Terra Robotics, ID Logistics Plan Humanoid Warehouse Trial

ORGON, France -- German robotics firm Terra Robotics signed a deal with French logistics services provider ID Logistics to trial the use of humanoid robots in warehouse management in a pilot that will commence in the next six months.

Under the partnership started Nov. 1, the companies plan to evaluate four to five use cases for warehouses, determine the technical needs and select a suitable case for testing at an ID Logistics site, according to this company’s press release.

The Löhne, Germany-based Terra Robotics offers service, cleaning, logistics and humanoid robots along with installation, maintenance and technical support services. The new deal comes amid about a year of joint development using two Unitree G1 EDU6 humanoids, dubbed Heinz and IDA, that are housed at Terra Robotics in Löhne and ID Logistics in Griesheim, respectively.

According to the statement, the robots have been trained to tell cardboard boxes apart from shipping bags and sort them into shipping boxes using five-fingered hands with tactile sensors. The sorting demonstration was not yet tested in regular warehouse operations.

As for the pilot program, the two companies will choose an appropriate machine from the Terra's range that includes humanoids from Unitree and UBTECH.
France-based ID Logistics runs about 450 logistics facilities worldwide, including 17 in Germany. The potential applications may include picking, sorting, packaging and other material handling tasks.