Drones are increasingly popular for a variety of outdoor purposes across industries — including last-mile delivery, inspections of high-power utility lines, and even monitoring of endangered wildlife. But as the Institute of Supply Chain Management (IoSCM) notes, some companies are now deploying drones within warehouses to address various inventory management challenges, including:
- Intensive labor requirements
- Inefficient manual processes
- Inventory errors
- Data inaccuracies
- Stock accessibility challenges
Here, we’ll look at the pros and cons of using drones for inventory management, an example of their deployment, and two drone leaders in this sector making recent headlines.
Pros and cons of warehouse drones
IoSCM says warehouse drones can provide various benefits — especially when they’re effectively integrated with a warehouse management system (WMS). The pros of using warehouse drones include:
- Precise inventory tracking of inventory: By scanning barcodes and RFID tags
- Operational time savings: Drones can cover a lot more territory in shorter periods of time than humans
- Reduced labor costs: Fewer workers are needed to conduct inventory checks
- Increased safety: Drones can easily reach high shelves and other areas that may be dangerous for humans
- Streamlined audits: Drones can quickly scan and verify stock more accurately
- Automated inventory processes: Drones can be configured to conduct inventory sweeps on a regular basis
- Space optimization: Drones can spot space inefficiencies so managers can make layout adjustments
- Data-driven decision making: When drones and WMS analytics tools are integrated, powerful insights are enabled
However, IoSCM says there are also challenges involved with using warehouse drones that should be considered:
- Location-specific regulations — which may be especially stringent in commercial settings
- Up-front costs — which can be significant
- Workforce training — which needs to include both drone operations and the ability to interpret the data collected
- Maneuvering challenges in the warehouse environment — in terms of space constraints and the need for continuous connectivity
- Maintenance costs — which are ongoing for system optimization
- Cybersecurity requirements — since sensitive business data is being collected, privacy and security must be maintained
UPS deploys warehouse drones
One company recently touting the use of drones for warehouse management is logistics giant UPS.
In a December 3 article for Supply Chain Dive, Senior Reporter Max Garland describes a new collaboration between UPS Supply Chain Solutions and inventory drone leader Verity.
According to Verity’s website, the partnership was inked July 2024 and aims to provide “autonomous inventory tracking” to the Shepherdsville, Kentucky-based UPS Velocity facility.
“This integration underscores UPS’s commitment to building a stronger tech stack focused on precision, speed, and customer experience,” Verity said. “As the first of many potential sites, the UPS Velocity facility sets the standard for how robotics and AI can streamline UPS’s operations on a global scale.”
The Shepherdsville facility is described as the “newest and one of the most advanced sites in UPS’s network, designed to support multi-channel distribution for e-commerce, wholesale, and retail.” Within the 266,000 sq. ft. storage area, over 930,000 annual inventory movements are managed to serve multiple clients across 100,000 locations.
“The facility’s very narrow aisle configuration optimizes space but poses challenges for traditional inventory processes that use heavy equipment like forklifts,” the company said, noting that Verity’s “lightweight yet powerful, self-flying drones easily navigate these tight spaces and heights, performing daily inventory checks, floor-level to top-rack scans, and comprehensive full-facility audits twice per month.”
And they can even work in the dark, capturing high-resolution images ‘round the clock to track down stock issues and create a fresh data set that can be evaluated and acted upon the following day.
The deployment of Verity’s warehouse drones have produced significant results, including:
- “Daily smart checks combined with two monthly full scans ensure comprehensive inventory visibility with minimal operational downtime”
- “8,000 labor hours saved annually, reducing total inventory-related labor hours by 50%”
- “Improved worker safety with automated scans that eliminate high-reach tasks”
- “Lowered energy and equipment usage, achieving a projected 1,540-ton CO₂ emission reduction”
- “90% reduction in cycle count, moved and empty location scan hours”
“Innovation is in our DNA,” said Thomas Sterman, Industrial Engineering Director, UPS. “We’re constantly seeking ways to improve the customer experience, and Verity’s technology aligns perfectly with our customer-centric approach.”
“From a customer expectation standpoint, nearly all of our customers have quarterly cycle count requirements in our contracts,” added Mary Ann Crawford, Industrial Engineering Manager, UPS. “The Verity solution will obviously help us proactively meet these requirements and, in most cases, even exceed them, keeping us ahead of the curve.”
Drone providers recently in the news
Although there are plenty of drone providers offering their technologies for various applications, not all are focused on inventory management. Two that are and were in the news recently include Verity — which UPS is partnering with — and Corvus Robotics.
Corvus Robotics
In an October 8 press release, Corvus Robotics announced the release of an updated version of its Corvus One system “that brings, for the first time, the ability to fly its drone-powered system in a lights-out distribution center without any added infrastructure like reflectors, stickers, or beacons.”
The newest generation product is supported by an $18 million Series A round and seed funding led by S2G Ventures and Spero Ventures.
“Corvus Robotics fits our mission to invest in companies that truly transform the way business is conducted,” said Marc Tarpenning, co-founder of Tesla and partner at Spero Ventures. “Other than a landing pad, its drone-powered system requires no infrastructure, is quick and easy to deploy, and cost-effective to manage. It literally merges with the existing warehouse environment.”
“At S2G, we seek out disruptive innovations that address evolving industry needs, and we believe Corvus exemplifies this perfectly,” said Arthur Chow, principal at S2G. “Its technology offers a tangible path to operational excellence by delivering accuracy and productivity gains, all while being easy to implement. We are proud to support a company that’s revolutionizing a core operational aspect for industries across the board.”
The company says the new version operates autonomously using computer vision and generative AI to understand its environment — and that it can navigate both wide aisles and those as narrow as 50 inches across.
“With obstacle detection at its core, the light-weight drone safely flies at walking speed without disrupting workflow or blocking aisles and can preventatively ascend to avoid collisions with people, forklifts, or robots, if necessary,” the announcement says. “Its advanced barcode scanning can read any barcode symbology in any orientation placed anywhere on the front of cartons or pallets.”
“Being able to run inventory checks 24/7 without operator assistance has been a game changer,” said Austin Feagins, senior director of solutions, Staci Americas. “The lights-out capability in the Corvus One system allows our inventory teams to correct discrepancies off-shift and pre-shift before production starts each day; limiting fulfillment delays and production impacts.”
Verity
In addition to its recent news about partnering with UPS, Verity announced on December 9 that it had been named the recipient of the 2024 Top Software & Tech Award in the category of Warehouse Automation from Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive magazines.
The company describes the award as spotlighting “new-to-market software and technology solutions designed to provide automation, efficiency and visibility to the supply chain space.” It says being a recipient highlights the “transformative role” its AI-powered mobile intelligence system plays in “optimizing warehouse operations for food and beverage distributors—a sector where precision, speed, and sustainability are critical to success.”
Underscoring the unique challenges food and beverage distributors face — including “rapid inventory turnover, temperature-controlled environments, and strict compliance requirements” — the company says its offering delivers “unprecedented efficiency by autonomously scanning inventory locations and identifying discrepancies.”
“The system independently scans and validates inventory in active warehouse aisles without disrupting operations, maintaining a continuous digital twin of the facility,” Verity says. “This real-time visibility is proven to reduce lost goods by up to 40% and help users meet sustainability goals by preventing waste and improving operational energy efficiency.”
Just prior to that, the company announced more big news: on December 5, Verity CEO Raffaello D’Andrea was inducted into the Logistics Hall of Fame.
In addition to being the CEO, D’Andrea is also Verity’s founder, as well as co-founder of Kiva Systems (now Amazon Robotics).
“Being inducted into the Logistics Hall of Fame is a profound honor,” said D’Andrea. “It represents both my personal journey as well as the incredible work of the teams I’ve been privileged to lead. The future of logistics is about more than technology—it’s about creating solutions that are accessible, reliable, and capable of transforming the way industries operate.”
