SOTO excels with user-friendly commissioning and simple environment adjustments

Magazino continues to drive the automation of replenishment in production. The Munich-based company is closing the gap between an automated production line and automated warehouses, which was previously reserved for a manual supply process.

SOTO combines the elementary process steps in a single, fully autonomous solution: the pickup of KLTs (small load carriers) of different sizes, the autonomous transport of several KLTs, and the delivery directly to flow racks at different heights. The collection of empties and rotation of KLTs by 90° to 180° are also part of the new robot’s feature set.

Computer vision and numerous sensors enable the robot to understand the environment and navigate freely – even in a dynamic environment where people, industrial trucks and other autonomous vehicles are constantly moving. The "Environment Editor" software tool is used to model the environment during initial commissioning or subsequent modifications. Also, all transfer stations that can be operated by SOTO are mapped in a user-friendly way in the 3rd dimension. Furthermore, rules such as restricted areas, parking positions or one-way streets can be defined in the tool. Changes, such as moving a shelf or temporarily blocking an area, can be made by the user himself simply and flexibly with a mouse click.

For integration into customer processes, SOTO requires digital transport orders. These can be controlled via the WMS, triggered directly from sensor data on the shelf, or created by employee scans. Based on this, SOTO dynamically calculates the optimal route for the set transport tasks and then executes them accordingly. The respective status of the individual transport orders is reported back.

When multiple SOTOs operate in an environment, the Magazino Fleet Manager (MFM) or a VDA5050 fleet manager coordinates them. The MFM regulates the traffic between the SOTOs, distributes transport orders to individual SOTOs and provides a central tool for live overview and interaction with the SOTO fleet. Thanks to the SOTO’s VDA5050 interface, mixed fleets of different manufacturers are no problem.

The SOTO robot is already in use at MAN Truck & Bus SE, Miele & Cie. KG, ZF Friedrichshafen and VEGA Grieshaber. Back in 2018, the prototype of the robot won the "Best Product" award at the LogiMAT trade fair – now the deployment of large fleets of the production-ready product version is reality. Visitors can experience the robot live in action at the Magazino booth (Hall 6, Booth 6C15).

The mobile, intelligent pick robot TORU is now in use at Zalando with a fleet of 57 robots. Companies such as ASICS and Schuurman Schoenen also rely on the technology.

TORU customers benefit from accelerated throughput times, a constant 24/7 flow of goods and error minimization, even during heavy order loads. At the same time, the fashion and lifestyle specialist, whose DNA also includes logistics, is highly flexible. This is because the robots can be redistributed between the sites in the future if required. In addition, the focus remains on efficiency improvements and ergonomics.

Flexus and Magazino talk about material flow control from SAP

On Wednesday, April 25, 2023, Stephanie Bäuml, Senior Consultant Robot Integration at Magazino, together with Christian Zerbes, SAP Senior Consultant at Flexus AG, will give a presentation at the LogiMAT Forum for Innovations. They will discuss the topic "Autonomous robots – the solution for complex intralogistics? Material flow control from SAP via VDA5050" starting at 13:30 in Hall 6.