Robotics orchestration software: The maestro has entered the building

If you attended this year’s ProMat, the odds are you spent some time talking about, learning about, or thinking about robotics. Whether traditional fixed arms, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), or automatic guided vehicles (AGVs), robots are all the buzz in warehousing these days. And you may even have a few on your floor by now, enjoying their many efficiencies.

But you may be hearing an additional buzz surrounding robots these days regarding a new type of software promising to meet robots not necessarily where most are, yet-but where they will be. Gartner Group first gave name to this new class of software, dubbing it multi-agent orchestration platform (MAOP)-and that might be the acronym you heard about alongside all that robot buzz.

Gartner Group coined the term MAOP about three years ago, around the time that some warehouses began adding robots from multiple providers and to complete multiple tasks. You might have company A’s equipment in the picking area, for instance, and company B’s machines now working in palletizing. Where in the past you could work with your warehouse management system (WMS) and the specific robot’s control software, now you have a more complex operation. How do you coordinate the physical activities between these different, disparate robots? MAOP is the answer to the that dilemma.

“MAOP represents a multi-agent conversational ability to decide on actions, based off the communication between the robots and WMS,” explains Smitha Raphael, chief product and delivery officer at SnapFulfil. “There are other layers in the supply chain, but between robots and WMS, this is the new term that stuck.”

Ideally, an MAOP platform serves as a high-level ecosystem, communicating with all the robots, as well as the WMS. Together, the result is interoperability of multiple machines, from multiple vendors, for perfect orchestration.

The early stages

In the beginning of the conversation surrounding the coordination between multiple robots in a given facility, Gartner noticed a trend in the warehouse. “If a customer purchased a robot from one vendor, everything worked smoothly,” says Dwight Klappich, vice president and fellow at Gartner. “They had business systems, and someone wrote an integration between their WMS and robotics system.”

As robot adopters began to reap the benefits of the equipment-and earn an ROI-they naturally began to contemplate adding additional robots. If successful with one, why not automate with another?

“Today, most robots do one thing well,” says Klappich. “If I’m a transport robot, I don’t transform into picking, for instance. So, you start thinking about adding a robot for picking.”

And that’s when things start to get complicated. A new class of software was in order, one that could integrate, observe, coordinate and ideally optimize the different types of robots operating on your floor.

Picture five different types of robots doing five different tasks, each robot made by a different supplier. Orchestration is in order, and the WMS is not up to that task, nor is the warehouse execution software (WES) associated with the machines. Enter MAOP.

Any software or robotics company offering MAOP will admit that it’s a new, evolving class of software. But, it’s one whose time has come, says Dan Gilmore, CMO at Roboteon. “The concept is a bit complex because, in the past, the notion of WES was to oversee robotics operations,” he explains. “But WES is essentially a subset of MAOP.”

Where WES has existed for five to 10 years, its abilities are usually not up to the emerging multi-agent coordination. “It’s a new best-of-breed category, and it’s just starting to catch on,” says Gilmore. “If you take the concept of a maestro who brings everything together and synchronizes it, you get a beautiful output. That’s what MAOP aims to achieve.”

The MAOP marketplace is nascent, says Klappich. “We joke about the explaining game,” he says. “You’ve got a handful of vendors playing around the fringes with it. Finding enough customers who have more than one robot is the barrier to growth.”

But the vendors who do offer a version of MAOP are expressing confidence that this is the way of the future. “Most companies who have automation already have it in one specific area, like picking,” says Raphael. “But as they look to add to other areas, they might need more help with integration.”

Raphael says that SnapFulfil has careful conversations with clients about the cost/benefit when considering a second piece of robotics. But when the case is there, SnapFulfil’s SnapControl is available to extend the functionality of the rules engine. “The software is OEM agnostic, and it’s very flexible,” she says.

Dematic also features orchestration in its software, according to Eric Gatchalian, senior product manager of global R&D. “It’s key to what we do,” he says. “We integrate our own equipment as well as that of third parties.”

Gatchalian says he’s witnessing a shift in customer needs, moving from fixed automation models into more flexible models, which is the sweet spot for orchestration features. “Our software is designed to quickly interface with new technologies and apply an overall solution,” Gatchalian says. “That pushes into the need for orchestration.”

For now, the market is new when it comes to orchestration. But according to Klappich, it’s not a matter of if, but when the class of software takes off.

The early adopters

While fresh off the blocks, some companies have already discovered a need for orchestration platforms. SnapControl made a strong case for customer McGee & Co., a luxury interiors brand. With rapid growth, McGee jumped from a 70,000-square-foot warehouse to a 300,00-square-foot facility. Recognizing that flexibility would be key to continue scaling up, the company zeroed in on AMRs and a WMS.

The company had the added challenge of a diverse product array, ranging from small home décor on up to large furniture and rugs.

With a wide array of automation scattered throughout the new facility, McGee needed MAOP to coordinate and integrate with its WMS. In less than 60 days, McGee had SnapControl up and running, optimizing tasks between humans and automation. Within the first few months of implementation, the company realized a sixfold increase in productivity.

Such orchestration would be impossible without this new category of software. “WMS is limited to coordinating at the order level,” explains Gatchalian. “It can’t interface with all the sub-systems, and it can’t operate at the optimal speed necessary with multiple systems.”

Orchestration can take an overview of the entire operations, spotting any areas experiencing bottlenecks or other inefficiencies. “Is the upstream process starving the downstream process, for instance,” asked Gatchalian. “WMS can’t scale to the automation, which is why orchestration is necessary.”

As with other types of software on the market today, MAOP is also adding artificial intelligence (AI) to its capabilities. This allows the software to better build in automation algorithms. In picking, for instance, AI will learn how the robotics automation can best pick an item, delivering a clean, accurate pick.

“Whatever the piece of equipment, the AI will look for opportunities to continually improve,” says Gatchalian. “As you aggregate that, you get higher level orchestration, which feeds into process efficiencies for the entire facility.”

Raphael adds that SnapFulfil offers multiple models, including hosting and support. “We can make changes on the fly with the tweak of a rule,” she says. “It’s efficient and flexible, and we expect to see demand for orchestration increase as the adoption of robots grows.”

The future, according to Klappich, will be heterogenous. “That changes the game in terms of complexity,” he says. “The more processes and robots you add, the more the need for orchestration. When you consider the human side of the equation as well, that’s where there’s opportunity and challenge.”

There’s no question that interest in robotics will remain high. Robots can increase productivity while addressing the ongoing labor shortage, as well as allow companies to meet cycle time pressures.

“Right now, we’re finding that with 80% of our customers, once they have one robot, they want to add more,” says Gilmore. “There’s an awareness in the vendor community that orchestration is necessary. It will continue to gain momentum.”

As robotics proliferate on the warehousing floor, the demand will arise that they can also communicate for optimized results. MAOP-while still the new kid on the block— will be at the center of this complex coordination.

“Right now, we’re sitting in the lull of the storm,” adds Gilmore. “The math is very good, and we’ll see an acceleration in robotics adoption, because it’s necessary. I’m bullish on the next 10 years.”