For years, robotic piece picking lived in the realm of possibility rather than practicality. Demonstrations were impressive, prototypes attracted attention, and artificial intelligence promised to transform warehouses. Yet when it came to real fulfillment operations—where thousands of orders move every hour and every mistake carries a cost—most organizations still relied on people. Warehouses needed more than intelligent robots; they needed technology they could trust. This is what RightHand Robotics is set out to solve. Rather than chasing headlines with futuristic robotics, the company has quietly focused on something far more valuable: delivering dependable automation that performs day after day in live production environments. Today, its robotic piece-picking systems are operating across North America and Europe, helping leading retailers, pharmacies, and e-commerce companies increase throughput, overcome labor shortages, and meet the growing demands of modern fulfillment.

At the center of this approach is RightPick One, the company’s latest robotic piece-picking platform. Developed to make warehouse automation more accessible, it combines advanced artificial intelligence, proprietary gripping technology, and a remarkably compact design that enables warehouses of all sizes to embrace automation without extensive infrastructure changes. “We don’t want customers to buy robotics because the technology is exciting,” says Annie Bowlby, Head of Product and Engineering. “We want them to trust that our systems will solve their throughput challenges every day. Technology is simply the tool that allows us to deliver that reliability.”

While many automation providers begin by showcasing hardware specifications or AI capabilities, the company starts with the operational problem itself. Warehouses today face relentless pressure to ship more orders faster while controlling costs, even as labor shortages continue to challenge fulfillment operations worldwide. Consumers have become accustomed to next-day—or even same-day—delivery, creating expectations that traditional manual processes increasingly struggle to meet. Warehouse work remains physically demanding despite technological advances. Repetitive lifting, bending, twisting, and continuous movement contribute to high employee turnover, making recruitment and retention an ongoing concern for operators. Even experienced associates experience natural fluctuations in productivity throughout the day. For growing businesses, simply hiring more workers is no longer a sustainable long-term strategy.

Unlike laboratory demonstrations, production warehouses are unpredictable environments. Products vary enormously in size, weight, shape, and packaging. Items may be damaged, misplaced, partially opened, or surrounded by unexpected debris. Successful automation requires more than identifying an object—it demands the ability to handle thousands of exceptions without interrupting operations. RightHand Robotics addresses that challenge by combining sophisticated software with its patented hybrid gripper, which integrates mechanical fingers with suction technology. Artificial intelligence enables the robot to identify an item, determine the optimal grasping strategy, execute the pick, transport the product safely, and place it accurately into its destination while maximizing packing efficiency. Every successful—and unsuccessful—pick becomes another learning opportunity. “Our software improves with every pick we make,” Annie explains. “Every robot runs the same RightPick platform, so when we improve the system, every customer benefits. Continuous improvement isn’t a feature—it’s part of our philosophy.”

One long-standing pharmaceutical customer in the Netherlands experienced approximately a 30 percent reduction in cycle time following a routine software update, despite requesting no specific modifications. Without adding additional robots or changing warehouse processes, the customer significantly increased productivity simply because the platform had evolved. Stories like these demonstrate why RightHand Robotics emphasizes long-term partnerships rather than one-time equipment sales. The company’s latest innovation, RightPick One, further reinforces that commitment by making robotic piece picking practical for a broader range of operations. Traditional robotic systems often require large footprints that fit comfortably only within newly constructed facilities. RightPick One was specifically engineered to integrate into existing warehouses, occupying minimal space while operating with standard compressed air and conventional electrical power. Its compact footprint allows organizations to introduce automation into brownfield facilities without extensive redesign, while maintaining the performance levels expected from far larger systems.

Accessibility extends beyond physical integration. Many warehouse operators do not run around the clock, making large automation investments difficult to justify. RightPick One enables smaller operations and facilities running one or two shifts to adopt reliable robotic automation with a stronger return on investment. The company’s customer portfolio illustrates the versatility of this approach.

Rapidly expanding European health and wellness retailer GymBeam adopted robotic automation after labor shortages threatened to limit business growth. Within six months, the company expanded from two robotic systems to twenty-three, with each installation reaching full production within weeks. In North America, Staples.com uses RightHand Robotics to support next-day fulfillment across an enormous catalog of products, allowing robotic systems to continue processing orders even after warehouse staff have completed their shifts.

For RightHand Robotics, however, success is measured by far more than deployment numbers. “We want customers to judge us on uptime, throughput, predictability and reliability—not on buzzwords,” says Annie. “Our responsibility is to keep making the system faster, smarter and more dependable while giving customers confidence that they’re investing in technology that will continue to improve.” That commitment drives ongoing research into artificial intelligence, warehouse workflows, and strategic partnerships. The company continues expanding compatibility with automated storage systems, conveyor technologies, packaging solutions, and sortation platforms, ensuring customers can integrate robotic piece picking into virtually any fulfillment strategy.

Packaging optimization has become another growing area of innovation. Particularly in Europe, shipping efficiency increasingly depends on packing cartons as densely as possible to reduce transportation costs. New software capabilities intelligently arrange products inside shipping boxes, minimizing wasted space while maximizing truck capacity and operational efficiency. At the same time, RightHand Robotics continues investing heavily in artificial intelligence, using years of production data to refine decision-making, accelerate picking speeds, and further improve reliability. Having already achieved approximately 99.99 percent reliability in production environments, the company is pursuing even higher levels of performance as automation becomes an increasingly essential component of global supply chains. With more than one hundred robots operating in production facilities across multiple continents, RightHand Robotics has helped move warehouse automation beyond proof-of-concept and into everyday operations.