How did Amazon caught the warehouse robot?

AmazonAcquired company "Kiva Systems" to automate warehouse in 2012Then, we introduced Kiva's warehouse robot into the vast logistics warehouse of our company. As of 2016 Amazon already uses more than 30,000 warehouse robots to automate the distribution warehouse, but along with that, the competition of robot development in the logistics industry has broken out.

How Amazon Triggered a Robot Arms Race - Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-29/how-amazon-triggered-a-robot-arms-race

After acquiring Kiva Systems (Kiva) for $ 775 million (about 79.5 billion yen), Amazon finished product sales of Kiva and started using Kiva's robot with Amazon monopoly. Other companies that had introduced Kiva's robot had no choice but to look for alternative ways, but there was a problem that there were no similar products with superior performance at that time as well as Kiva's warehouse robot. Four years have passed since only 2016, and finally warehouse robots with levels that can be introduced into world warehouses are beginning to appear from several startups.

Serve as VP in Amazon Global Operations and Customer Service DepartmentDave ClarkAccording to Mr. Amazon, it has operated 30,000 Kiva robots in warehouses all over the world and has succeeded in cutting 20% ​​of the warehouse operating cost. According to Deutsche Bank's analysis, Amazon's automation warehouse seems to have succeeded in saving 22 million dollars (about 2.26 billion yen) of expenses from product ordering to payment management. If it is automated to more than 100 distribution centers that Amazon does not introduce Kiva, it is estimated that it can cut costs of more than $ 2.5 billion (about 257.14000 yen).


Amazon's Kiva robot has proved that warehouse automation is more efficient than humans, but how it works is to see the robots operating in Amazon's warehouse from the following articles I can.

Amazon gigantic warehouse tour movie tracked by items shipped at Amazon shipped - GIGAZINE


On the other hand, even in the retail industry as a whole, even a major supermarket chain like Wal-Mart or the target does not have an automation warehouse. It depends on the traditional way human beings carry baggage to a belt conveyor, which means that there is a potential huge market for robot manufacturers. Amazon has promoted the introduction of warehouse robots and development of warehouse robots of other companies is progressing and already many logistics companies are beginning to promote warehouse automation. Start-ups of warehouse robots have also appeared one after another, and start-ups by former Kiva employees are also developing warehouse robots.

"Warehouse is a very high technology place," said Bruce Welti, chairman of Locus Robotics.Locus RoboticsWas a company that previously built and operated Kiva's robotic software system and was carrying packages for the fashion industry such as Zara. Mr. Welti was told that it was a joke "If Amazon acquires Kiva" it is said to be tough, but it really says that Amazon stopped selling Kiva, and the system itself became unusable.

Mr. Welti decided to develop a technology to automate its logistics in-house instead of relying on other companies' technologies so as not to repeat the same mistake. As a result of employing robotics engineers and forming a development team in 2014, the prototype was completed in one year. In less than a year, we have started operation in our own warehouse. In May 2016, he also received a capital of 8 million dollars (about 820 million yen) from venture capital, Mr. Welti plans to deploy it to more than a dozen warehouses by 2017.


Amazon has Kiva as "Amazon Robotics"Although I am trying to expand further automation, I am beginning to put into practical use of a warehouse robot different from Amazon like Locus Robotics.Fetch RoboticsWarehouse robot to help employees working in warehousesFetchcore"Has been developed,Harvest AutomationA company called "HV-100"We are selling transport robots capable of outdoor operation.


Several companies are trying to automate the "picking" process, and in GermanyMagazinoA company called a warehouse robot that can carry objects individually with a robot arm "TORU Cube"We sell. 6 River Systems, a startup by former Kiva executives, is said to be running a pilot program for warehouse robots, although details are not revealed.