Are Robots Going to Replace People in the Warehouse?

Robots obviously are becoming quite popular if you read anything on the internet or any news about robotic technology.

But in warehouse automation, the five areas that I would see most popular, most common, that you're hearing the most about, about applications of robotic technology is one, speed; two, accuracy.

When you combine the two, as you're seeing especially on E-commerce, a tremendous growth in the number of orders, in the amount of volume that is being pushed out by DC centers.

This focus on including robotics, I think two main areas are the speed of the ability to pick an order and fill an order, and then two, the accuracy level.

You also have a reliability factor. Robots are always there, every day. They don't call in sick. They can work 24 hours a day, and that lends itself obviously to a fear factor.

Are robots going to replace people in the workforce?

There is an issue of availability of labor, so robots are becoming very popular because they fill a void that exists right now in the warehouse environment.

Especially when the Christmas season rolls around and warehouses are looking to increase their employee base by as much as five or tenfold sometimes, they can't find that workforce.

You're seeing robotic technology that can work in conjunction with laborers. They call them cobots.

You've got robot technology that can supplement a travel application.

They're replacing or at least providing a more efficient picking process so that the robots can take over the travel.

They can travel to and from the picking and the shipping consolidation area.

The fifth one would be the cost really. Robots are becoming a very good economical alternative or supplement to consider improving the warehouse automation.

Better Together: Humans and Robots in the Warehouse

It’s not hard to find headlines touting a “robots taking over the workplace” narrative, like this recent article in the Wall Street Journal, “Robots Are Replacing Workers Where You Shop,” or this one from CNN Money: “Robots Could Wipe Out Another 6 Million Retail Jobs.” Before declaring a protest on all robots, however, it’s important to hear another perspective that doesn’t get as much press.

An article that appeared earlier this year in the Houston Chronicle read, “In Houston, Amazon’s Robots Mean More Work for Humans, Not Less.” The article went on to state that Amazon expects to hire 2,500 full-time employees to staff its massive warehouse – more than double the number of jobs it announced the prior year at the outset of the project.

Amazon isn’t the only company finding common ground for humans and robots in its warehouses. Earlier this year in Tennessee, DHL began testing robots to assist its pickers in order fulfillment. Rather than pushing a bin or cart, the robots work alongside workers, helping them pick out medical devices that need to be shipped quickly. Third-party logistics provider Quiet Logistics Inc., which fulfills online orders for retailers like Bonobos and Zara, uses the same type of mobile robots in one of its warehouses to support its employees.

Robot + Human Collaboration = Cobot

Unlike the doomsday narrative of robots taking over the workplace, savvy companies are creating synergistic scenarios where robots perform repetitive, simple job tasks and human laborers focus on tasks that require deeper thinking and strategizing. The new term for this collaboration, “cobot,” allows each type of worker to focus on the tasks they do best. For example, some robots can be used to guide workers to the items that need to be picked or routed through the warehouse to the workers who need to pack and ship them.

According to Barclay’s research, the cobot market will be worth $3.1 billion by 2020. The affordability of the technology is playing a big part in its adoption, too. Barclay’s research found that pricing for collaborative robots is steadily dropping by 3% to 5% a year. With an average price in 2015 of $28,000, the expected price of a cobot in 2025 will be around $17,500.

Another plus for cobots is that they don’t require a pricey extensive network of conveyor belts and automation systems. Collaborative robots can be especially useful for handling surges in sales that happen around the holidays when it can be difficult to find extra workers. “It’s not meant to replace human labor, but you can get greater throughput with the same size workforce,” said John Santagate, an analyst with IDC Manufacturing Insights.

The Future Of Cobots: Brain-Computer Interfaces

Aside from lower prices and higher adoption rates, there’s another interesting cobot trend worth keeping an eye on, which is the ability for human workers to control machines with nothing more than their thoughts.

The key to this remarkable technology is a wearable device that measures brain activity and translates it into a language a computer can understand. Researchers at MIT are already hard at work on developing what’s being called brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). They’re even claiming they’ve been able to achieve up to 20% robotic performance improvement by enabling robots to adapt to users’ thought commands.

While these claims feel more like something from a Sci-Fi movie, it’s nice to know that even if a robot can’t read your mind, it can still improve workplace productivity by working collaboratively with laborers rather than working against them.

Related Article: Four Ways to Future-Proof Your Warehouse

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