Scott Simmie, Author at Cypher Robotics

Cypher Robotics puts Captis on the global stage at GITEX GLOBAL 2024 in Dubai

Oct 17, 2024 | Autonomous Cycle Counting, In The News, Precision Scanning

It is, as the saying goes, “The biggest show on earth.”

At least it is if you’re talking about technology and AI. We’re referring here to GITEX GLOBAL 2024, running from October 14-18 at the Dubai World Trade Centre. It’s the largest and most influential tech and AI show on the planet, spanning 40 halls with 6,500 exhibitors and more than 200,000 buyers. From the largest global tech and AI firms right down to the most innovative startups, it’s all there in one place.

That also means, as an exhibitor, there’s a lot of competition for eyeballs. For example, Tesla is there with the latest iteration of its humanoid robot Optimus – which was unveiled at a splashy event hosted by Elon Musk just last week. The latest autonomous vehicles are on display, including air taxis from the coming world of Advanced Air Mobility.

It could, at a show of this magnitude, be easy for an exhibitor to get lost in the crowd. But Cypher Robotics – and its cutting-edge cycle counting/precision scanning solution Captis – is garnering plenty of attention on the world stage.

“We knew there was demand for a solution like ours, but the response has been phenomenal,” says Founder/CEO Peter King. “And the show’s not even over.”

Below: The Cypher Robotics inventory counting solution Captis, in a major Canadian warehouse where it’s been deployed for a year, followed by a video showing Captis in action

THE CAPTIS SOLUTION

The revolution toward Industry 4.0 – where automation and AI are intertwined for greater efficiency – is well underway. Industry leaders like Amazon are already extensively automated with robotic systems to assist with fulfilment and inventory counting. For many other large companies, however, that voyage is just beginning. And there’s tremendous interest in solutions that can bring autonomous and accurate solutions to the warehouse floor.

“The response at GITEX GLOBAL 2024 has been tremendous,” says King. “And not just from retailers with large warehouses that need cycle counting and precision scanning. We’re also having serious discussions with clients from the Third Party Logistics (3PL) and healthcare sectors.”

That’s because Captis is like no other solution on the market.

“Captis can work non-stop for five hours, autonomously scanning inventory in even massive warehouses up to a height of 15 metres,” says King. “It captures data that is instantly and securely integrated with existing warehouse management platforms with 99.9 per cent accuracy. Not only does it read any kind of code on stock, it can also do RFID scanning. The efficiencies we’ve seen with our flagship client in Canada are amazing.”

Below: Cypher Robotics Founder/CEO Peter King discussing the finer points of Captis at GITEX GLOBAL 2024 in Dubai

HOW IT WORKS

For many companies with large warehouses, scanning is still done manually. That means workers repeatedly moving down massive aisles with a handheld scanner. It’s not very satisfying work and is prone to human error. The task also tends to have high attrition rates. In warehouses with inventory stacked high (as most are), there’s the added element of risk from having a human work at height on a forklift or other elevated platform.

Captis changes all this.

The Captis base is a low-footprint autonomous mobile robot (AMR). That base, on its own, is capable of automatically capturing RFID tags, or creating a precise digital twin of a space for planning scenarios. When its five-hour mission is complete, it returns and recharges wirelessly at its base. Its small size means no infrastructure changes are required at warehouses – something often required for other AMR and cycle counting solutions.

But the exceptional value proposition comes from the ability of Captis to work at height. That’s because it’s not simply an AMR – but an AMR with embedded drone technology.

A Robot Operating System (ROS) based drone rests atop Captis. It’s linked to the base via a lightweight tether. That tether provides power to the drone, and transfers data between the two. As Captis makes its way down warehouse aisles, the drone ascends directly above it. The drone is equipped with multiple sensors to read any and all inventory codes. That data is then instantly migrated into existing Warehouse Management Software or Warehouse Execution System platforms. Captis has been tested and certified by one of the world’s leading AI fulfilment software companies and integrates seamlessly with its platform.

Captis has been deployed at a major Canadian retailer – a company with some 300 large warehouses across the country – for more than a year. It has saved 250,000 person-hours of work and generated significant additional revenue for the client by identifying discontinued or excess stock that can be discounted and sold to pave the way for current inventory. It has also freed up forklifts and other machines that would otherwise have been used to assist with human scanning at height.

“Captis is a proven solution,” says King. “And I think that’s part of the reason there’s so much interest here at GITEX GLOBAL 2024.”

Below: A snapshot of the multiple value propositions Captis brings to the table (and the warehouse), followed by a video detailing the Captis mobile app released at GITEX GLOBAL 2024

THE VIEW FROM CYPHER

The genesis of Cypher Robotics was the identification of the need for an all-in-one solution: Cycle counting, RFID scanning, and precision scanning for digital twins. That’s how the idea for Captis came about. It was an ambitious concept that would require exceptional and dedicated engineering. InDro Robotics offered its support as incubator, assisting with the immense technical challenges which had to be overcome for this system to work.

“Captis has been proven in 100,000 square feet warehouses with ever-changing stock stacked to the ceiling. It has also proven its worth on the showroom floor, autonomously scanning all inventory after the customers leave,” says King.

“We had a lot learnings during that initial deployment, and every single one of them has been integrated into making Captis a ready-for-market product. We’re ready. And, based on the phenomenal response at GITEX GLOBAL 2024 – so is the market.”

Interested in learning what Captis can do for you? Reach out here. You can also download a news release about Cypher Robotics and Captis at GITEX GLOBAL 2024 here.

Cypher Robotics, GreyOrange on the future of warehouse automation

Sep 25, 2024 | Autonomous Cycle Counting, Case Studies, In The News

By Scott Simmie

Cypher Robotics, along with AI fulfillment leader GreyOrange, offered a detailed peek into the future of warehouse automation during a recent webinar hosted by Robotics 24/7.

Cypher co-founder and CEO Peter King was joined by GreyOrange CEO Akash Gupta to explore both the challenges – and advantages – of integrating automation into warehouses and other Third Party Logistics (3PL) and supply chain sectors.

So, what does that future look like?

You might picture autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) moving heavy loads from point A to point B. There could be pick and place robots grabbing specific items from inventory shelves and relocating them, or putting them in boxes. AMRs equipped with manipulator arms might be loading or unloading trucks. Other devices could be scanning existing inventory to ensure companies have accurate and realtime information on precisely what is on hand.

All of these technologies are here now – and, to varying degrees – are being implemented as companies transition toward a more efficient and cost-effective way of doing things.

But such systems involve a lot of moving parts that need to be coordinated. And when you throw actual people into the mix, along with building infrastructure, things get a lot more complicated.

Together, Cypher Robotics and GreyOrange believe they offer a solution.

Below: Captis, the signature product of Cypher Robotics, preparing to do a warehouse inventory scan

CAPTIS

We’ll dive into the webinar in a moment. First, however, it’s worth taking a look at Captis.

It’s an autonomous mobile platform that does three things, and does them all very well. With a five-hour runtime, Captis can:

Autonomously scan inventory optically using a tethered drone attached to the AMR Captis base
Autonomously scan inventory using RFID
Create ultra-precise digital twins of a warehouse space

If you’ve been following Cypher Robotics, you’ll know that we formally launched Captis earlier this year at the massive Automate 2024 conference. You might also recall that its appearance created significant buzz.

And that’s because this wasn’t just some prototype – but an exhaustively tested, real-world solution.

Captis has been deployed for more than a year with a large Canadian retailer that has hundreds of huge warehouses across the country. Captis has proven itself on the warehouse floor, providing the retailer with realtime inventory updates and saving employees from the risky (and often unsatisfying) work of repeatedly manually scanning stock – some of which is 10 metres above the ground.

And while Captis runs autonomously, a fully automated warehouse might deploy several different kinds of robots. Once you started putting multiple robots and/or agents into a single location, you need an overarching software platform that can orchestrate all of these machines – while bearing in mind that human beings also share that space. The webinar, entitled Rise of the Robots: Driving Safety & Adoption with Multiagent Orchestration, focussed on exactly that.

THREE PILLARS

Watching the webinar, it became clear there are three overarching themes involved with any sound implementation of robotics into the workplace/warehouse space:

Worker safety
Orchestration of multiple robotic devices into a seamless single system, even with highly complex inventories
Return on Investment

Both GreyOrange and Cypher Robotics were aligned on these pillars, with the former focussing on comprehensive software solutions and the latter on an efficient and safe device that can keep workers from repetitive and potentially dangerous tasks while offering a clear value proposition to the client.

From the GreyOrange side, a large part of the solution is its GreyMatter realtime fulfillment platform, an AI-powered software designed for multi-agent orchestration. In other words, ensuring that the right robot or agent is doing the right thing at the right time.

“GreyMatter is pretty much an automation-first warehouse execution system capable of automating…the end-to-end of the warehouse,” explained GreyOrange CEO Gupta. “We support 10 to 15 different robotic technologies on our platform that in GreyMatter is agnostic to any of these robotic technologies that you can deploy in any of the processes of the warehouse.”

Another key part of GreyMatter is what Gupta calls its Certified Ranger Network.

“It’s basically a group of robotic technologies that are…seamlessly integrated with GreyMatter. We also certify them for reliability, safety and security.” (The Cypher Robotics Captis is part of that Certified Ranger Network.)

Working in concert with all of this is a piece of mobile software created by GreyOrange called gStore.

“It’s end-to-end integration orchestration within the four walls of the stores…inventory management, store operations, Omni channel execution, customer experience, (gStore is) basically kind of bringing all of that together.”

Collectively, said Gupta, you can think of these working synergically to ensure that the “agent up-time or robotic up-time gets converted into fullfillment outcomes.”

Below: A graphic from the presentation outlining how the GreyOrange system works

FROM THE CYPHER SIDE

CEO and Co-Founder Peter King comes with the perfect background for the job. He spent 10 years in the supply chain and logistics industry, followed by 15 years in the robotics and drone sectors. Cypher Robotics, he says, “is kind of a marriage between those realms.”

Several years ago, King was approached by a massive Canadian retailer that wanted to look at an automated solution for its warehouses. The product needed to be able to count inventory autonomously (including boxes high up on racks), had to be highly accurate, and – ideally – would work with the company’s existing infrastructure. In other words, no physical changes to warehouse layout would be required.

That’s no small task. And work on what would become Captis began in 2021.

“It’s an AMR/drone combination product,” said King. “It’s both a vision-based and RFID capture system. And that product works harmoniously together to autonomously go up and down aisles counting inventory. What makes us unique is our ability to trundle up and down aisles for up to five hours collecting data, unlike some traditional methods today.”

While some companies offer drone-based solutions, they come with limitations. Batteries have to be frequently changed and run times are limited. Because the drone is tethered to the Captis base, it draws power from that base enabling vastly extended flight times. As the drone hovers above, Captis navigates autonmously down the aisles. Captis can also capture precise digital twins of any environment it’s deployed in. All of the data acquired optically by the drone – or by Captis itself in RFID or digital twin mode – is meshed real-time into the client’s Warehouse Management System (WMS).

The product formally launched in March – and has since gained considerable interest in the industry.

“We’re gaining a lot of traction and realising just how big this marketplace is,” he added.

Cypher’s main clients are retail operators with large warehouses, but the company is also moving into Third-Party Logistics (3PL) and healthcare. And, as you’ll see in a moment, has truly proven its worth with its flagship client.

Below: An overview of the Captis system, followed by a graphic illustrating how it works

CASE STUDY

Due to the extensive work Captis has been doing with a major Canadian retailer, Cypher Robotics has been able to pull together a case study that reflects the product’s ROI.

