Sumitomo Corporation of Americas and Rapyuta Robotics, Inc Form Strategic Partnership to Bring PA-AMR Robotics with UWB Real-Time Location System (RTLS) to U.S. Warehouses

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Oct 18, 2023, 09:00 ET

NEW YORK, Oct. 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sumitomo Corporation of Americas (SCOA) and Rapyuta Robotics, Inc. (Rapyuta) announced today their partnership to provide groundbreaking fulfillment operations technologies to warehouses across the United States. This collaboration will offer a robust PA-AMR and cutting-edge UWB real time location technology as a combined solution. The result is drastically improved item/SKU seeking time, picking accuracy, and safety in the workplace. Rapyuta's PA-AMR solution has consistently more than doubled productivity improvement in order picking while effectively addressing the staffing challenges that have been a persistent issue in the industry. By combining with UWB RTLS, customers gain insights on the exact routes and stops taken. This will aid in further process improvement.

"In an era where efficiency, speed, and accuracy are paramount, the demand for automation has transformed fulfillment centers into dynamic hubs where robots and workers work side-by-side to meet the ever-growing demands of customers," said Arudchelvan Krishnamoorthy, President and CEO of Rapyuta Robotics, Inc. "We believe that our unique synergy leveraging technology and human expertise will redefine industry standards and set new benchmarks for excellence in warehouse fulfillment."

"As a decades-long expert in the global logistics and warehousing industry, we know first-hand challenges and pain-points that come with trying to get a product from point A to point B," said Satoshi Bansho, Vice President of Logistics Group, at Sumitomo Corporation of Americas. "Collaborating with a proven technology partner like Rapyuta will allow us to make a significant impact on the warehousing industry in the United States, creating solutions that prioritize safety, visualization, optimization, carbon neutrality, industrial automation, and digital innovation."

SCOA and Rapyuta began working together in 2022 and discovered that Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) could be the solution for many industries facing challenges in their supply chains, including improving labor efficiency through RaaS. Rapyuta is the provider of pick-assist AMR in Japan that specializes in multi-robot coordination and cloud robotics. As the largest subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation, one of the world's leading traders of goods and services, SCOA is connected to a massive global network of companies, offices and facilities. The company's vast experience in logistics management make it an ideal partner to implement and test these innovative solutions in a real-world logistics environment.

The two companies will jointly exhibit their innovative technology solutions for retail and warehouse fulfillment in New York City at the annual National Retail Federation conference and expo in January 2024.

About Sumitomo Corporation of Americas
Sumitomo Corporation of Americas (SCOA) was established in 1952 and is headquartered in New York City and has nine offices in major U.S. cities. SCOA is the largest subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation, one of the world's leading traders of goods and services. As an integrated business enterprise, the firm has emerged as a major organizer of multinational projects, an expediter of ideas, an important international investor and financier, and a powerful force for distribution of products and global communications through a network of offices worldwide. Its core businesses include Energy, Automotive, Social Infrastructure, Agri-food and Life Science, Construction and Transportation Systems, Real Estate, Mineral Resources and Energy Innovation. For more information, visit www.sumitomocorp.com

About Rapyuta Robotics, Inc.
Rapyuta Robotics is a leading provider of flexible and collaborative autonomous mobile robot (Rapyuta PA-AMR) solutions and the pioneer in cloud robotics. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Rapyuta Robotics is a Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) spin-off, that operates with a vision to be the leader in making robots more attainable and valuable by taking an open, platform-centric approach to developing and using robotics solutions. At ETH Zurich, Rapyuta Robotics' founding members worked on the RoboEarth and Cubli projects. For more information, visit www.rapyuta-robotics.com

SOURCE Sumitomo Corporation of Americas