Zebra Technologies is building detachable-cart AMRs into 3PL picking

Zebra Technologies announced on January 30, 2025 that CTL and Encore Fulfillment were using its Symmetry Fulfillment system, which combines autonomous mobile robots, wearable devices, software, and analytics for warehouse picking. Zebra said the expanded system can increase productivity with 30% fewer robots, a claim tied to its detachable-cart workflow.

Zebra’s detachable-cart design lets a robot leave a cart with a picker and move to another task while the picker fills it.

Zebra's robotics position comes from its 2021 acquisition of Fetch Robotics for about $290 million. Fetch brought AMRs and fleet software into a company already known for barcode scanning, mobile computers, printers, RFID, and warehouse data capture. Zebra says it serves customers through more than 10,000 partners across over 100 countries, which gives Symmetry a distribution surface beyond the old Fetch customer base.

Zebra’s Team Intelligence system coordinates robots, workers, scanners and software, including cart staging, picker guidance, task allocation and exception handling.

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