You can’t afford static solutions for picking operations

The year is 2006. You’re driving your kid to an out-of-town soccer tournament. You have a small stack of directions you printed from MapQuest the night before - and you’re feeling pretty good.

You have step-by-step directions, so you don’t have to ask for landmarks before turns, or remember street names and exit numbers. But there’s a catch. Miss a turn—or hit a road closure—and you’re as good as lost. The reroute is clunky because the only information you have is what’s printed on those pages.

Fast-forward to Google Maps, paired with your phone. Suddenly, navigation feels effortless with real-time updates, context-aware routes, and hands-free guidance that adapts automatically to the road ahead.

That leap—from static to adaptive navigation—is the same leap warehouses need to consider when evaluating robotic picking solutions.

The MapQuest era of picking robots

Many autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in warehouses operate like MapQuest printouts:

• They get from point A to point B most of the time.
  

• They avoid major obstacles.
  

• But when things get more dynamic—an aisle is blocked, a forklift moves in, or a picker crosses their path—they “get lost” or delocalize.
  

The results can be costly in several ways. Rerouting is slow, productivity stalls, the users give up - or in some cases even sabotage the solutions entirely - and operational leaders lose confidence that robots are really rather than hurting their workflows.

Navigation for smarter warehouses demands more.

We built Carter to move beyond the “printout era” of warehouse robotics. It’s pretty clear that, for challenging, integrated environments, anything less than multi-dimensional won’t help people. 

• On-board computer vision ensures Carter never loses localization.
  

• Context-aware navigation means Carter doesn’t just avoid objects—it recognizes them. Is that a pallet? A picker? A forklift? Carter adjusts its behavior accordingly.
  

• Fleet management integration ties every robot’s movements to the bigger picture. Routes adapt in real time not just for one robot, but for the entire system, maximizing productivity across your floor.
  

The result: fewer robots required, more picks completed. The solution proves its value and delivers on ROI and user experience faster.

Happy users, confident decision-makers

Running your warehouse with robots that “get lost” is like trying to navigate with MapQuest in a world built on Google Maps. As an operations stakeholder, you’re not buying robots—you’re buying throughput, predictability, and worker productivity. 

Static navigation (MapQuest-style) creates hidden costs: stalled robots, wasted time, and more units required to cover the same workload.

Adaptive navigation (Google Maps-style) creates compounding value: fewer disruptions, faster fulfillment, and a system that scales with your business.

Warehouses need these smarter solutions that adapt in real time to floor conditions, integrate seamlessly into operations, and maximize every worker’s productivity. Solutions like Carter understand the warehouse—and that’s where the real ROI lives.