Robots Instead Of Forklifts? Fetch's Melonee Wise Debuts Fully Autonomous Ones That Can Carry Up To 1,100 Pounds

For more than a century, factories and warehouses have depended on forklifts to move heavy objects from one place to another. Roboticist Melonee Wise, founder and chief executive of Fetch Robotics, thinks fully autonomous robots could do a better job. In a conversation with Forbes, she shared a sneak peek of a new version of her giant Freight bots that has the ability to pick up items from one place and drop them off at another with no humans involved. Fetch intends to debut the new Freight 500, called CartConnect500, which can lug up to 500 kilograms (or 1,100 pounds) at the Modex 2020 trade show in Atlanta on March 9. A fully autonomous version of the Freight 1,500, which can haul up to 1,500 kilograms (or 3,300 pounds), is in development and likely will launch later this year.