1. How do autonomous drones contribute to inventory management in warehouses?

Basically, the use of drones allows you to do this operation, which consists of flying in front of each of the locations of a warehouse rack and identifying the merchandise in each of those locations, to automate it and that there does not have to be a person behind this task.

2. What are the main barriers for SMEs to adopt this technology?

One of the main barriers is that there is, let's say, a certain level of cleanliness and organisation in the warehouse and, then, of course, if it is a warehouse that is very structured, in the sense that the racks are all very similar, they all have a very similar structure, the same type of palletising is used for all the goods that are stored... the more homogeneous it is, well, logically, the more applicable and the easier it is to apply this technology.

3. What requirements must a warehouse meet to start using this solution?

A warehouse that is carrying out inventories, as it must already have some type of physical label, usually with one or more barcodes, and, in principle, the only limitation for the use of the application is that rack-type racks are used. Because yes, it is true that there are many types of shelves and many types of merchandise, but, well, racks represent most of the storage structures we have. And then, our solution, obviously, is only applicable – or really useful – when it is stored at simple depth, because in the end the drone is flying inside that warehouse lane and only has visibility over the first pallet, which is the one that is closest.

4. Is it complicated to manage this type of solution?

The operation of the solution is very simple, because basically you have to take the drone, put a battery in it and, from that moment on, everything is controlled from a tablet. In that sense, the drone is not really complex to use, but it is true that both during the flight of the drone and when handling the batteries, certain issues related to safety must be considered.

5. Do you think the use of drones for inventories will continue to grow in the future?

Yes. Let's see, I think that this is definitely a task, that of inventorying, that worries the warehouses a lot, because, in the end, not taking inventory leads them to have poor stock control and that has many reputational problems and economic problems for the warehouse as well. Having stock control is essential. So, anything that contributes to improving stock control and going from simply carrying out an inventory a year – which is what the standard requires – to carrying out rotating inventories, periodic inventories, is going to help a lot to improve that knowledge of where things are in the warehouse.