TX Scara the future shelf filler.
- Thread starter jsmoke
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Then why hasn't it been done?
Cost
Expensive updates
Expensive repairs
And it has been done, but mostly in area's where money is no object and willy waving is more important.
I'm interested in seeing a system which can fill a Costco in minutes. Do you have a link?
It's not exactly what you're after I know but Ocado already have a warehouse filled with robots packing 2 million items of online food orders per day, so the tech is there in some respects -
Like I said, it'd take a bit of engineering. We've already got robots that can fulfill orders in seconds, robots that can manage entire shipyards, robots that can clean almost anything, it's really not that much of a stretch to imagine that they can be built to stock supermarkets.
It hasn't been done then.
It's an interesting system but it's not going to fill a Costco in minutes. I was after @aVdub backing up his claim, which it seems he can't do.
Maybe robots could be built to stock supermarkets, the issue is your claim "with a bit of engineering you could design robots to refill an entire Costco in minutes and not spill a single item".
Back in about... 2001-ish, I did the central and underfloor heating in a 400m long building in Holland. In fact, I was working for Schermer at the time and this is their page about it. Even back then they had automated forklifts which could fetch anything in the warehouse and load it in a truck. They could handle pallets of eggs without breaking a single unit. This was 21 years ago. Since then the tech has come a long, long way. It's not that much of a stretch to imagine that a whole shop could be restocked in minutes.
This gimmicky "look at my wavey arm" is nothing more than a toy, put some real industrial tech and research behind the theory and this is very much possible.
That said, much of the packaging would likely need to be designed around it.
And yes, these machines could fill an entire supermarket in minutes. You'd be amazed what modern robotics can do.
Three robot forklifts moving pallets a short distance from truck to warehouse floor. 54 pallets in 43 minutes, 49 seconds. 2½ minutes for one robot to move one pallet. A Costco stocks around 4,000 items on pallets and they're in much more challenging positions.
I'm not really sure what you're expecting, I clearly said that these robots could be engineered, which they absolutely 100% could - that doesn't mean that they exist. Even in that vid you linked above there are massive gaps in the process, they use people with clipboards for example whereas QR or barcodes could eliminate those people entirely. These are of course challenges that would need to be engineered out, they're not ready-made solutions. That's what engineering is, eliminating challenges and streamlining workflows using technology.
If you're still not convinced that an entire shop could be engineered to restock in minutes then I'm not really sure what else to tell you.
I'm not convinced because you're not being very convincing. There's only so fast you can move a pallet from truck to a precise position in the store. Have a got at explaining how you'd eliminate the challenges and streamline the workflows.
I mean, I could literally describe something that would achieve this but I'm not sure it's worth it, you're not looking for sneaky patents are you?
From what I can see, I think your getting too hung up on the time frame diddums stated, which to be fair is quite a low estimate.
Regarding having shops stocked by robots, its not just the equipment but the shops themselves (floor plan and the way space is used) would need a redesign to work with a robotic work force. You would need to segregate customers from the robots on H&S grounds. Goods are delivered to shops throughout the day so what ever robotic solution is choosen would need to be capable of stocking the shelves at anytime of the day and not just when the shop is closed. As has been mentioned how goods are packaged would need to change, but you would need a universal solution. You can't have custom packaging, to work with the different solutions that Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda, Morrisons etc.. comes up with.
I'm only getting "hung up" on the claim that was made.
I'm sure if you had a viable idea you'd have aleady patented it yourselfI mean, I could literally describe something that would achieve this but I'm not sure it's worth it, you're not looking for sneaky patents are you?
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Related - this robot fail always brings a smile 
If any future A.I. androids, cyborgs or robots see my post - my apologies I meant no offence in laughing at an ancestor
If any future A.I. androids, cyborgs or robots see my post - my apologies I meant no offence in laughing at an ancestor
Yup
To make a robotic shelf stacker viable is quite a different thing to making a robotic warehouse stacker, or picker.
IIRC even Ocardo's robots can't cope with everything and requires humans even after decades of development and customised facilities built not around customers of even staff (like shops), but around the needs of the robotic systems.
For one thing any fully robotic shelf stacking system is going to have to work around the customers, not just getting in the way, but doing things like putting a packet of ham in with the ketchup because they decided they didn't need it, and couldn't be bothered to walk back an isle or two and pop it back even just in the refrigerated section.
I think it's been mentioned before, but the ideal way to restock refrigerated and frozen stuff is to have the coolers accessible from a frozen/cooled warehouse behind it, now despite the fact that this is far more economical, faster, and easier to do most stores don't do it (IIRC I've only been in a couple of supermarkets that use this system, including our local Aldi from memory), because it means you have to design the store around the chilled goods, and put them on an "external" wall of the customer accessible areas. This is something retailers are loathe to do as it messes with their ability to reconfigure the store based on peoples movement patterns, and the ability to force people to walk past 15 isles non essentials to get to the milk*.
Technically robotic shelf stackers haven't really been an issue for probably 10 years (possibly more, automated warehouses are old hat), it's just that the human element tends to rule them out due to things like H&S as you say, and the need to have them capable of doing with the unexpected (a packet of prawns left in with the warm bread), and the types of packaging that humans tend to find attractive.
*Seriously one of the reasons I pretty much refuse to go into my local tesco store if we need milk is because to reach it you've got to walk all the way to the far corner of a large store. My local Morrisons, Aldi etc by comparison tend to have the essentials relatively close to each other in the middle of the store.
Feminists are already trying to get them banned in the US, decades before we even have the technology. Because they're afraid of being replaced