These beefy autonomous warehouse robots can carry up to 3,300 pounds at a time

By Luke Dormehl Published April 5, 2017

Yes, they may look like a pair of particularly beefy contestants from Robot Wars, but the newly-announced Freight 500 and Freight 1500 are actually a pretty darn impressive duo of transportation robots — designed to ferry cargoes of up to 1,100 lbs (for the Freight 500) or up to 3,300 lbs (for its bigger brother) around warehouses. Just don’t get on their wrong side!

“Fetch Robotics creates Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) and the software that manages them for the warehouse and logistics industry,” Melonee Wise, CEO of Fetch Robotics, told Digital Trends. “Like their predecessor, Freight, [the Freight500 and the Freight1500] are designed to follow warehouse workers as they complete their tasks of picking items from warehouse shelves. Fetch robots can dynamically navigate a warehouse rather than following a fixed route, and contain sensors to avoid obstacles. The new robots address the full range of a warehouse’s needs for conveying everything from pieces to cases and pallets.”

1 of 5

autonomous warehouse robots freight500 freight1500 fetch 80e6907 copy high — Image used with permission by copyright holder

autonomous warehouse robots freight500 freight1500 pallet — Image used with permission by copyright holder

autonomous warehouse robots freight500 freight1500 fetch 80e6978 copy high — Image used with permission by copyright holder

autonomous warehouse robots freight500 freight1500 fetch 80e6924 copy high — Image used with permission by copyright holder

autonomous warehouse robots freight500 freight1500 fetch 80e6916 copy high — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Despite being able to ferry around hefty cargoes, the robots themselves are just 14 inches tall. They move using LiDAR sensors at the front and rear, as well as an RGBD camera, while battery life is a not-unimpressive 9 hours. Even when you do run out of battery, recharging to 90 percent takes only one hour — so your warehouse won’t grind to a halt for the rest of the day while they power up again. Get a few them working together and you should have no problem setting up a facility that can work 24/7.

Recommended Videos

Currently the two robots are having final touches made, before they roll for a pilot scheme in the “next three to four months.” After that, they’ll be generally available to the market.

At which point our application process to get the Freight1500 on the next series of Robot Wars can truly begin in earnest!

Former Contributor

I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…

Topics

Emerging Tech

Anti-surveillance clothing is getting cheaper, but don’t expect an invisibility cloak

Affordable shirts now claim to confuse facial recognition, although their protection depends heavily on the camera and software watching you

Chart, Plot, Adult

Anti-surveillance clothing is starting to look less like an art-school experiment and more like something you could actually wear outside. Shirts designed to confuse facial recognition systems now cost about as much as ordinary streetwear, although buying one won’t make you disappear.

The Guardian reports that designers are using face-like prints, unusual cuts and infrared lights to interfere with computer vision. These techniques target specific weaknesses, so their success depends on what happens to be watching you.

Emerging Tech

This spinning drone hides in plain sight using a visual illusion

This drone doesn't turn invisible. It tricks your brain into thinking it has.

Phantom Twist

For decades, engineers have chased the dream of an invisible drone. The usual approaches have involved transparent materials, camouflage coatings, or complex optical systems that bend light around an object. Researchers at Northwestern University decided to take a completely different route. Instead of hiding the drone itself, they chose to fool the human eye.

The result is Phantom Twist, an experimental drone that spins so rapidly it almost disappears into the background. It's not technically invisible, but to anyone watching, it looks more like a faint blur than a flying machine.

Emerging Tech

This smart knitted fabric can flip switches, count your steps, and even change shape

Grandma's knitting just entered its Iron Man era

Representative Image

For most of us, knitting brings to mind sweaters, scarves, and perhaps an ambitious grandmother determined to make winter more fashionable. Researchers at Harvard University, however, have a far more futuristic vision. They've transformed ordinary knitted fabric into a programmable material capable of changing shape, acting as an electrical switch, sensing movement, and potentially forming the foundation of tomorrow's wearable technology.

The research, published in Advanced Functional Materials by scientists at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), demonstrates how machine-knitted textiles can "snap" between multiple stable shapes without relying on motors or rigid mechanical parts.