The robots are coming! Wrong. They are already here. And they are getting smarter and more flexible and agile and innovative every day. Some might say it is a bad thing, as they will replace humans, but I think human workers will not be replaced. The role of the human worker in warehousing processes will change though.
There are 270,000 new robots working in warehouses around the world this year.
Robots are also one of the warehousing innovations that came up in the podcast I did with Manhattan Associates’ Pieter van den Broecke.
The Warhouse Worker of the Future
How this role will change is a nice topic for a future post. For now I would just like to bring you some of the coolest and most mesmerizing video’s of robots in warehouse environments. In no particular order.
Kiva Robots at Amazon
One of the first robots I saw used on a big scale in a warehousing environment, and an absolute classic: the Kiva robots at Amazon.
And over time Amazon has added different types of robots, as seen in the video below.
Robots at Alibaba
The other global e-commerce giant, Alibaba, has a similar robot setup.
The Kiva and Quicktron robots are operating in the picking process. The robots in the video below are sorting robots, also operating in Alibaba warehouses. Their role is to make sure that packages end up at the right outbound dock.
Scalable Automated Storage and Retrieval Robots
Like a Rubiks cube with robots running around in and on it. Love it.
Robots Packing Groceries
And more robots packing groceries
The Fully Automated JD.com Warehouse
Fully automated. Just look at this. Love it.
Boston Dynamics
Boston Dynamics is working on robots that can do piece picking in a warehouse environment.
And imagine this robotics warehouse worker jumping around your warehouse…
Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash
