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Goods Receiving

Goods receiving is one of the J1600's core applications and a clear illustration of its dual-mode division of work: the dock is human territory, the travel afterward is not. An operator unloads the truck manually, then sends each pallet autonomously to inbound inspection or storage.

The receiving workflow​

  1. The operator unloads a pallet from the truck in manual mode — the J1600 handles like a conventional walk-behind electric pallet jack.
  2. On the touchscreen, the operator selects the saved destination (inspection area, storage zone, or staging point) and a post-delivery behavior.
  3. The operator confirms autonomous mode with the physical start button and steps away.
  4. The J1600 drives to the destination, avoids obstacles on the way, drops the pallet at floor level, and — in the common "boomerang" pattern — returns to the dock for the next pallet.

While the robot travels, the operator keeps unloading. The repetitive walk between dock and storage disappears from the operator's day.

Why the dock stays manual​

Receiving concentrates the situations where human judgment beats automation:

  • Dock plates and trailer interiors. Autonomous mode has 0% gradeability and requires level floors; bumps, slopes, and misaligned dock plates are handled manually (manual gradeability is 5% unloaded, 3% at full load, with a maximum traversable bump of 25 mm and gap of 20 mm).
  • Damaged pallets and goods. A broken bottom board, protruding nail, leak, or crushed corner is spotted by the operator before it becomes a jam or a customer problem.
  • Unstable and wrapped loads. Top-heavy stacks and loose stretch-wrap tails get judged and fixed at pickup.
  • Crowded receiving floors. The operator improvises a safe route through congestion that would stall a fully automated vehicle.

This split is the practical case for human-in-the-loop automation.

Setting up a receiving flow​

Destinations are created by driving to the point once and tapping Save location — inspection lanes, storage aisles, and temporary overflow areas can each be a named location, with no software limit on how many. Locations recombine freely, so receiving can feed multiple zones without teaching each dock-to-zone pair separately.

Load compatibility at the dock​

Inbound freight arrives on varied carriers. The J1600 accepts EPAL Euro Pallets, EPAL 3, EPAL 6, open-base GMA pallets, and any forkable open-base carrier within 1,250 × 1,250 mm and 1,600 kg. Carriers need an open base with no bottom deck board. Details in technical specifications.

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