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If I worked there I'd spend most of the time watching them and waiting for the crash that never arrives!
It's only a matter of time until it becomes self-aware and sends me non-organic hummus instead.
We're doomed aren't we?
Looks like my cadburys buttons order is ready
Wow, here's the human version:
Would give a new meaning to the definition of system crash if it goes wrong. Imagine making a code change followed by the sound of robots smashing into each other :p
I wish Tesco would have this instead of people running around the stores, I rarely go these days (have been getting deliveries since the first lockdown) but it's usually 75% people doing online shopping orders and I know it's a minor inconvenience dodging them but still a pain :p I wonder at what point Tesco will switch, must cost hundreds of millions to set up specialised warehouses but equally must be a fairly big overhead having people do it in-store.
They could also have different packaging for these automated warehouses - about 50% of my Ocado deliveries I have stuff with the packaging damaged (usually the flimsy cellophane on ready meals). Would just need a more substantial lid and no cardboard sleeve.
I for one welcome our new grocery-packing overlords. 🥺
this is how the Borg started
We call it "the hive mind".
Great...
I wish Tesco would have this instead of people running around the stores,
Tesco do this. Depending on where you are the people you see in the stores might doing click and collect from the store rather than home delivery
Its an interesting point to be at - one of the challenges mentioned in that first video is that packaging is designed for people rather than robots. Given that 'your first bite is with the eye' and most food is packed in a way thats designed to appeal to you from the shelf I wonder if customers are prepared to have cupboards full of uniform packaging.
I'm surprised that online grocery shopping has proved to be as popular as it is (pandemic necessities aside). The initial appeal of supermarkets when they first appeared wasn't price - it was customers being able to choose their own food off the shelf. Traditional butchers, bakers, fishmongers and greengrocers picked and handed over produce - they didn't let customers do it - because they were managing the freshness of their stock and minimising waste. Culturally we have a distrust of shopkeepers and supermarkets capitalised on that. Much of the criticism supermarkets get for food waste is really the result of customer behaviour and their desire to pick out the best bits which they can only do if that means theres stuff left on the shelf.
So I'm surprised given that history that people are prepared to allow to have their food chosen for them. Or are online shoppers only buying things in packets?
Erm, it’s not always a success.
I'd place blame firmly on the squishies in that case.
I’d place blame firmly on the squishies in that case.
Humans turned off the sprinklers! I don't think the supermarket skynet has much to worry about yet.
The comms system which connects all 2000 odd bots with the Hive Mind was designed in Cambridge (project lead by an ex-colleague)...
https://www.cambridgeconsultants.com/case-studies/wireless-breakthrough-ocado-smart-platform
Aye bet the robots pack all the nearly out of date pish !!
That's brilliant that is. I'd be sat there waiting for just one of them to say "**** it!" and wheelie itself off the grid into the unknown...
That's amazing, I had no idea. Thanks for sharing.
Tom Scott is always good value, watch more of his stuff.
I went to the Ocado fire mentioned above, it was eventful.
Basically these cassette’s make it impossible for humans to reach the centre and then extinguish the fire the little robot minions had been gleefullly running around spreading because it didn’t know it was on fire.
The sprinklers being switched off had an impact but they were not the whole reason.
We very nearly lost people that night, myself included.
They really need fire suppressing robots which can spray foam anywhere on the grid.....
Just been lost down a rabbit hole watching a few more videos about that warehouse, all the vids are the same clips and info though, I'd love to see a more in indepth vid covering a view of what the bot does over each grib point from underneath, also curious how Ocado handle chilled or frozen foods within the grid, is there just a chilled or frozen section? how do they keep the chilled and frozen products temps down, so many questions and so many rubbish videos in YT!
They really need fire suppressing robots which can spray foam anywhere on the grid…..
Like in Wall-E.
It does rather seem that the designers hadn't factored fire in very well. Each robot should have a fire detector, and if it detects fire it can zoom around the grid looking for a foaming station whilst making an R2D2 style 'EEEEEE' noise.
.
I think the robots are made and designed by a company in Berwick upon Tweed(?). Great UK engineering success story.
