"The shortage of truck drivers, warehouse or port workers is a critical factor in global supply chain management," says Marina Bill, President of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) at the upcoming Logimat. "Robot manufacturers combine hardware with intelligent software to serve the specific automation needs of the warehousing and logistics industry. Robots equipped with artificial intelligence open up an enormous range of new possibilities for this sector."

Learning to deal with new tasks

The use of AI in robotics is mainly aimed at dealing with variability and unpredictable situations: Logistics service providers are dealing with a mass market for cross-border shipping, e-commerce or last-mile delivery. In this environment, frequently changing products, orders and inventories are processed. To enable machines to support flexible workflows like these, AI software relies on an experience-based learning process rather than programming. For example, these AI-powered robots learn to pick and pack different items at high speed in a logistics center; they use optical systems to autonomously transport items around the factory and provide AI-driven interfaces that turn a once 90-minute maintenance task into a one-second adjustment.

3 million missing truck drivers

For many logistics companies, now is the time to automate further. One reason for this is the global shortage of truck drivers: according to the International Road Transport Union (IRU), there are currently over 3 million vacancies for truck drivers worldwide. The demographic gap between young and older drivers is widening, so the driver shortage is expected to double by 2028.
While the labor shortage affects logistics supply chains in Europe, Asia and the USA equally, the specific reasons and extent of the shortage differ significantly in some cases. For example, new legal regulations on working hours are forcing companies in Japan to install additional automation solutions. In the United States, a shortage of qualified logistics specialists in e-commerce centers requires new technological support. And in Germany, older workers need better support in the workplace for physically demanding tasks in order to be able to work longer.

"Robotics is suitable for a variety of different tasks in the logistics industry: while service robots work hand-in-hand with human colleagues to create more efficient workplaces, industrial robots help to automate dirty, tedious and dangerous tasks behind fences," says IFR President Marina Bill. "The combined use of a wide range of robotics and automation applications will play a crucial role in addressing the labor shortage and enabling future growth in this key industry."