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Amazon's Vulcan Robots Now Stow Items Faster Than Humans

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21–30 of 298 posts

Re: Amazon's Vulcan Robots Now Stow Items Faster Than Humans

#21
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's still far slower than a human being, and those bins are far too neat.

The challenge is not only stowing objects. It is also optimizing space and keeping it clean. In that matter robots are faster and better.

Optimizing space and trying to keep things neat is a futile effort. Pickers and counters are constantly pulling things out of the bins and putting them back in, and during high demand it's a chaotic mess. If there are going to be robots being this meticulous at every step of the process, then it's too slow.

There's a reason human beings are worked to the point of exhaustion in these warehouses - the goal is to move as much product as fast as possible. Quality and productivity are at cross purposes, and between the two only the latter makes money.

Re: Amazon's Vulcan Robots Now Stow Items Faster Than Humans

#22

It's interesting how Amazon is embedding robots in human-designed warehouses whereas Ocado has humans overseeing a robotic warehouse. The later is a much easier problem.

Not sure why Ocado gets so much credit for the latter though, they just copied AutoStore which has a fascinating history!

They purchased an AutoStore, then reverse engineered it, made a few changes, and claimed it as their own invention.

Re: Amazon's Vulcan Robots Now Stow Items Faster Than Humans

#23
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The challenge is not only stowing objects. It is also optimizing space and keeping it clean. In that matter robots are faster and better.

Optimizing space and trying to keep things neat is a futile effort. Pickers and counters are constantly pulling things out of the bins and putting them back in, and during high demand it's a chaotic mess. If there are going to be robots being this meticulous at every step of the process, then it's too slow. There's a reason human beings are worked to the point of exhaustion in these warehouses - the goal is to move a…

That is why, in the end, only robots will remain. They are inexhaustible and strictly meticulous in all circumstances.

Re: Amazon's Vulcan Robots Now Stow Items Faster Than Humans

#25
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Optimizing space and trying to keep things neat is a futile effort. Pickers and counters are constantly pulling things out of the bins and putting them back in, and during high demand it's a chaotic mess. If there are going to be robots being this meticulous at every step of the process, then it's too slow. There's a reason human beings are worked to the point of exhaustion in these warehouses - the goal is to move a…

That is why, in the end, only robots will remain. They are inexhaustible and strictly meticulous in all circumstances.

Robots aren't inexhaustible. They break down a lot and are far more expensive to repair and maintain than a human being.

Re: Amazon's Vulcan Robots Now Stow Items Faster Than Humans

#26

And yet some people think AI will take over jobs. I am amazed this robot was not in place 20 years ago. Really ?

Human labor is shockingly cheap.

Actually it's pretty expensive in the long run. They want raises, are finicky about their health, have pesky habits like going home, having life partners and something silly called work/life balance. Also, they sometimes organize and become collective bodies under something called a union.

In reality, I'm a strong supporter of everything above. Maybe we can really provide people better jobs by delegating repetitive and boring things to machines and allow everyone to do something they enjoy to earn their lives.

One can dream, I guess...

Re: Amazon's Vulcan Robots Now Stow Items Faster Than Humans

#27
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is why, in the end, only robots will remain. They are inexhaustible and strictly meticulous in all circumstances.

Robots aren't inexhaustible. They break down a lot and are far more expensive to repair and maintain than a human being.

They're going to get better a lot faster than humans, though. The fact that they exist at all is remarkable.

Re: Amazon's Vulcan Robots Now Stow Items Faster Than Humans

#28
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slower than a human making one operation. Not slower than human stocking items for a whole day.

Surely the robot does not stop at the end of the day.

Until they unionize.

Re: Amazon's Vulcan Robots Now Stow Items Faster Than Humans

#29

It's interesting how Amazon is embedding robots in human-designed warehouses whereas Ocado has humans overseeing a robotic warehouse. The later is a much easier problem.

It takes hundreds of millions to build a warehouse. Amazon has tons of them. Retrofitting things is capital intensive.

Humans are cheaper than robots too...

Re: Amazon's Vulcan Robots Now Stow Items Faster Than Humans

#30

And yet some people think AI will take over jobs. I am amazed this robot was not in place 20 years ago. Really ?

Human labor is shockingly cheap.

Amazon warehouse base pay is ~$21-22/hr due to labor supply shortages.

https://www.google.com/search?q=amazon+raise+wages+warehouse

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