Artificial assistant: the rise of the retail robot

A warehouse technician takes out a component for a maintenance check. Without a word, his eager assistant immediately slides over to offer another pair of hands with the task. Unlike most assistants, this one never gets tired or has to nip off for a comfort break, because ARMAR-6 is a robot.

The prototype robot was recently delivered to Ocado Technology’s robotics research lab, where the online grocer’s team of engineers will experiment with the use of the technology in maintaining and repairing automation equipment.

The robot is the first prototype developed as part of the EU-funded SecondHands project, which is aiming to develop collaborative bots that can assist technicians working in Ocado’s automated warehouses, known as customer fulfilment centres (CFCs).

More widely, ARMAR-6 is part of a growing robot workforce that is changing the way the retail industry operates, whether it is in the warehouse, on the road, or in the store.

At Ocado, for example, as well as designing a second pair of hands for the company’s maintenance crew, roboticists are developing robots to pick and pack the 50,000 different items the grocer stocks.