Each-picking assistance
checked 1 Sep 2026
Warehouse
Task maturity · five steps · every value is an analyst assessment| Task | Maturity | Dominant approach | Vendors | Deployed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automated storage and retrieval | Mature | AS/RS pallet handling | 1 | 1 |
| Each-picking assistance | Scaling | 1 | 1 | |
| Pallet movement | Scaling | Autonomous forklift | 5 | |
| Case picking | Early commercial | |||
| Truck unloading | Pilot | Autonomous forklift | 1 |
Each-picking assistance
ScalingCollaborative mobile robots that carry totes and guide human pickers through each-item order picking.
Collaborative picking AMRs run at thousands of sites, Locus alone reports billions of picks, and the model is sold as RaaS with predictable unit economics. It stops short of mature because the human picker is still in the loop and the next step, autonomous each-picking, is a different task.
What happens today
The incumbent process
Pickers walking with carts and paper or RF pick lists.
Walking time is the majority of a manual picker's shift, which is the productivity gap the robots close.
Who is doing it
Vendors and deployments
vendorsLocus Robotics
Who buys it
Target customers
Third-party logistics providers (3PLs)
3PLs buy for seasonal flexibility and roll out across sites.