Despite spending billions of dollars to automate its warehouses, Walmart is seriously struggling to make even the simplest of robots work.
As the Wall Street Journal reports, even something as straightforward as removing an object from a cardboard box to package it for customers is proving exceedingly challenging. After hiring several robotics companies, Walmart ultimately settled on small robots with wheels for over a dozen of its warehouses.
But the small robots are still unable to remove larger and heavier objects, like bags of dog food. They also break down often, showing that despite plenty of pressure to replace human workers, companies are running into major headwinds in automating real-world workflows in environments like warehouses and logistics facilities.
Executives maintain that Walmart’s automation push will result in fewer warehouse workers, transitioning many of them into managing and fixing robots. However, that transition is reportedly coming at a formidable cost. According to the WSJ‘s sources at Walmart, the costs of paying mechanical and electrical engineers at its automated warehouses eclipse the payrolls of unskilled warehouse workers.
It’s not just Walmart. Amazon is also going to incredible lengths to automate its warehouses, creating what market-intelligence firm Interact Analysis’ Rueben Scriven told the WSJ amounts to an “arms race” between retailers.
Yet despite major financial commitments, many of these efforts are crumbling. Case in point, Kroger had to write off a whopping $2.6 billion after a major investment in an “automated fulfillment network” failed to pay off.
Meanwhile, a far more ambitious transition to humanoid warehouse robots feels like even more of a stretch. While companies are pumping billions of dollars into the development of bipedal bots, the tech largely remains a Moonshot for practical physical labor.
More on warehouse automation: Robots Are About to Outnumber Humans At Amazon Warehouses
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