Magazino Expands Robot Fleet for Europe’s Zalando
November 2, 2021
German-based robotics firm Magazino recently announced it has extended the robot fleet for Europe’s leading fashion platform Zalando. The existing fleet of eight robots at Zalando’s logistics site in Lahr, Germany, will be expanded by an additional 20 robots, some of which will support the picking of shoes ordered online during Cyber Week 2021.
Ten of the robots were delivered by Magazino in September, which will support the existing robot fleet. The remaining robots will be delivered to Lahr by the end of the year, and put into operation next year, Magazino said. The working area of the robots within the Zalando logistics center will also increase from 4,000 to 16,000 square meters.
“We see the mobile picking robots from Magazino as an important support for our logistics processes,” said Carl-Friedrich zu Knyphausen, director of logistics development at Zalando. “Often, automation technologies are difficult to implement in confined areas such as a picking warehouse. But the TORU robots have proven that they can relieve our colleagues of non-ergonomic tasks. They actively and reliably cooperate – and not only in daily business, but also at peak times like Cyber Week.”
Zalando initially launched a robotics project with two TORU robots from Magazino at a logistics site in Erfurt, Germany, back in 2018. This was later followed by the relocation of the robots to the Lahr site, and an initial expansion to eight robots in 2019. When all of the additional robots are operating in about April 2022, Zalando will be operating the largest fleet of TORU robots, Magazino said.
A closeup view of how the TORU robot is able to pick shoe boxes off of warehouse shelves.
The TORU picking robots can intelligently handle individual shoe boxes, and transport several of them directly to a handover station for picking. The robot can work autonomously and efficiently up to 18 hours per day. Through sensors, cameras and an intelligent operating system, TORU can perceive its environment, react independently to changes and even learn from experience.
“The scaling of the robot fleet clearly shows the added value of TORU,” said Frederik Brantner, CEO and founder of Magazino. “Zalando’s decision to roll out our technology on a large scale is proof that mobile robots like TORU have long since left the testing and prototyping phase behind, and are now an integral part of modern, high-performance intralogistics.”
For more information on the Magazino TORU robots, visit its website here.
