment.”
Other awards at the DHL Asia Pacific Innovation Day (which took place on 15 March), went to: DHL Global Forwarding Australia and its customer Schindler Lifts for a bespoke web-based tracking and optimization platform for Schindler Lifts’ operations in Australia; and to DHL subsidiary Blue Dart, for a system which enables couriers in India to collect cash-on-delivery (COD) payments through mobile Point of Sale devices and 15 different secure digital wallet options instead of physical cash.
