The Proving Grounds

Abstract

This article focuses on the emerging supply chain of hardware, software, and engineers transforming warehouses to test bed of innovation for autonomous robots. Although warehouses are controlled environments, they are filled with changing obstacles, traffic, and unexpected surprises. Warehouses used to be the hub of a relatively simple logistics operation. They received and stored pallets of identical goods from manufacturers and importers, and then sent boxes via a conveyor belt or cart to trucks destined for retail outlets. Bruce Welty and his partner have built a world-class e-commerce fulfillment facility, Quiet Logistics, by deploying robots sold by Kiva Systems. The next-generation robots have master control systems to optimize their movements, as do the Kiva robots. However, these new robots are designed to collaborate with human workers rather than banishing them from the aisles, which means the robots must move briskly across the warehouse floor while avoiding people, forklifts, pallets, and boxes. Economics make warehouses a great proving ground for autonomous robots.