Robots also have accidents: they can even cause a warehouse fire
Robots are credited with improving efficiency in some industrial applications. However, this does not mean they are immune to accidents, just like people. Britain's large grocery delivery service Ocado found this out firsthand in the summer of 2021.
The company, which competes with Amazon Fresh, was forced to cancel orders for some customers after a collision between robots sparked a fire at its warehouse in southeast London. Ocado said the incident apparently involved three bots and led to the evacuation of its Erith customer service center.
The fire triggered the facility's sprinkler system but was contained by mitigation measures. Nevertheless, the London fire brigade was called to the scene to put out the blaze. Overall, damage was limited to just 1% of the territory, and it took a week to restore full operations at the facility.
"The fire at our Erith CFC, as previously reported, was caused by a collision of three bots on the grid. The correct protocols were successfully implemented, including evacuating the building, activating the sprinkler system, and the presence of the London fire team. No one was injured," the company said.
The company noted that many firefighting measures were implemented after a thorough fire safety inspection in 2019. Ocado thanked firefighters and all other emergency services for their hard work and professionalism in handling the incident.
The British company's warehouse in southeast London houses 3,000 robots that move at 4 m/s when delivering grocery orders. Ocado also licenses its automation platform to other companies, including Kroger in the US, which recently deployed the system in its customer fulfillment center of nearly 35,000 m² in Monroe, Ohio.
Given how close the robots are and how fast they operate, it is a wonder there have not been more collisions. CNN reports that the bots, resembling "washing machines on wheels," move within 5 mm of each other across a grid-like system to pick items. Ocado told the outlet: "We basically play chicken with them: they head toward each other only to swerve at the last moment."
The southeast London warehouse is equipped with the latest automation technology. The Ocado Smart Platform (OSP) has proven successful in its own use and could be useful to other companies. Robots in the warehouse move across a grid, like on a chessboard. Beneath the floor, each square hides up to 21 containers stacked in depth, filled with some of the 50,000 products the company offers.
All products are stored according to an algorithm that predicts when they will be needed. When an order is sent to the warehouse, the bots come to life and head to the required container. The devices are not autonomous; they are controlled by a system that works like an air traffic controller, planning their routes. Equipped with a gripping mechanism, the bots can pick up one container at a time.
For example, if the needed product is stored five containers down, four bots first lift the containers above it, clearing the path for the bot fulfilling the order. Once that bot picks up the container, it delivers it to a collection station, where a human (or another robot, depending on the technology installed at each warehouse) selects the item and adds it to the order. Then the robots deliver the completed order to a delivery van.
When Ocado was founded 21 years ago, it used a more traditional system of conveyor belts and cranes, similar to those used for baggage handling at airports. However, this type of system is prone to overloads.
“Collecting a single order could take more than three hours, because delivery conveyors had to travel more than 24 km along the conveyor belt. The new system can assemble an entire order in less than 15 minutes”
The OSP platform, launched six years ago, has other advantages: order accuracy is 99%, and fulfillment centers use a "first in, first out" system so that food stays fresher and waste is minimized.
Most good retailers achieve order accuracy of 97% to 98%. Ocado may not seem much better, but this can make a big difference in terms of customer convenience. However, building the company's large fulfillment centers is a slow process. Some retailers are building micro-fulfillment centers inside their stores.
Today, Ocado is a full-fledged technology company and online grocery store. The company claims that its facilities in southeast London, covering 52,000 m², are the largest automated grocery warehouse in the world. At the same time, the company is striving for even greater automation.
In 2020, Ocado spent nearly $300 million to acquire two American companies, Kindred Systems and Haddington Dynamics, to expand its expertise in robotic arms and sorting systems. The company's ultimate goal is to create a warehouse fully run by robots.
“Labor costs are one of the key factors affecting the price of products. Our goal is to try to automate these repetitive, not particularly exciting human operations in the warehouse”
