[ A New Vision for Fashion Logistics ]
YOUNIC – Your Collaborative Human-Robot Interaction for Innovative Fashion Logistics is a project developed by J&W as part of the Open Call for the European SOPRANO project. The initiative was launched with the goal of innovating logistics in the fashion industry through more effective collaboration between people, robots, and digital systems.
YOUNIC proposes a human-centric logistics model in which operators, cobots, autonomous mobile robots, and software platforms share information and tasks to make processes more fluid, safer, and adaptable to operational needs.
[ People and Robots Working Together ]
The project addresses typical activities in fashion logistics, such as restocking, picking, material handling, and preparing boxes for shipment. Cobots and AMRs are designed to support the most repetitive or physically demanding tasks, while operators maintain a central role in supervision, quality control, exception handling, and higher-value-added decisions.
The goal is to reduce walking distances, manual handling, work at heights, and tasks posing ergonomic risks, while simultaneously promoting greater continuity in the logistics flow and better organization of workstations.
[ Intelligent Interaction ]
YOUNIC integrates industrial automation technologies, collaborative robotics, and advanced interaction systems to make cooperation between operators and machines more natural, intuitive, and safe. The project involves the coordinated use of cobots, AMRs, transport systems, web applications, and wearable devices connected to the plant.
Through J&W’s Willie ecosystem, operators can receive contextual notifications, intervention requests, and useful information on the status of activities. The virtual assistant Willie MATE is designed to provide support in decision-making and access to operational information.
[ Safety and Digital Twin ]
One of YOUNIC’s key objectives is to make areas shared by people and automation safer. The SOPRANO SC04 Human Monitoring component is designed to monitor posture and movement, helping to identify potentially critical situations and improve awareness in human-machine interaction.
The SOPRANO SC09 Human Digital Twin component, on the other hand, supports the digital design and analysis of the logistics cell. Layouts, interaction spaces, operational sequences, and the distribution of tasks among people, cobots, and mobile robots can thus be analyzed in a virtual environment.
[ Human-Centered Logistics ]
YOUNIC aims for more efficient and sustainable logistics, not only in terms of operational performance but also in terms of people’s well-being. Reducing the physical strain and stress associated with repetitive tasks allows operators to devote more attention to quality control, shipment management, and activities that require experience and human judgment.
J&W’s vision, supported by its participation in SOPRANO’s Open Call, is one of logistics where technology and people collaborate in a coordinated manner: automation provides precision, continuity, and physical support, while people contribute flexibility, process knowledge, and decision-making skills.
The YOUNIC project received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe program through the SOPRANO Open Call, which was launched and administered as part of the SOPRANO project (Grant Agreement No. 101120990).
The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, the European Commission, or the partners of the SOPRANO consortium. Neither the European Union, the European Commission, nor the partners of the SOPRANO consortium can be held responsible for them.
