Japan’s Konoike Transport is partnering with AI specialist OSARO to develop Japan’s first prototype of automated warehouse operations where autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) will work together with picking robots optimised for warehouse and e-commerce applications that involve large SKU inventories.

The pilot will be hosted at the Konoike Institute of Technology Innovation Centre (known as KITIC), and will demonstrate automation of logistics processes by linking inVia Robotics’ AMR and OSARO’s piece-picking robot to provide a smooth path from warehouse inventory to packing and shipping operations.

The process will entail the AMR locates the shelf in the warehouse where the required items are stored, then retrieving the correct inventory storage bin and carrying it to the pick-and-place robot station. The picking robot will then pick the item from the inventory storage bin and place it in a different bin, ready for shipment.

The picking robot features San Francisco-based OSARO’s AI vision system which enables the robot to perform advanced pick-and-place operations by recognising transparent, deformed, reflective, and irregularly shaped items—even if they are randomly arranged in the inventory storage bins.

The prototype aims to prove that tasks such as inventory movement and picking items for order fulfilment can be fully automated. Through this pilot, the partners hope to identify issues that arise when multiple robotics automation solutions are interacting and to resolve these issues ahead of the planned operational deployment.

Tadatsugu Konoike, director and senior managing executive officer at Konoike Transport Co., Ltd., said, “We are honoured to be the first in Japan to conduct a demonstration prototype of an OSARO picking solution with an AMR. We decided to work with OSARO because we believe that OSARO is superior for use in the rapidly changing logistics field in terms of automatic machine learning, data collection, and accurate picking. Japan is facing a shortage of labour due to the declining birthrate and ageing population, but we hope to turn this challenge into an opportunity and develop a new form of workplace at KITIC and introduce it to the world.”

OSARO CEO Derik Pridmore said, “OSARO is excited to partner with Konoike and inVia to demonstrate a unique combination of inVia’s AMR and OSARO’s piece-picking robots. The system we created is an example of a modular, flexible, and brownfield-compatible fulfilment system. Future warehouses will leverage systems like this to scale up for increasing demand from customers without requiring hiring additional manual labour.”

OSARO specialises in robotics automation in the materials handling industry using software-defined robotics with machine learning for object recognition and powerful control software. The company’s piece-picking solutions are optimised for e-commerce markets, where challenges include high SKU inventories, complex packaging, and fragile items requiring delicate handling.