The Munich-based robotics company Magazino, which belongs to Jungheinrich, has won the MAN site in Nuremberg as a fleet customer for the Soto robot. The mobile robot Soto automates material supply between the warehouse and assembly line and transports small load carriers (SLCs) completely autonomously. Following a one-year pilot project, the entire small load carrier supply process for engine assembly and future battery production will be automated with twelve Soto robots this fall.

Robotics for e-commerce and production logistics

Magazino develops and builds intelligent, mobile robots that perceive their environment and make their own decisions. The autonomous robots work in parallel with humans and make processes in the areas of e-commerce and production logistics more flexible and efficient. With over 130 employees at its Munich site, Magazino has one of the largest advanced robotics teams in Europe. Magazino has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Jungheinrich since 2023.

Magazino and MAN have been working together closely and application-oriented in the field of logistics automation since 2019 and have already pooled their specific expertise during the development phase of the Soto robots. In a one-year pilot phase, the functionality of the robots was extensively tested and optimized in live operation. On the basis of this positive trial, the MAN site in Nuremberg decided to deploy a fleet of twelve Soto robots for the full automation of small parts logistics.

Fully automated provisioning process

Simon Becker, project manager at MAN, says: "The introduction of Soto marks a further step towards the future of logistics in the latest development of our plant in Nuremberg. Thanks to Soto, the provisioning process with small load carriers is now also fully automated. These robots are therefore also exemplary for the ongoing digitalization and automation of our plant logistics and thus contribute to our overarching strategy. It is impressive to see how efficiently and harmoniously humans and robots can work together. The decision to introduce the Soto robots is the result of many years of trustful cooperation with Magazino, which reflects our commitment to technological excellence and continuous improvement."

Markus Ruder, Magazino's project manager for the joint project with MAN, describes the target process as follows: "The Soto robots pick up the small load carriers independently at the automated small parts warehouse (AKL) and each robot brings up to 18 containers at a time to the individual assembly lines. They work in the same environment as the humans and other mobile robots. At the assembly line, the Soto robots place the containers, which currently weigh 12 kilograms, directly onto the shelves. Workers can then conveniently access the individual parts for assembly on the opposite side of the shelves. The Soto robots can also pick up empties autonomously and take them to the central collection point. "

Container formats according to VDA standard

The plant in Nuremberg uses standard container formats in accordance with the VDA standard. The robot's adaptive gripper automatically adjusts to the corresponding container size and, like the human operator, also moves flexibly to different heights on the transfer racks. Machine-readable codes on the shelves and labels on the bins are used by the robot for identification. The robot receives the transport orders directly from the warehouse management system.

While assembly lines in the manufacturing industry are highly automated today, replenishment in the vast majority of warehouses still takes place manually. Previous solutions such as tugger trains or simple automated guided vehicles (AGVs) do not fully automate the process, as manual work is required for loading and unloading.

Automatic depalletizing

At MAN's Nuremberg site, the KLTs are already automatically depalletized after delivery and stored in the mini-load warehouse. MAN is now using Soto to automate the "last mile" in the KLT provisioning process with the aim that the first human action in the process is the transfer of the empty KLT from the full goods chute to the empties chute of the rack by the assembly workers, from where the robot collects the KLT again.

The Soto robot combines these elementary logistical process steps in a single, fully autonomous solution: picking up KLTs of different sizes from a warehouse, autonomously transporting several KLTs from source to sink and delivering them to flow racks close to the line at different heights. The collection of empties and the rotation of small load carriers are among its capabilities. In existing environments, the robot works safely in the same area as humans. These capabilities clearly set the Soto robot apart from the market environment and enable genuine end-to-end automation in material supply with small load carriers for the first time.