About the Locus AMR Series
The Locus AMR Series from Locus Robotics is the market-leading family of collaborative mobile robots for warehouse order fulfilment, deployed in more sites worldwide than any other AMR picking platform. Rather than replacing workers, Locus robots collaborate with them: the robots autonomously travel to pick locations while associates stay within zones, meeting the robot, scanning the item and placing it in the correct order container on the robot’s cart. The robot then navigates to the next pick or to packing while another robot is already en route, eliminating the unproductive walking that consumes up to half of a traditional picker’s shift. Fleet software orchestrates dozens or hundreds of robots across the floor, optimising pick paths, balancing workloads and adapting to order surges in real time. Operations typically double or triple units picked per hour within weeks of deployment, with accuracy improvements that cut mis-ships and returns. The robots deploy into existing warehouses without fixed infrastructure, integrate with major warehouse management systems, and scale flexibly for peak season through robots-as-a-service. For e-commerce, retail and third-party logistics operations chasing faster, cheaper fulfilment, Locus has become the benchmark collaborative automation platform.
Key Specifications
- Collaborative zone-based picking with associates
- Doubles or triples picking productivity typically
- Fleet orchestration across hundreds of robots
- No fixed infrastructure, works in existing sites
- Integrates with major WMS platforms
- Robots-as-a-service scales for peak season
- Real-time path and workload optimisation
- Proven across global e-commerce and 3PL sites
Doubling Pick Productivity
Walking is the silent killer of warehouse productivity, with traditional pickers spending half their shift travelling between locations rather than picking. Locus eliminates the walking by bringing the work to zoned associates: robots travel continuously between pick faces while workers pick from their immediate area onto the arriving robot. Sites consistently report doubling or tripling units per hour against their previous manual or cart-based operation, with the gains appearing within weeks rather than months. Because the robots handle travel, new associates reach full productivity far faster, which matters enormously in high-turnover operations. The productivity gain effectively multiplies the value of existing labour without adding headcount, directly reducing cost per order in an industry where labour is the largest fulfilment expense.
Surge Capacity For Peak Season
E-commerce peaks can multiply order volumes several times over for a few weeks, and sizing automation for peak leaves expensive capacity idle all year. Locus’s robots-as-a-service model solves this by letting operations add robots for the peak months and return them afterwards, paying for capacity only when it is needed. The robots arrive, integrate with the existing fleet and software, and are productive almost immediately, without construction or infrastructure work. This elasticity has made Locus a standard answer to the Black Friday and holiday surge for retailers and 3PLs alike. Operations enter peak with confidence rather than hoping temporary labour quality holds, and exit peak without carrying the cost of permanent over-capacity through the quiet months.
Fast Deployment In Live Sites
Conventional automation demands months of installation and often building modifications, a timeline many operations cannot accept. Locus robots deploy into existing facilities in weeks, navigating with onboard sensors among workers, racking and equipment without wires, reflectors or floor modifications. The system goes live while the warehouse keeps shipping, avoiding the shutdown risk of fixed automation projects. This speed matters especially for 3PLs responding to new contract wins with tight start dates, and for retailers testing automation in one site before committing network-wide. The ability to prove value quickly in a live environment, then replicate across the estate, has driven Locus’s expansion to hundreds of sites and billions of units picked across the global installed fleet.
Accuracy And Quality Improvement
Mis-picks are expensive twice: once in returns processing and again in customer experience, and manual picking under time pressure inevitably produces errors. Locus builds verification into the workflow, with scan confirmation at every pick and put ensuring the right item lands in the right order container. The robot presents location and quantity information visually, guiding associates through each task and reducing the cognitive load that causes mistakes. Sites report measurable accuracy improvements alongside the productivity gains, cutting return rates and the hidden cost of error correction. For operations shipping high-value or regulated goods, the documented pick verification also supports traceability requirements, embedding quality control in every pick.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does productivity improve?
Locus sites typically report doubling or tripling units picked per hour compared with previous manual methods. Gains come from eliminating travel time, optimising paths and keeping associates picking continuously within their zones.
Does it work with our WMS?
Locus integrates with major warehouse management systems through established interfaces, exchanging order, inventory and confirmation data in real time as a standard part of deployment.
What infrastructure is required?
No fixed infrastructure is needed. The robots navigate with onboard sensors in existing warehouses, working around racking, equipment and people without wires, floor markers or building modifications.
How does robots-as-a-service work?
Rather than purchasing fleets outright, operations subscribe to robot capacity, scaling robot numbers up for peak periods and down afterwards, converting automation into an operating cost matched to demand.
Can associates and robots work safely together?
Yes, collaboration is the core design. Robots carry sensors for obstacle detection and safe stopping around people, and the zone-based workflow organises interaction safely across hundreds of live sites.
How long does deployment take?
Typical deployments go live in weeks, not months, because no construction or fixed infrastructure is involved. Robots map the facility, integrate with the WMS and begin picking while normal operations continue.
What size operation does it suit?
Locus serves operations from mid-sized facilities to the largest e-commerce fulfilment centres, with fleets scaling from a handful of robots to hundreds on one site via the subscription model.
Who uses Locus robots today?
The platform is deployed across global e-commerce, retail and third-party logistics operations, with hundreds of sites and billions of units picked, making it the most extensively deployed collaborative picking platform.
