4 ms·

The Ocado warehouse automation is pretty crazy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssZ_8cqfBlE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssZ_8cqfBlE

by vidarh 2y ago

throw310822 2y ago
Incredibile! Also, from the comments: "My favorite thing about this is how 2 weeks after this video went up, they had an accident where two robots collided and caused a gigantic fire that cost them like 50 million dollars."
- CamperBob2 2y ago
  Meanwhile, the warehouse down the road underwent a strike that put them out of commission for weeks, forced expensive wage concessions, and incurred NRLB fines, costing them like... 60 million dollars. One of these things can be fixed, the other will always be a risk as long as humans are involved.
  - dimator 2y ago
    Those peaky humans and their stupid quality of life needs!
  - skywhopper 2y ago
    [flagged]
  - littlestymaar 2y ago
    > One of these things can be fixe That's correct, the second one can get fixed with higher wages and benefits, like when Ford introduced the “$5 a day” (doubling market average).
    - CamperBob2 2y ago
      Yes, if you're going to pay humans to suffer the indignity of doing a robot's job, it makes sense to pay well.
      - littlestymaar 2y ago
        There's no indignity in “doing a robot's job” unless if you think working is indignity, because every job is a “robot job”.
        CamperBob2 2y ago
        Of course there is! Since you're here, you're probably a programmer or engineer, a student, or a dedicated professional in some other IT-adjacent field. How would you react if someone offered you a job in a warehouse? Once you've thought that through, apply the same reasoning to human beings in general, not just white-collar HN denizens. Few people want to work a hard blue-collar job for the same reason you and I don't want to: we have better things to do with our time.
        littlestymaar 2y ago
        [flagged]
        deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
        CamperBob2 2y ago
        I didn't flag your other reply, by the way, but I did vouch for it. Your retort about LLMs is spot-on, as was your point about how "they're all robot jobs." We just currently disagree on whether eliminating such jobs -- all of them -- is a good goal or a bad one. You defended your perspective by arguing, correctly, that people take undesirable jobs because they don't have a choice. We agree there as well, and my point is that this is a form of coercion in itself. The status quo treats humans as if they were robots. (And I really don't care if someone thinks I live in a cave. Life in my cave is actually pretty comfy. It beats the hell out of a warehouse or a cube maze at a click farm. It's a privilege, one I'd like to see more equitably distributed.)
  - nemomarx 2y ago
    if you incurred nrlb fines aren't you breaking the law?
RaSoJo 2y ago
Ocado did run into multiple fire issues due to these robots colliding with each other. In 2019 and 2021 [1] Wonder if the matter has been resolved. [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57883332 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57883332
- havblue 2y ago
  I'd suggest robots with fire extinguishers.
  - ido 2y ago
    Or non-combustible robots
    - jajuuka 2y ago
      Need to quit running all the robots on gasoline and building them out a wood.
- kevin_thibedeau 2y ago
  I'm curious how Amazon handles fire in the midst of their Kiva pods. Do they have procedures for retasking an army of robots to clear a path for humans to get access?
  - foobarian 2y ago
    If there are really no humans there they could just fill the warehouse with nitrogen or something. No fire!
    - kevin_thibedeau 2y ago
      Lithium battery fires don't feed on atmospheric oxygen. That's the most likely ignition source.
      - 2y ago
tombert 2y ago
Walmart isn't considered a super high-tech company, but I took a tour of one of their warehouses in Bentonville and even that was quite cool. There were tons of conveyor belts everywhere, it kind of felt like something you'd see in Satisfactory.
- yurishimo 2y ago
  I would argue Walmart is quite high tech! They’ve been approaching their business goals from lots of different angles. Tech, finance, logistics, etc are all a huge part of their business operations. It’s a shame that the problems being solved are embedded within a business that embodies throwing things away at the first sign of weakness. I’m still upset they bought what seemed on track to be a nice successor to Simple Bank. Now it’s been pivoted again for the third time since acquisition.
  - tombert 2y ago
    Oh it wasn't trying to diss Walmart in this case. I used to work there (Jet.com -> Walmart Labs -> Walmart Global Tech), and I generally liked it. Some of the smartest humans I have ever known came from Jet and Walmart Labs.
- burningChrome 2y ago
  Back in the early aughts when I was still in college, My roommate was an IE and worked as an efficiency engineer intern during his Summers. I vividly remember him talking about the company he was working for had a huge project to improve UPS's efficiencies. Their big improvements was to add dozens and dozens of conveyor belts in order to move the packages faster. He concluded his experience by saying, "Yeah man, its crazy, this is what the future is going to look like. This is how they're going to automate everything." Interesting to know companies are still using them as a means to automate their work.

