cbm-vic-20on Hacker News • Recommends
On “Intrinsic, a new Alphabet company”
Tom Scott had a good video a couple of weeks ago about a grocery packing warehouse that has a sophisticated picking network: link to this video
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How many robots does it take to run a grocery store?
Tom Scott
6.7M subscribers • 29 videos on Hallway
- Recommended by 2 people: 2 on Hacker News.
- Presented by Tom Scott
- Linked in the descriptionDOI 10.1016/j.brainres.2018.03.015
Beginner. No background in the topic needed.
8M views5 years ago2 recommendations
Systems programmingHardwareEmbedded systemsScaling and large-scale architecture
Tom Scott tours Ocado's highly automated grocery warehouse to explain how thousands of robots coordinate on a massive grid.
In Ocado's grocery warehouses, thousands of mechanical boxes move on the Hive. Are they all individual robots? Or is this one giant hive mind? • Thanks to Ocado: ocadogroup.com/solutions/online-grocery (this video is not sponsored, and they had no editorial control). Reference: Strandwitz P. (2018). Neurotransmitter modulation by the gut microbiota. Brain research, 1693(Pt B), 128–133. doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2018.03.015 -- I should probably have put a "might" in there, but that's a thorough review of research and I think the claim just about holds up! Edited by Michelle Martin youtube.com/@OnTheCrux Filmed safely: tomscott.com/safe/ Thanks to Grant Hurst from Casual Historian for suggesting the title: youtube.com/user/grantghurst 🟥 MORE FROM TOM: tomscott.com/ (you can find contact details and social links there too) ❓ LATERAL, free weekly podcast: lateralcast.com/ youtube.com/lateralcast/ 👥 THE TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES: youtube.com/techdifWhy it's here
2 people recommend thisWhat people say. Recommended as a fascinating look at robot-first warehouse design and large-scale physical automation systems.
cecilpl2on Hacker News • Recommends
On “Automation is reaching more companies”
I thought this was an interesting insight into what a fully-automated grocery store looks like. And also wild to think about how different things are when you design them for automation from the ground up. link to this video
PeterisPon Hacker News • Mentions
On “How many robots does it take to run a grocery store? [video]”
Ha - the production setup includes Xbox Kinect components - right when the employee says "3d cameras" at 2:26 link to this video
handmodelon Hacker News • Mentions
On “Tesla Announces a Humanoid Robot “Tesla Bot””
link to this video I feel like a lot of factories are going to go in this direction. Lots of complex automation but ultimately very simple mechanisms with a strong framework to make sure nothing goes wrong.
handmodelon Hacker News • Mentions
On “Tesla Announces a Humanoid Robot “Tesla Bot””
I've been wrong many times before but still have trouble believing this would be more efficient than just having two separate buildings. Even in places where land is very expensive. How many dark stores would you have to run in a city like Boston to get the same efficiency you could get from a signle warehouse with a similar system to this?: link to this video And if you insist on doing that multi-use concept - it still seems like a robot on wheels and with much different than human arms would be more efficient.
SideburnsOfDoomon Hacker News • Mentions
On “What’s the Point of 15-Minute Grocery Delivery?”
> I don't think Ocado has a dense enough network of local warehouses. yes, AFAIK, Ocado relies on a few large highly automated warehouses. (1) The main issue seems to be that the level of automation is so high that a fire is not noticed soon enough. This has happened twice. (2) 1) link to this video 2) link link
BingoAhoyon Hacker News • Mentions
On “Pre-industrial workers had a shorter workweek than today's (1991)”
I think your vision makes sense. It might not be optimal currently but as A.I., automation, and other technologies advance (Fusion fingers-crossed) I can see it becoming plausible and even desirable over the "pure-ish" capitalist economy we currently have. Just to showcase some of the automation prototypes that makes me a hopeful believer: link to this video link link 3-d printed homes too
AussieWog93on Hacker News • Mentions
On “Boston Dynamics’ Stretch robot can move 800 heavy boxes per hour”
>rethinking the whole process instead yields a much bigger boost. Reminds me of a Tom Scott video where he checks out the Ocado warehouse in the UK: link to this video It's crazy; they've rethought the entire system to have it navigable by machine.
ehntoon Hacker News • Mentions
On “Boston Dynamics’ Stretch robot can move 800 heavy boxes per hour”
There's a great example of a facility built from the ground up with a robot-first approach in Ocado, the grocery packing/delivery company, it looks very different to warehouses that have humans in mind: link to this video It let them do a few novel things I think, most obvious is the dense packing grid, no need for humans to get around the area so they really pack in the functional units. Next is the precision they can pull off without having to worry about wiggle-room or interruptions from people, the robots move very close to eachother which would be a big no-no if you had to worry about people.
francis-ioon Hacker News • Mentions
On “Why everything looks the same”
…hristmas food and I get to avoid the packed Christmas food shoppers and the depressing Christmas decorations and music in store (I'm a scrooge). I don't want a better shopping experience, I want the best food, at the cheapest prices, delivered to me in a reliable way. I don't want to think about buying food any longer than I have to each week. 0 link to this video…
pdpion Hacker News • Mentions
On “Amazon Is Running Out of Warehouse Workers. Cue the Robots”
Or maybe just do both. I do most of my groceries through Ocado, and their warehouse operations are almost fully automated0, but then on the delivery front I can only assume they staff much more generously than amazon, because their delivery drivers are always much more relaxed than Amazon drivers, they're quite happy to have a chat while unpacking, and often call saying they're running early and ask whether it's ok to arrive before the delivery window. 0. link to this video
pen2lon Hacker News • Mentions
On “What is really going on at Amazon Fresh?”
Not quite on-topic, but I have to wonder: why go and develop these long-winded solutions when we can come up with obvious better ones? -- order on your phone (which is nice and easy because you can add to your grocery list with a smart home speaker/smartphone list throughout the day) and then it's automatically packaged (in an automated warehouse: link to this video ) and delivered? And for folks who drive to work, have them shipped to their place of work. Places of work make accommodations like have parking for electric cars and cafeterias -- having a place for delivery storage strikes me as an obvious perk that has tremendous benefits both for employers, employees, and the environment.
ben_won Hacker News • Mentions
On “Advanced Expressive Humanoid Whole-Body Control”
For shopping, surely the best robotic option are the various things the huge warehouses use, rather than havingthan a humanoid going around a store meant for humans? Both the things that look like Roombas and all these: link to this video No single consumer would buy all that, but the retailers can.
Symbioteon Hacker News • Mentions
On “Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season”
There are robot grocery warehouses in England: link to this video (5 minutes, Tom Scott video). Lots of Amazon's stock would be easier, but Amazon also has a greater range of sizes.
0cf8612b2e1eon Hacker News • Mentions
On “Hyundai to buy 'thousands' of Boston Dynamics robots”
Not heavy industry, but here is a video of an automated grocery warehouse: link to this video If you stick with the human first design, you miss out on enormous potential efficiency gains.
ben_won Hacker News • Mentions
On “The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine”
…r home delivery? People are working on this for traditional stores, but I can't tell which news stories are real and which are hype — after around a decade of Musk promising FSD within a year or so, I know not to simply trust press releases even when they have a video of the thing apparently working. For home delivery, this is mostly kinda solved: link to this video > Plus, in the case of service work like being a waiter, I imagine some customers will always be willing to pay for a human face. Sure… if they have the money. But can we make an economy where all the stuff is free, and we're "working" n-hours a day smiling at bad jokes and manners of people we don't like, so we can earn money to spend to c…