- RFID is a critical component in the warehouse of the future with robots and humans collaborating
- Human-Robot Collaboration is made possible through new partnerships like the one between AsReader, Teijin Frontier and Locus, pairing the wearable RecoHand and Locus Origin robot
The new trend for speed and accuracy in the modern warehouse is enhancing how humans and robots work together in harmony. The goal is not to replace humans, it’s to speed up their work and make it more accurate so they can work best together.
UHF RFID has shown it is the fastest, easiest way to get large volumes of data, with RFID technologies like AsReader’s ASR-AL251G reading over 1,100 tags a second at a distance 40 feet away—that can’t be matched with a barcode scanner or a human seeing and recording information.
Extending beyond the warehouse, Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) works in any industry where assets need to be counted and tracked. HRC is best in managing processes. Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) increase productivity while easing labor gaps. Complex orders get out the door quickly and accurately, even during peak. It’s not about firing or replacing humans; it’s about empowering people to do the things that they excel at, like spending time with customers. AMRs are better and faster at reading data, counting, tracking and transporting objects over time consuming distances.
HRC Partnership
A new technology partnership between AsReader, Teijin Frontier and Locus Robotics provides a perfect example of HRC. This enterprise has been forged to lessen the picking time in the warehouse, cutting it by half. Dubbed the “Locus Origin” robot, the AMR links with Teijin Frontier and AsReader’s RFID technology to create a state-of-the-art warehouse management system with a new approach to improving logistics efficiency and automation.
The Locus Origin robot allows humans and robots to collaborate on automation and optimize manual processes, without replacing humans. The robots travel the warehouse floor with totes, and humans pick the product and put it into the totes.
UHF and RAIN RFID devices like the ASR-L251G are great for counting a large number of items quickly, even from a distance. But when it comes to just reading one tag at a time, it’s not the best technology to use. All wearable RFID readers until now read everything in the area around the RFID reader, and if you went to grab one item, there was no guarantee that you didn’t accidentally read the tag of the item right next to it, especially the smaller items such as jewelry pieces where the tags get too close together.
Wearable RFID
With RecoHand, the reading area is actually just two centimeters, so it’s nearly impossible to grab the wrong tag, according to company officials. When you reach for a tag, you can’t get the one next to it if you’re touching the items one at a time.
The new wearable RFID device from AsReader and Teijin Frontier has achieved FCC/FDA approval in the U.S. Teijin Frontier is a textile manufacturer based in Japan for more than a century. This technology was recently named a finalist as one of the best new products of 2024 at the RFID Journal LIVE show in 2024.
Until now, picking has been a two-part process where workers grab the box, then read it with a barcode scanner (wearable or not). Now, as users grab the box, the wearable RecoHand is reading the item as workers grab it, in one motion. This has improved efficiency rates by 50 percent in practical use in Japan.
RFID Journal LIVE! 2024 Nominee
As well as being a finalist for the Best New Product of 2024 award, accolades for the RecoHand device include being highlighted by RFID Journal as “an engineering win” for “technology to accomplish tasks that weren’t available, or as affordable, in the past…RecoHand was designed for rugged warehouse environments where workers handle products and assets. RecoHand is designed to only read tags within about two centimeters, which means users need to touch (or nearly touch) a tagged object with their gloved hand to read the unique ID on the tag. By doing so, they pinpoint the read to an individual item, even when it may be surrounded by other RFID tags, typically just 2 centimeters.”
RecoHand gloves are made from the same materials as popular golf gloves and in use by the Japanese government where workers learned to scan bins by running their hands across product tags, and while grabbing the items they’re able to read it simultaneously. Used at hospitals’ warehouses for first responders and COVID-19 response, the Japanese government reported that using RecoHand more than doubled their productivity speed
