The warehousing industry faces critical challenges in ensuring the safety and efficiency of operations. With a significant annual rate of injuries (~4.8 per 100 employees) and deaths (~21) in the U.S. alone, warehousing remains a high-risk occupation. The prevalence of low back pain, particularly among young warehouse workers, highlights the physical toll of manual tasks such as tote manipulation, a common activity in warehouse logistics. With the market for warehouse automation, currently valued at $16 billion, projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.7%, reaching up to $54.53 billion by 2029, there is an increasing demand for innovative solutions for minimizing human warehouse effort.
To address these challenges, the project aims to develop an autonomous humanoid system designed for tote logistics in warehouses. A humanoid form is particularly suited for this scenario due to its inherent design advantages in environments built for human workers. Warehouses are typically structured with human-centric dimensions, such as aisle widths, shelf heights, and ergonomically placed items. A humanoid robot can seamlessly operate in these spaces without the need for significant infrastructure modifications, making it a cost-effective and scalable solution. By leveraging advanced loco-manipulation capabilities, the humanoid will navigate dynamic warehouse environments, perceive and localize targets, and execute tasks like pick-and-place with high precision. The solution prioritizes reliability and safety while ensuring minimal disruption to existing workflows. Performance benchmarks include maintaining locomotion precision, avoiding obstacles, and achieving a high tote manipulation success rate. Furthermore, the system’s potential generalizability opens opportunities for applications beyond warehouse logistics, such as EV charging and Body-in-white (BIW) automobile wire harness installation.