The Ocado warehouse automation is pretty crazy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssZ_8cqfBlE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssZ_8cqfBlE

by vidarh 2y ago

The Ocado warehouse automation is pretty crazy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssZ_8cqfBlE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssZ_8cqfBlE

throw310822 2y ago

Incredibile! Also, from the comments: "My favorite thing about this is how 2 weeks after this video went up, they had an accident where two robots collided and caused a gigantic fire that cost them like 50 million dollars."

CamperBob2 2y ago
Meanwhile, the warehouse down the road underwent a strike that put them out of commission for weeks, forced expensive wage concessions, and incurred NRLB fines, costing them like... 60 million dollars. One of these things can be fixed, the other will always be a risk as long as humans are involved.
- dimator 2y ago
  Those peaky humans and their stupid quality of life needs!
- skywhopper 2y ago
  [flagged]
- littlestymaar 2y ago
  > One of these things can be fixe That's correct, the second one can get fixed with higher wages and benefits, like when Ford introduced the “$5 a day” (doubling market average).
  - CamperBob2 2y ago
    Yes, if you're going to pay humans to suffer the indignity of doing a robot's job, it makes sense to pay well.
    - littlestymaar 2y ago
      There's no indignity in “doing a robot's job” unless if you think working is indignity, because every job is a “robot job”.
      - CamperBob2 2y ago
        Of course there is! Since you're here, you're probably a programmer or engineer, a student, or a dedicated professional in some other IT-adjacent field. How would you react if someone offered you a job in a warehouse? Once you've thought that through, apply the same reasoning to human beings in general, not just white-collar HN denizens. Few people want to work a hard blue-collar job for the same reason you and I don't want to: we have better things to do with our time.
        littlestymaar 2y ago
        [flagged]
        deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
      - CamperBob2 2y ago
        I didn't flag your other reply, by the way, but I did vouch for it. Your retort about LLMs is spot-on, as was your point about how "they're all robot jobs." We just currently disagree on whether eliminating such jobs -- all of them -- is a good goal or a bad one. You defended your perspective by arguing, correctly, that people take undesirable jobs because they don't have a choice. We agree there as well, and my point is that this is a form of coercion in itself. The status quo treats humans as if they were robots. (And I really don't care if someone thinks I live in a cave. Life in my cave is actually pretty comfy. It beats the hell out of a warehouse or a cube maze at a click farm. It's a privilege, one I'd like to see more equitably distributed.)
- nemomarx 2y ago
  if you incurred nrlb fines aren't you breaking the law?

RaSoJo 2y ago

Ocado did run into multiple fire issues due to these robots colliding with each other. In 2019 and 2021 [1] Wonder if the matter has been resolved. [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57883332 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57883332

havblue 2y ago
I'd suggest robots with fire extinguishers.
- ido 2y ago
  Or non-combustible robots
  - jajuuka 2y ago
    Need to quit running all the robots on gasoline and building them out a wood.
kevin_thibedeau 2y ago
I'm curious how Amazon handles fire in the midst of their Kiva pods. Do they have procedures for retasking an army of robots to clear a path for humans to get access?
- foobarian 2y ago
  If there are really no humans there they could just fill the warehouse with nitrogen or something. No fire!
  - kevin_thibedeau 2y ago
    Lithium battery fires don't feed on atmospheric oxygen. That's the most likely ignition source.
    - 2y ago

tombert 2y ago

Walmart isn't considered a super high-tech company, but I took a tour of one of their warehouses in Bentonville and even that was quite cool. There were tons of conveyor belts everywhere, it kind of felt like something you'd see in Satisfactory.

yurishimo 2y ago
I would argue Walmart is quite high tech! They’ve been approaching their business goals from lots of different angles. Tech, finance, logistics, etc are all a huge part of their business operations. It’s a shame that the problems being solved are embedded within a business that embodies throwing things away at the first sign of weakness. I’m still upset they bought what seemed on track to be a nice successor to Simple Bank. Now it’s been pivoted again for the third time since acquisition.
- tombert 2y ago
  Oh it wasn't trying to diss Walmart in this case. I used to work there (Jet.com -> Walmart Labs -> Walmart Global Tech), and I generally liked it. Some of the smartest humans I have ever known came from Jet and Walmart Labs.
burningChrome 2y ago
Back in the early aughts when I was still in college, My roommate was an IE and worked as an efficiency engineer intern during his Summers. I vividly remember him talking about the company he was working for had a huge project to improve UPS's efficiencies. Their big improvements was to add dozens and dozens of conveyor belts in order to move the packages faster. He concluded his experience by saying, "Yeah man, its crazy, this is what the future is going to look like. This is how they're going to automate everything." Interesting to know companies are still using them as a means to automate their work.