In one large facility alone, said King, “we’re anticipating that we are going to eliminate 250,000 man hours per year.”

Those are hours that largely would have been spent by people manually scanning products, an intrinsically unsatisfying task with poor job satisfaction and high attrition rates. But King emphasised those savings don’t mean jobs are being lost; rather, that employees can be transferred to more satisfying work.

“There’s a very long conversation around robots replacing workers and, in this case, we’re actually looking to shift those hours into more productive areas of the business and help this current client actually keep employees in the facilities as well.”

The Cypher solution has had other significant bottom-line benefits for this client.

Online orders that have to be cancelled because an item is out-of-stock are a huge pain point for large companies. If the inventory cycle count isn’t highly accurate, items that are unavailable can show on the web as being in stock. Those orders, which wind up being cancelled, can add up to huge potential losses. That’s because, in addition to resources spent refunding to customers, the company has lost large numbers of potential sales.

With Captis onboard, King said those unfulfilled online orders have been reduced by 50 per cent. Ensuring customers were ordering items in stock led to $7.5 million in additional annual revenue for just this one client.

What’s more, because Captis can easily track how many discontinued items are in stock, it alerts the retailer to put an emphasis on selling those items in order to clear the way for new stock.

“We’re reducing the discontinued inventory by 12 per cent, so another 1.2 million dollars in overall sales for this client,” said King. “We think that’s a big deal by allowing them to push discontinued product and make sure that they understand what areas of their business they need to focus on to eliminate that inventory.”

In addition, King said the system has enabled the client to reduce their cancelled orders – leading to roughly one million dollars in additional annual revenue. With this particular client, the system has proven its worth many times over.

But there could be more benefits down the road. Cypher Robotics is exploring with the client how to identify spare room in those massive warehouses that could be put to profitable use by leasing that space to third parties.

“One of the things you’ll see on our road map is the ability to provide fulfillment services for unused space,” said King. “So understanding how much space is in your warehouse (that could be available) to allow other organizations to access – understanding what your utilization rates are allows you to understand what inventory looks like at each of your facilities to make sure that you’re managing (space) appropriately. For this one client specifically, we can see that there’s a huge need in this industry.”

Below: Details from the Cypher Robotics case study

A CLEAR VISION

The picture is becoming pretty clear, at least for large-scale warehouses and fulfillment/3PL companies: Automation is the future.

But the key here is that this future must be carefully orchestrated. You can’t simply throw a bunch of AMRs and other automation into a facility – particularly with human beings walking around – without concerns for worker safety, including equipping those machines with the best available sensors and AI for detecting and avoiding people and other objects. Wherever possible, you also want to avoid costly infrastructure changes to accommodate these technologies.

But the bigger picture – as described in the webinar – is the importance of certifying these machines and the overarching orchestration of how all of these moving parts work together. And not only work together, but do so in the most efficient and logical way possible. Software like GreyMatter and gStore are half of this equation; robotic solutions like Captis and other complementary systems are the other half.

“As the incubator of Cypher Robotics, InDro Robotics is exceedingly proud to see the great strides this company has made in a relatively short time period,” says InDro Founder and CEO Philip Reece. “Cypher Robotics and Captis do more than count inventory and create digital twins in a highly accurate and timely fashion; they provide critical and actionable data that has proven to significantly improve the client’s bottom line. Technologies like this also play an important role in keeping employees out of potential harm’s way – and allow them to carry out more satisfying tasks.”

Interested in learning more about Cypher Robotics and Captis? You can download a deck here. And if you’d like a conversation, you can contact Cypher Robotics here.

Cypher Robotics and Captis a hit at #MODEX2024

Mar 20, 2024 | Autonomous Cycle Counting

Just over a week ago, Cypher Robotics took the wraps off its Captis system at #MODEX2024 in Atlanta – one of the world’s leading supply chain automation conferences.

Captis is an innovative new cycle counting solution that combines an Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) with a tethered drone. As the AMR navigates down even-narrow aisles, a drone takes off from its nest atop the robot and scans the product. Data is uploaded directly to existing Warehouse Management System (WMS), WCS (Warehouse Control System) and WES (Warehouse Execution System) software. Ample power storage in Captis means autonomous missions can last up to five hours before the system returns to base for a wireless recharge. In addition to this key feature, Captis can also:

Autonomously carry out 2D and 3D precision scans for digital twins
Scan RFID-tagged items
Avoid people and obstacles

The Automation Revolution

The premiere of Captis took place during an era when many in the global supply chain are looking toward robotics and other automation technologies for greater efficiencies. Manual scanning is prone to human error and isn’t very satisfying work. And the COVID19 pandemic showed us we can’t always rely on human beings to be able to carry out the job. Plus, there’s been a plethora of new developments in the worlds of AI and machine learning, leading to smarter and more capable solutions.

“MODEX is getting more and more technical,” says InDro Vice President Peter King. InDro has invested in Cypher Robotics, and helped incubate the Captis system technologies.

“More and more robotic solutions are taking over that show. Alternatives to the traditional methods of supply chain operations are growing fast. Increasingly, companies are interested in automated ways of loading and unloading trucks, picking and placing objects, bringing inventory into the warehouse – and cycle counting.”

That’s why Cypher Robotics – and Captis – attended MODEX2024.

Below: InDro’s Head of Strategic Initiatives, Stacey Connors, looking justifiably happy at MODEX2024:

The Solution

There are a growing number of cycle counting solutions now available. Some still involve hand-held Zebra scanners, which are prone to human error and put people at risk on modified forklifts or other elevated platforms. Others involve setting up multiple ground control reference points, or infrastructure changes to the facility itself. Drone-only solutions are constrained by limited flight times (typically 10-25 minutes) before the drone has to return to a dock and recharge.

Cypher Robotics spent a long time assessing existing solutions before starting to plan an entirely new one for Captis. The system would need to eliminate the pain points referenced above, and offer a seamless, hands-off approach that would allow the AMR to explore and understand its own environment. Because some of the warehouses Captis is meant to operate in are *really* big, it was also crucial to build in industry-leading run times.

Cypher Robotics meticulously followed the ladder up the Technology Readiness Level scale, including simulations. But we knew it had to be proven in a demanding, real-world environment before it would ready for a Prime Time launch. We partnered with a massive Canadian company that has multiple warehouses and more than 300 retail locations across the country. We spent months in their warehouses to perfect the system. An announcement revealing the household name of this retail powerhouse as a core partner and anchor client will be coming soon.

Other Partners

Cypher is particularly pleased to have formed partnerships with global telco innovator Ericsson and AI-driven fulfilment experts GreyOrange. The latter provides what you might call the central brain for Captis – the solution that takes all of that realtime data and gets it into the warehouse software. Testing indicates the integrated system has 99.9 per cent accuracy when it comes to cycle counting and data transfer. GreyOrange is a big name in this sector, and their eagerness to partner with Cypher Robotics was validation that we had, indeed, created something special.

The other partner is Ericsson. The Captis system uses 5G networks for dense data throughput, wirelessly transmitting data collected by the system directly into existing warehouse management software. Ericsson also has the ability to set up private and highly secure 5G systems within these large warehouses, ensuring the highest level of data protection from an attempted incursions or hacking. Your data is accurate – and safe.

Below: How the Cypher Robotics Captis system works:

High bins? No problem!

The Captis system, as noted, includes a highly integrated tethered drone. That tether supplies the drone with the power, and also takes realtime data back to the base as its scans product.

While the ARM makes its way down the aisles, the drone ascends to the optimal elevation level for scanning product on each shelf, one-at-a-time. It can scan products up to 40 feet off the ground.

