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warehouse insider

warehouse insider


What ProMat 2025 Cycle Counting Demos Did NOT Want You to Notice

Inventory managers today are faced with a wide array of options for automated cycle counting—some might say, too many. Many of these solutions were showcased at ProMat in Chicago. Vimaan demonstrated our StorTRACK system, highlighting its ability to scan a variety of stored inventory items. In another hall, the company boasting the world’s tallest robot put on its own display, as did several of the leading warehouse drone vendors, drawing crowds behind safety netting to watch their airborne scanners in action.  

Cycle counting at Promat

Each exhibitor re-created warehouse-like environments to showcase their technology in action—but did you notice the key difference among these staged cycle counting demonstrations?  A few booths drew attention—not for what they showed, but for what they left out.  Here are examples of how 4 of these companies configured their simulated warehouse racks to demonstrate their cycle counting expertise: 

Gather, Verity drones and Dexory cycle counting robot

When exhibiting at a show like Promat, the goal is to demonstrate and emphasize the solution’s greatest strengths.  In this case each company had configured racks in a way to highlight each of their system’s capabilities.  For example all 4 of these booths demonstrated how their systems can scan inventory in high bays. If you look closely at these photos, you might be able identify the limitations in 3 of these specific solutions.   

Company “A” showcased its towering AMR in a booth featuring a basic warehouse setup—a few boxes with oversized standalone labels. Some boxes were placed on shelves, but the labels were spaced generously apart to make scanning easier. Meanwhile, companies’ “B” and “D,” both drone-based cycle counting providers, displayed setups also with significant spacing between boxes and labels, just like the AMR demo. 

Company “C” (if you haven’t guessed by now) was Vimaan. Our mock warehouse setup featured more than 60 items with corresponding labels—demonstrating StorTRACK’s ability to handle dense, realistic inventory environments. Whether scanning one item or fifty, StorTRACK performs with the same speed and precision. 

To highlight the contrast in capabilities, we’ve replaced the original photos below with stars that represent the position and density of labels within this section of the warehouse display. These indicators underscores the significant differences in scanning performance across solutions. 

How Gather, Verity and Dexory robots performed cycle counting at Promat

Clearly 3 out of the 4 booths did not have enough confidence they could read labels in dense environments. The inventory configurations at each booth were designed to highlight the strengths of their respective cycle counting technologies—but they also revealed critical weaknesses, for example: 

Corvus Robots and Verity drones have very small field of views.
Gather drones cannot fly for more than 20 minutes at best

Dexory robot costs over $200,000 a year

Drone-Based Systems @ Promat

Warehouse drones perform well when scanning: 
• Large labels placed on individual pallets 
• Labels that are widely spaced apart from one another, more specifically they function best when scanning individual pallet labels. 

While these strengths are notable, they also underscore some of the core technological challenges drones face: 

  1. Limited Field of View (FOV): Most drones rely on a single onboard camera with a narrow field of view. This restricts how much label data can be captured in a single scan, making widely spaced labels essential for effective scanning—though at the cost of real-world practicality. 
  2. Short Battery Life: Drone operations are typically constrained by battery life, often limited to just 10–20 minutes per flight. Scanning dense clusters of labels or navigating tight storage configurations would drain the battery more quickly, reducing mission coverage and requiring more frequent recharging or redeployment. 

    Learn more about drones here: Warehouse Drones FAQ



Cycle Counting Robot @ Promat

While the cycle counting AMR does offer a wider field of view, capturing a bay across its entire height would require an inordinate number of cameras, which explodes the cost of the solution.  Consequently, its capability is limited, covering a large area with fewer cameras, thus scanning only a small number of items with oversized barcodes and minimal data. This suggests hesitation in showcasing the system’s performance in more realistic, high-density scenarios. 

Vimaan StorTRACK Demo @ Promat

StorTRACK provides warehouse utilization best practices

So how does Vimaan successfully scan significantly more labels, even when they’re smaller and positioned just centimeters apart? The answer lies in our advanced design and technology: 

  1. 4X Field of View: Unlike single-camera systems, StorTRACK is equipped with four high-resolution cameras, enabling it scan high density items including dozens of labels simultaneously. It can scan 50 labels just as fast as it can scan one—all while delivering high-quality images that are archived and available for weeks or months to support easy reconciliation. 
  2. Optimized Illumination: Multiple integrated LED lights ensure even, consistent lighting across every scan, improving accuracy and image clarity regardless of label placement or ambient conditions. 
  3. 24X Longer Battery Life: StorTRACK is built for endurance. With an 8-hour battery life, it runs continuously throughout an entire shift—unlike drones that require recharging every 10 to 20 minutes. 


Events like ProMat and MODEX give customers the opportunity to compare solutions side by side. And when performance is placed on display, the differences become clear. 

To the keen eye, the limitations of other solutions were hard to ignore. Despite their impressive form factors and showmanship, the lack of dense case scanning in their booth demonstrations spoke volumes. Whether it was drones avoiding closely packed items or AMRs scanning only a handful of oversized labels, it was clear these systems are not built for the complexity of real-world case-level inventory tracking.  

In contrast, Vimaan’s StorTRACK proved its ability to accurately and efficiently scan tightly packed cases with smaller labels—just as it does every day in live warehouse environments. The gap in capability wasn’t just noticeable—it was undeniable. 

Contact our Cycle Count Experts Today 

Related Promat Cycle Counting Resources

Drowsy Drone Dilemma at ModexGather AI Drones vs Vimaan StorTRACKDrones vs. StorTRACK
Top 10 Things to Know About Warehouse DronesWhy Warehouse Drones are a Bad Idea – Recorded WebinarWarehouse Drones Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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