Each robot should have a fire detector, and if it detects fire it can zoom around the grid looking for a foaming station whilst making an R2D2 style ‘EEEEEE’ noise.
..also curious how Ocado handle chilled or frozen foods within the grid, is there just a chilled or frozen section? how do they keep the chilled and frozen products temps down, so many questions and so many rubbish videos in YT!
Purely from a practicality perspective I assume they have one section of the warehouse that is a giant freezer for the frozen stuff, one for chilled and one for ambient. The delivery vans have separate sections for each so having separate picking areas for each would be very efficient, they just have to arrange the layout of the whole site so that the crates go from the storage are to the loading areas and can be in the van in under the 20 minute limit for chilled and frozen goods to be out in the open.
Basically these cassette’s make it impossible for humans to reach the centre and then extinguish the fire the little robot minions had been gleefullly running around spreading because it didn’t know it was on fire.
That is what I'd heard about the fire from some people involved in the insurance side of it. I'd also heard that the brigade had arrived, been told that there was a bunch of self-powered, automated, li-po carrying robots running around (on fire) in there, and promptly said "bugger that!" and whipped their big hoses out! :-;
Quite sobering to hear that it was so high risk and you were so at risk 🙁
Ideas of the FB's costs for the incident:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-49738355
That was like an episode of Tomorrow's World.
Do the robots in the chiller section get little hats and scarves? I really hope they do.
I’m surprised that online grocery shopping has proved to be as popular as it is
Online grocery shopping is brilliant. I’ve not set foot in any supermarket for years. Awful places full of people milling around like extras from The Walking Dead. A few minutes on the internet versus trudging around countless aisles of crap. No contest at all for me. Each to their own and having the choice is great.
i may be alone, but i found that so boring. i like walking round outdoor markets.
The initial appeal of supermarkets when they first appeared wasn’t price – it was customers being able to choose their own food off the shelf. Traditional butchers, bakers, fishmongers and greengrocers picked and handed over produce
I've always assumed it was the convenience of only having to pay once, not separately for each "division". But then nearly every supermarket I've been in has had a deli counter, and often a fishmonger, and the greengrocers when I grew up in the 80s let you pick your own stuff...
So I’m surprised given that history that people are prepared to allow to have their food chosen for them. Or are online shoppers only buying things in packets?
I'm guessing 95% of stuff is pre-packed anyway. They highlight if its short shelf life and you can reject. We don't seem to get anything except fruit/veg that's "picked" for us... and Tesco seem to do a good job of that and mostly make sensible substitutions. Can't say the same for Asda - you ordered granny smith apples - we had none and have made no substitutions (really you had no apples at all?) and you ordered mushrooms, we have substituted it for green beans.
Personally I'd happily use local shops if they were as convenient as the supermarket delivery service - I often wonder if they could form a cooperative where one van delivers for the butter, fishmonger, baker etc - and ideally one website to order it all.
I often wonder if they could form a cooperative where one van delivers for the butter, fishmonger, baker etc – and ideally one website to order it all.
If you still have a local milkman its worth seeing what they offer now - some are now have a sizeable range of stuff for home delivery as part of their round - not supermarket levels of choice but a decent range of staples that you can have set up as a regular delivery.
One supermarket developed an AI app for the in store pickers which worked out the quickest order to pick things with least walking. If there was a substitution needed it checked what the previous most popular substitutions were. The idea was that the pickers asked for 'small mushrooms' would pick 'medium mushrooms' if the former were not available so it would always be giving a sensible substitution as the AI was trained by the pickers.
Unfortunately the managers in the branches told their pickers to work as fast as they could so if a picker couldn't find 'small mushrooms' they grabbed the nearest thing which might be sweetcorn. The AI then advised the next picker to substitute sweetcorn if there were no mushrooms. One such substitution was 'asked for newborn nappies, received hair dye' which happened, it is assumed, because someone had left a pack of hair dye on the shelf near the nappies and resulted in the pickers being sent back two isles to get it.
I often wonder if they could form a cooperative where one van delivers for the butter, fishmonger, baker etc – and ideally one website to order it all.
I seem to remember reading about a guy setting something like this up in Malton a couple of years ago, but just to be useful I have no further details.
It seems they do collide, and they still catch fire..