Warehouse Robot Deployment Checklist: From Pilot to Full Production

Phase 1 — Site Assessment

Site assessment happens 4–8 weeks before robot arrival. Failures discovered during this phase cost days to fix. Failures discovered after robot arrival cost weeks.

• Floor flatness: Measure floor flatness at robot operating positions using a digital level or laser scanner. Target ≤3 mm/m deviation (equivalent to F-number Ff35). Many warehouses have floor settlements near loading docks that exceed this threshold. Out-of-spec floors require grinding or leveling compound treatment.
• Floor load rating: Verify the floor's distributed load rating (kN/m²) can support the robot's footprint load. A 500 kg robot arm on a 0.3 m × 0.3 m base plate creates a point load of approximately 55 kN/m² — most industrial concrete floors (200 mm slab, 30 MPa concrete) handle this, but verify with your facilities engineer.
• Electrical capacity: Robot arms and AGVs typically require 480V 3-phase power with a 20–60A circuit per robot. Verify available capacity at the nearest electrical panel and request a load study if adding >20 kW of robot power to an existing circuit.
• WiFi coverage: Scan signal strength at all robot operating positions. Target ≥−65 dBm RSSI with <2% packet loss at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. Poor WiFi is the most common cause of remote monitoring and OTA update failures. Add access points before robot deployment, not after.
• Inventory flow analysis: Map the current inventory flow and identify the 20% of SKUs that represent 80% of picks (Pareto analysis). Start the pilot with these high-volume SKUs to demonstrate ROI quickly.

Phase 2 — System Integration

Integration work begins 2–4 weeks before pilot start. These integrations have long tails — plan for 2× your estimated time:

• WMS integration: Identify the specific WMS API endpoints required: pick list retrieval, task acknowledgment, exception reporting, and inventory adjustment. Most WMS vendors provide a REST API or EDI interface. Allow 2–4 weeks for WMS vendor cooperation and testing.
• Pick list API: Define the pick list format — item ID, source location, destination location, quantity, priority, and any special handling flags. Validate with 1,000 historical pick orders to catch edge cases (missing items, partial picks, kit picks).
• Conveyor interface: If robots hand off to conveyors or sorters, define the handoff protocol: are packages placed at specific positions? Is there a ready signal? What happens when the conveyor is backed up?
• Existing automation handoff: Map all points where the robot must interact with existing automation (label printers, scales, wrapping machines). Each interface requires testing under fault conditions — what happens if the scale is busy or the printer is out of paper?

Phase 3 — Safety Setup

Safety setup must be complete and verified before any operator works near the robot. See the Robot Safety Risk Assessment Guide for the full assessment process.

• Risk assessment complete and signed: Written risk assessment covering all operational tasks, with residual risk documented and accepted.
• Safety zones marked: Floor marking with high-visibility tape for the robot's maximum reach zone, the collaborative speed boundary, and pedestrian walkways. Permanent floor markings (epoxy paint) are required for production environments.
• Light curtains installed and tested: Safety light curtains at all human entry points to the robot's operational zone. Test each curtain by interrupting the beam and verifying robot stop in <100 ms.
• Operator training certified: All operators who will work near the robot must complete and pass the safety training program before Phase 4 begins.
• Emergency procedures posted: Laminated emergency stop and fault recovery procedures posted at every operator workstation in the robot area.

Phase 4 — Pilot

The pilot is your proof-of-concept. Scope it conservatively — proving value on a small scope is far better than a chaotic full-scale pilot:

• Scope: Start with 10% of SKUs — specifically the highest-volume, most-uniform items. Complex items (irregularly shaped, fragile, multiple orientations) are added in later phases.
• Schedule: Run 1 shift only during the pilot. This allows your team to monitor closely and respond to issues before they compound.
• 30-day target metrics: The pilot is successful if you achieve: >95% pick accuracy (measured by QA sampling), >90% uptime (percentage of scheduled shift time the robot is operational), and <2 min MTTR for the most common error types (barcode misread, gripper drop, jam).
• Daily review meeting: 15-minute daily standup to review the previous shift: top failure modes, any safety incidents, integration issues, and operator feedback. Capture action items with owners and due dates.

Phase 5 — Expansion

• Phased SKU rollout: Add SKUs to the robot's task list in batches of 10–20%, validating pick accuracy for each batch before proceeding. Each new SKU may require policy updates, gripper changes, or camera calibration adjustments.
• Operator ratio target: Aim for 1 human operator per 10 robots for supervision and exception handling. Below this ratio (more operators per robot) indicates the robot is too unreliable for the current task mix.
• 90-day review: Conduct a formal 90-day review with stakeholders covering: actual vs. projected ROI, failure mode analysis, operator feedback, and the Phase 6 expansion plan.

Go-Live Criteria Checklist

Common Failure Modes in the First 90 Days

ROI Tracking Template