Robots for warehouses, distribution centers and 3PLs

The robot that pays back first in a warehouse is rarely the one in the sales deck. Pallet moves between fixed points, end-of-line palletizing and the night floor are where dealers see the money, and each has a disqualifier.

Free, about two minutes, no phone number. You get an honest no when a robot is the wrong answer.

Who this is for

You move pallets, carts or totes between the same points every shift, palletize at the end of a line, and clean hundreds of thousands of square feet of concrete at night. Labor turnover is the constraint, not throughput ambition.

What automates first here

• Material movement by mobile robot: AMRs on fixed routes between dock, storage and lines
• Pallet moves from dock to storage: autonomous pallet jacks and tuggers on repeatable runs
• Tugging carts between departments: the bus-route model that a family owned plant runs in the casebook
• Mixed case palletizing: software decides this one
• Depalletizing incoming pallets: receiving's version of the same problem
• Autonomous floor scrubbing: the most proven facilities robot there is, sized by tank and aisle
• Overnight patrol: a patrol robot walks the building so a guard does not

Machines that usually make the shortlist

Mobile robots from MiR, Agilox, Anscer, Locus and dozens of other makers in the matrix carry payloads from 250 kg to towed loads well over 5,000 kg; palletizing arms come from close to forty makers; floor scrubbers for open concrete come from Avidbots, Tennant and others. Steel Collar is an Avidbots dealer, and Joe is told to rank on fit and to say when a Tennant fits better.

Every machine named on this site is in the published matrix with figures checked against the maker's material and no prices, because a price before an engineer has seen the job is a guess.

What has to be true before anyone quotes

• Route length, doorways, ramps and floor condition for any mobile robot.
• Who charges, maintains and re-maps the fleet, in writing.
• Pallet quality and wrap for anything a robot lifts.
• Square feet per night, narrowest aisle and whether the route crosses floors for a scrubber.
• Night-time obstruction: restock crews and pallets in the aisle defeat every autonomous machine.

When a robot is the wrong answer here

• Routes that change every day.
• Floors full of forklift traffic with no protected lanes.
• Buildings where the robot would need an elevator.
• A throughput target that a second forklift solves cheaper.

Someone has already done this

Common questions

Do mobile robots and forklifts mix?

They can, with lanes, speed limits and a safety assessment to ISO 3691-4 or R15.08. They cannot share every aisle at every hour. The casebook plant that runs two AMRs on bus routes solved this with schedule as much as with sensors.

Which floor scrubber fits a distribution center?

Open concrete and long aisles want a large-tank machine: Avidbots Neo 2W or Tennant's T16AMR class. The four building questions in our floor care note decide it before any brand does.

Can we rent or subscribe instead of buying?

Some makers publish subscription terms through dealers, others sell or lease. Tell Joe whether you want to own or pay monthly and the shortlist changes.