A movie that shows the actual situation of the latest automated warehouse where more than 2000 robots run around and pack products ordered online.



Tom Scott , a popular YouTuber with over 3.97 million subscribers, sneaks into the grocery warehouse of the British online supermarket ' Ocado ' and releases a movie introducing the myriad robots operating in it And it is a hot topic.

How many robots does it take to run a grocery store? --YouTube


Scott came to Ocado's warehouse in southeast London. In this warehouse, products purchased by users at the online supermarket Ocado are packed, but it is not human workers who collect and pack the products, but rectangular parallelepiped robots.



The warehouse is the size of seven soccer pitches.



It is said that this robot runs in the warehouse, picks up products, and carries more than 1 million items every day. The characteristic of the warehouse is that the passages for the robots to run are laid out in a grid pattern.



'It's incredibly large, it's too big to fit in the camera,' Scott said of the warehouse where the robots run around. The maximum speed of a robot that runs around in such a vast warehouse is 14km / h.



There are two running tires on each side of the robot, which can be used to move in four directions: front, back, left and right.



As Lalisa Timchisin, manager of Ocado's robotics project, says, 'Metal rails are laid out in a grid and the holes contain the product.'



Various products are stored in each hole. According to Tim Chisin, a total of 58,000 types of products are stored in each hole.



Different products are stored in each, and the robot picks up the required number of ordered items from the holes.



According to Tim Chishin, there are about 2,300 robots operating in the factory. A sensor is mounted on the bottom of the robot, which is used to identify the products stored in each hole and pick up what is needed. In addition, since a laser is installed in the hole, the system that manages the robot can always recognize 'when and over which hole the robot passed'.



Another robot rushed towards the robot that stopped and picked up groceries ...



It stops just before it hits. It seems that the minimum distance between robots is within 5 mm.



As it is, it shifts to the side ...



I avoided the stopped robot.



In the grocery warehouse, product robots that are frequently ordered are stored in a position that is easy to pick up, and 'the time from when an order is placed online to picking up the product from the warehouse and packing it in the delivery truck' is short. It only takes about 5 hours.

Some of the packing process is done with human help, but some is done with a robot arm.



Chris Webb, manager of the robotics project at Ocado, will be joining us to introduce the space underneath the grid rails on which the robots run around.



There is an elevator-type facility here, where a basket containing the products ordered by the customer is brought in.



Two 3D cameras are installed in the space where products are put in and taken out of the basket, and by taking a picture of the inside of the basket, the put in and out products are recorded.




The robot arm puts products in the basket, but here it is said that care is taken not to stack heavy or soft products. Also, large items, heavy items, and fragile items cannot be taken in and out with the robot arm, so it seems that they will be done manually.



An artificial intelligence (AI) system called 'Hive Mind' controls the robots that operate in the warehouse. Hive Mind tells you exactly where the robot should stop.



Any robot in operation that has an orange light on may have encountered some problem.



The stopped robot will return to work again by the operator monitoring the robot's operation in a separate room, checking 'what happened', and fixing the problem remotely.



This automation system is called 'Ocado Smart Platform (OSP)' developed by Ocado Technology, the technology development division of the Ocado Group that operates Ocado. Ocado describes OSP as 'our unique platform for end-to-end e-commerce fulfillment logistics' and 'optimizing the entire online grocery delivery process from order to delivery', Ocado only. It is said that it is a platform provided to grocery stores around the world.

in Video, Posted by logu_ii