Performance running shoes and clothing company On has partnered with Verity and logistics company Maersk to pilot radio frequency identification (RFID) technology with drones for warehouse management.  

The pilot studied the possibility of leveraging RFID technology and autonomous drones to boost inventory visibility in one of On’s warehouses. 

Throughout the testing phase at a Maersk facility in California, the companies conducted more than 1,500 drone flights, with more than 80 million RFID reads executed. 1.25 million individual tags in total were covered. 

Verity CEO and co-founder Raffaello D'Andrea stated: "By fusing AI, autonomous data collection at scale and RFID, we are bridging the gap between the digital and physical worlds to deliver complete visibility across supply chains." 

The initiative combines RFID with AI and autonomous embodied AI agents to tackle longstanding issues in inventory tracking, while establishing transparent and efficient operations for operators and retailers.  

Verity's AI-powered, vision-based system already provides valuable inventory insights across more than 100 global warehouses, enhancing inventory management practices with its agile drones offering unparalleled reliability and scalability. 

A key challenge has been the ability to track items beyond the line of sight, which is now being addressed by incorporating RFID technology.  

This integration allows Verity's system to extend its reach inside and beyond boxes, pinpointing the location and identity of individual items throughout the warehouse lifecycle.  

Verity's drones autonomously navigate through warehouse aisles, scanning RFID tags with an accuracy exceeding 99.9% and at impressive speeds of up to 1,000 tags per second.  

This facilitates continuous and efficient RFID tracking across warehouse spaces without necessitating workflow adjustments, overcoming limitations associated with traditional methods. 

Conventional RFID systems are widely used for traceability but encounter obstacles in warehouse settings. To maintain cost-effectiveness, RFID tags must be inexpensive, which limits their range and necessitates close-range reader operations.  

This has led to the adoption of stationary solutions such as gates. However, supply chain dynamics demand mobile, flexible and autonomous readers — a solution that Verity's pilot project with On and Maersk has successfully demonstrated. 

Co-founder Caspar Coppetti stated: “This exploration of cutting-edge solutions allowed us to test and evaluate new ways to enhance efficiency and transparency in our supply chain.”