Posted by logistics_coordinator_amy | 1 week ago

Hey everyone, our warehouse just deployed 8 MiR500 robots and honestly its been a bit chaotic trying to manage them all efficiently. We're using the standard MiR Fleet software but I feel like we're not utilizing it properly - robots keep queueing up at certain zones, battery management is a mess, and don't even get me started on mission conflicts. We've got about 120,000 sq ft of space with narrow aisles in some areas and the robots seem to get confused when multiple units need to pass through bottlenecks. Is there a trick to zone priority settings that I'm missing? Also curious how other people handle charging schedules, right now we just let them auto-charge when they hit 30% but that seems inefficient. Any tips from folks who've been through the growing pains would be amazing.

Reply by warehouse_tech_marcus | 6 days ago

Amy I went through the exact same thing last year when we scaled from 3 robots to 12, it was a nightmare at first lol. The zone thing is huge - you need to set up your traffic rules properly or they'll just deadlock constantly. Go into Fleet and create one-way corridors for your narrow aisles, even if it means robots take slightly longer routes. We also reduced the number of robots allowed in certain zones simultaneously, like max 2 in the picking area at once. For charging, 30% is way too low especially if you're running multiple shifts. We moved to 50% threshold and staggered the charging times so they're not all trying to charge during peak hours. Also make sure your charging stations are in smart locations, not all bunched together in one corner of the facility.

Reply by robotics_integrator_chen | 5 days ago

The mission conflict thing is probably because you've got overlapping routes or missions with the same priority levels. In Fleet you can assign priority to different mission types - we set material delivery missions higher priority than empty pallet returns for example. Also check your elevator/door integration if you have any, that's where we see most bottlenecks. One thing that helped us a lot was creating "parking zones" where idle robots wait instead of just stopping wherever they finish their last mission. Keeps the main traffic areas clear. And yeah definitely increase that charging threshold, 30% doesn't give you enough buffer if demand suddenly spikes. We actually have dedicated "charging missions" that run during slow periods to top everyone off.

Reply by logistics_coordinator_amy

Marcus the one way corridor idea is genius, I didn't even think about that. We've definitely had situations where two robots just sit there facing each other waiting for the other to move haha. Chen I'll look into the priority settings, I think everything is just set to default right now which is probably why we're having issues. We do have 3 freight elevators and those are definitely bottleneck points. The robots can call the elevator but sometimes they all try to use the same one even though others are available. Is there a way to load balance that or do I need to contact MiR support? Also how often are you guys doing the map updates? Our facility is pretty dynamic with racking changes and I'm worried the maps are getting outdated.

Reply by facility_manager_raj

For the elevator thing you might need to set up virtual walls or restricted zones to force load balancing, basically make it so certain robots can only use certain elevators based on their starting zone. It's not perfect but it helps. Map updates really depend on how much your layout changes - we do a full remap quarterly and spot updates whenever we move major infrastructure. The MiR SLAM is pretty forgiving with small changes but if you move entire racking rows you need to update or the robots get lost. One more tip that saved us - create a maintenance schedule in Fleet for each robot, not just reactive repairs. We do weekly cleaning of sensors and monthly checks on wheels/brakes. You'd be surprised how much dust and debris affects performance in a warehouse environment, especially if you're moving cardboard or pallets that shed material.