Thomas Houden, director of business development at OnRobot, Dallas, notes that AI allowed operations to become more efficient.

“AI is making programming, configuration and optimization noticeably more efficient. It’s lowering the technical bar for setting up and fine-tuning applications, which matters a lot for producers without deep robotics expertise in-house,” he says. “That said, real-world value still depends on reliable physical execution. 

“A smarter algorithm doesn’t help much if the gripper, the tooling and the mechanical system underneath it aren’t dependable in a real production environment,” Houden continues. “Our view is balanced: AI offers real and growing potential, but beverage producers don’t need to wait for the next AI breakthrough to see substantial gains; proven automation available today is already delivering meaningful results.”

Damaris Gruetter, chief marketing officer and managing director at Stoecklin Logistics, Marietta, Ga., touts the benefits of AI within robotics, but also notes the importance of human oversight.

“AI is helping make robotic systems more adaptable and intelligent. In intralogistics, the greatest opportunity is not simply making robots move faster, but it is enabling them to respond more effectively to changing product characteristics, order profiles, and operating conditions,” he says. “AI can support tasks such as identifying products, optimizing picking patterns, improving route planning, and using operational data to identify opportunities for greater efficiency. 

“However, AI should complement rather than replace human expertise,” Gruetter continues. “Successful automation still depends on strong IT-OT integration, appropriate system design and human oversight. The combination of intelligent software, robotics and experienced warehouse personnel is what creates a resilient operation.”

Karli Sage, vice president of supply chain management for technology and engineering at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, Miami and Dallas, explains the changes the company has seen regarding robotics and AI.

“The biggest change is the ability to combine more capabilities into a single solution,” Sage says. “Five years ago, especially around COVID, there were a lot of providers solving very specific problems with slightly different hardware. With AI, I think we’ll start seeing more of those capabilities come together. Instead of needing a different robot or vendor for every variation of a problem, you have a platform that can learn, adapt, and potentially perform more than one function.

“I actually think that could eventually mean fewer solutions,” she continues. “I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. We will just end up with a smaller number of really capable platforms that can do significantly more than they can today.”

Corvus Robotics’ Sykes explains that data capture with AI has improved, which has supported robot performance within warehouses.

“Physical AI is getting better because we're capturing more data and putting it to better use, particularly the edge cases that are hard to simulate,” Sykes says. “Large language models (LLMs) have also added features within the robotics space that weren't otherwise available a few years ago. The robots are getting smarter and more productive at collecting that information, and what we do with it can now be curated, sorted, and summarized by LLMs in a variety of ways that are impactful for that particular customer. 

“AI assisted trends, recommendations and predictive analysis on large data sets will keep creeping into every decision a company makes,” he continues. “Access to real-time data is possible, the data is richer and more accurate than ever before, and harnessing what it tells you is easier than ever.”

However, AI is not the only way that robotics suppliers are finetuning their portfolios and how they can support beverage operations.

“Advances across the entire intralogistics ecosystem have helped robotics become more practical and scalable,” Stoecklin Logistics’ Gruetter says. “Improved sensors, gripper technology, machine vision, controls, warehouse management systems, material flow software, AGVs, and autonomous mobile technologies all contribute to better performance.

“Software integration is particularly important,” he continues. “Robots need to communicate seamlessly with warehouse management and material flow systems so that physical movement and digital information remain synchronized. Stoecklin’s logOS software suite integrates warehouse management, material flow control, and data management, providing visibility into inventory, product movements, storage locations, and shelf life. Energy efficiency has also become increasingly important. Technologies such as lithium-ion batteries, fast charging, energy recovery, and intelligent route planning can reduce consumption while supporting continuous operation.”

OnRobot’s Houden further notes that programming capabilities within robotics have improved platforms for beverage manufacturers.

“No-code and automated programming platforms have probably had the biggest practical impact,” he says. “They mean faster initial setup and much easier in-house redeployment when a beverage manufacturer needs to change formats or SKUs. We’ve also seen real gains in interoperability across robot brands. Standardized interfaces are reducing the engineering and integration work required to get a system running, which shortens time-to-value and lowers the risk of getting locked into a single vendor's ecosystem.”

Southern Glazer’s Sage also has seen the performance from robots improve.

“Battery technology has been a big one. Robots can run longer, charge faster and don’t always need the infrastructure that traditional automation requires,” she says. “That gives us a lot more freedom in where and how we use them, especially in an existing building where adding infrastructure can get expensive quickly.

“Connectivity has also improved quite a bit,” Sage continues. “We can get much more real-time information from the equipment, understand how it’s performing and make adjustments faster. That becomes even more important as you start putting multiple types of robotics into the same operation. They can’t all operate independently. They need to communicate with each other and with the systems running the warehouse.”