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One of my previous jobs we automated a warehouse using a crane and mini-RVs that drove around a picked up pallets. The whole warehouse only* required a couple o
by Practicality 11y ago
One of my previous jobs we automated a warehouse using a crane and mini-RVs that drove around a picked up pallets. The whole warehouse only* required a couple of fork truck drivers to load the trucks and that was only because of legal restrictions on loading trucks with an automated conveyor.
* It also required 2-3 just out of high-school "technicians" making about $15/hour who oversaw the whole operation as well as a "maintenance" crew of about 3 people (to repair machines). I think there were a couple of managers thrown in as well. Still, much cheaper than the 100 employees we replaced and I am pretty sure those employees were happier doing something else.
- karambahh 11y agoI can see how you did if the picked products were of similar weight/size and stored in cardboard packaging, but did it also work for "flexible" items such as clothing or for instance a blanket packed into plastic? AFAIK picking is very hard to automate because it's very hard to match the dexterity and eye-hands coordination of a human being. [edit: grammar]
- Practicality 11y agoThey had to be standardized, so this only worked for particular products. You can start with a sorting system that supplies different weights and textures to different systems.