Warehouse Robot Fleet Sizing Calculator

1. Define period demand
Enter the number of robot tasks that must be completed within the same planning period.

2. Set the sustained task rate
Use a realistic average task rate for one robot under comparable routing and handling conditions.

3. Enter available robot hours
Use the operating hours available to each robot during the demand period.

4. Adjust for productive utilization
Account for charging, waiting, congestion, handoffs, and other time that reduces productive work.

5. Review the rounded fleet
Because partial robots cannot be deployed, the minimum fleet is rounded up to the next whole unit.

Effective capacity per robot = Tasks per robot hour × Available hours × UtilizationMinimum fleet = ceil(Tasks required / Effective capacity per robot)Spare capacity = Fleet × Effective capacity per robot − Tasks required

Where:

• Tasks required = workload that must be completed in the selected period
• Utilization = share of available robot time that produces completed tasks
• ceil = round upward to the next whole robot

Assumptions: All robots are modeled with the same average rate and availability. No explicit reserve is added for maintenance failures, peak-hour concentration, or charging-station constraints.

What the result means

The result is the smallest whole-number fleet whose modeled effective capacity meets or exceeds the entered workload.

For high service levels, test peak-period demand and consider a separate reserve or availability factor.

Given:

• 2,400 tasks per period
• 32 tasks per robot hour
• 10 available hours
• 78% utilization

Calculation:
Effective capacity per robot = 32 × 10 × 0.78 = 249.6 tasks. Fleet = ceil(2,400 / 249.6) = ceil(9.615) = 10 robots.

Result:
Minimum operating fleet = 10 robots; effective fleet capacity = 2,496 tasks, leaving 96 tasks of modeled spare capacity.

Interpretation:
The rounded fleet covers average modeled demand, but a real deployment may need reserve units for downtime or peaks.