Let the inventory walk and talk | Mick Mountz | TEDxBoston

"These things can scale to gianormous!"

Mick Mountz revolutionized the way warehouses pack and ship their inventory by using robots, mobile shelving, and algorithms based on complexity theory.  What used to take hours of tedious tasks is transformed into fun, 15-minute, click-to-ship order processing.Mick Mountz revolutionized the way warehouses pack and ship their inventory by using robots, mobile shelving, and algorithms based on complexity theory.  What used to take hours of tedious tasks is transformed into fun, 15-minute, click-to-ship order processing.

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[andyan]

Wonderful!
The perfect fusion of exciting robotics with increased job satisfaction.

[boukeversteegh]

The reason is the products are different sizes and shapes, and their position is not precisely known. This means packing robots need to use computer vision to find the objects and know how to pick them up. Finally they need to be fit in the box very precisely. Think about how soft vs. hard objects should be packed. Watch a few videos of robots (?v=c3Cq0sy4TBs) picking up stuff and you'll see how slow it really is. There are fast pickers (flex picker), but they can only pick up 1 kind of object.

[TerryE-UK]

Did my first project on pick automation in this sector 35 years ago. An excellent piece of lateral thinking and innovation. I like it :)

[toddsherman]

Boxing items of different shapes and sizes and including packing material for shipment is a very complex task to automate. Advanced computer vision and nimble robotic arms will likely enable it to happen somewhat soon.

[rewby]

I enjoyed this topic, and Nick's presentation of it, a great deal.

[bakasheru]

@TheUnchainedMind
Why does everyone always assume that during shipping the top of the box stays up?

[TheUnchainedMind]

@sadjesture
An algorithm can easily be created for the packaging of goods in the most efficient way.
You could, for instance divide the items into cathegories: cans and metal containers, glass, plastic, fruit and vegetables (by their bar code, perhaps) and them pack them so that the heaviest/most resistent items are on the bottom and the most fragile on top. As for the volume it's a simple matter of feeding the robot info about the size of each item in respect to the box.

[TheUnchainedMind]

I would argue that having standard size boxes and engeneering robot arms that can manage all of them is actually quite easy. Technology has accoplished far more complex things already.

[kingofbrooklin]

Holy crap, did TED really change the intro music? THANK YOU!!!

[madbr]

@zanycaswell some go to charging stations. but some of the new ones are using induction charging from the floor.

[madbr]

@TheUnchainedMind not what i meant by adapt and be creative. yes we could create a system where all the tasks are done by robots. packing 3d objects into boxes would be easy for a computer that's just math. but what happens when an unexpected instance shows up. a human could adapt and overcome that but a computer might not be able to. humans and machines work better together then they do separately. besides the more machines you have the more people you need to fix them.

[TheUnchainedMind]

Once the machine is build, or bought, then it will more than pay its cost, whatever that is.

[zakiya]

Love this! Living in a third world country we are nowhere close to this. I really need a new job!

[boukeversteegh]

Sure you are right about that, but I think if all products need to be put in standard sized boxes you'd lose a lot of valuable space in your parcel. I'd say most products are not box shaped. Shipping costs would be much higher. On the other hand, you do save on labor cost, so I don't know which way is cheaper.

[capitalistdingo]

The workers still stand, reach, turn and move. They probably get more exercise than many desk jockey. I say this as a former desk Jockey myself ;-)

[Pianofy]

People talk about unemployment as if it's a bad thing. It is not: it is awesome. It frees up our time to do better things.

[alberto]

Yea AMAZing, anyway could be implemented also the "scan" isn't it?
(and also the packaging but maybe that is really $ because of 3xzy robot placing..
anyway what a slowness by the pickers0_o!

[mecon]

How do you charge all 10, 000 - 1, 000, 000 robots? :S

[capitalistdingo]

Eventually the pick-pack worker will be replaced with a robot just as few jobs exist for horse-pulled carriage makers. Our kids may grow up deprived of the option of working as a pick-pack worker but whatever job they do will probably only exist because of systems like this.

[TheUnchainedMind]

@bakasheru
If it's food they're transporting then I'm quite sure they'll be carefull with the way they do it.
And if you're implying that the boxes are put at random and flip around then all the better reason not to have human beings, because their efforts would ammount to nothing, just like the robot's.