The ARM has been calibrated to roam those aisles at the optimal speed to ensure accurate drone scanning and maximum efficiency. The system doesn’t get distracted, doesn’t require coffee breaks – and works non-stop until its five-hour run-time is complete and Captis returns to its wireless charging base. When that charging is done, it can pick up precisely where it left off.

Its additional precision scanning capabilities – the ability to create perfect digital twins with a highly dense point cloud – is a huge bonus for most large operations. Captis can create and update those 2D and 3D files as it goes about cycle counting, or can be directed to capture other areas in a facility, such as a showroom. Whether you’re planning to replicate an existing physical building (very common in this space), or simply capture the stock on a showroom floor to analyse and optimise the customer journey, Captis does it all.

It took a significant amount of engineering to create something with all of these capabilities. Like any new solution, there were multiple technical challenges along the way that had to be addressed. But, operating with both simulators and spending months in massive warehouses did the trick. Day by day, tweaking code and electronics, we enhanced and perfected Captis until we arrived at the solution revealed at MODEX.

We were hopeful it would be well-received.

But the level of interest? It honestly blew us away.

Below: Crowds line up to talk about Captis at #MODEX2024. You can just make out the back of InDro Vice President Peter King’s head, just beside the Captis system. Peter said crowds were like this for two solid days of the conference.

The Reaction

Conferences can always be kind of a crapshoot. Sometimes the floor location isn’t the best for foot traffic. Or perhaps another company has an incredible display or product that seems to generate all the buzz. Quite simply, you can never know for certain how it’s going to go until you get these.

But, as the photo above indicates, Cypher Robotics garnered plenty of attention throughout the conference. That’s partly because, to the best of our knowledge, we are the only North American company to have developed and manufactured an integrated drone/AMR cycle counting and precision scanning solution. What’s more, it’s also capable of the RFID scanning and digital twins mentioned earlier. It’s a hands-off, all-in-one system that works.

And the excitement it generated? It was palpable. InDro VP Peter King has attended more conferences than he’d likely care to remember over the years. And this one? It brought the most interest he’s ever seen at a product launch.

“Captis really blew it out of the water,” says King.

“It was the Belle of the Ball,” adds Connors.

Two Displays

Captis was on display at both the large GreyOrange and Ericsson booths. InDro’s Head of Strategic Initiatives, Stacey Connors, was representing Cypher Robotics at the GreyOrange display and reports similar high levels of interest from potential clients.

“Many organizations invested in consideration of drone technology for cycle counting within the past two years,” she says, “but concluded the payback and accuracy was not justifiable given the short run time of 10-25 mins per drone.

“So when they recognized this problem has been solved by Cypher’s tethered AMR, the excitement was obvious. Jaws dropped at the five-hour run time – and that no additional infrastructure was needed.”

Below: Tall shelves? That’s no problem for the Captis system, which uses a tethered drone to scan product at height

Cypher’s Takeaway

We knew going into the show we had a tried and tested product, one we hoped would fill a gaping void. We also believe that Captis is the only system of its kind fully developed and manufactured in North America.

That said, we also didn’t know with great certainty what other new products might be making their debut. Maybe there would be something like Captis, or even a completely different system with similar capabilities.

There wasn’t. And it turns out that old line from Field of Dreams was right: “If you build it, they will come.” We built it. And they came – in droves.

“Anytime I told people that we didn’t want to disrupt their workflow, they lost their minds,” says InDro VP Peter King. “There was honestly nobody else at the show that had this kind of solution, and there’s incredible pent-up demand for precisely what Captis offers.”

Strategist Stacey Connors – at a different booth across the convention floor – saw the same response day in and day out.

“It truly did feel like the star of the show” she says. “The high volume of activity and interest around Captis continued to flow all week.”

Stay tuned. We’ll be posting in greater detail about the Captis RFID scanning capabilities, as well as its abilities for create perfect digital twins. All in due time.

Interested in learning more? You can hit up Cypher Robotics here.