U.S. apparel chain Gap is speeding up its rollout of warehouse robots for assembling online orders.The news illustrates how the pandemic may speed up automation in the retail industry.is speeding up its rollout of warehouse robots for assembling online orders so it can limit human contact during the coronavirus pandemic, the company told Reuters.
Sourcing parts in time for the eight-foot-tall robotic stations was not simple or cheap, said Kindred's Chief Operating Officer Marin Tchakarov. But the venture-backed startup was able to deploy 10 of them to Gap's warehouse near Nashville, Tennessee and 20 near Columbus, Ohio, with plans to finish the rollout to four of Gap's five U.S. facilities by July, months ahead of schedule, he said.
Vince Martinelli, RightHand's head of product and marketing, declined comment on the deployment but said as a general matter, "If you're going to have limited people in the building, the last thing you want them to do is a simple task that can be automated." The interest is no surprise: researchers from the Brookings Institution have said spurts of automation often follow economic shocks, a phenomenon they said could be replayed as retailers' sales plunge.
While Gap has kept shops in China in business and has started the re-opening of 800 others this month, its e-commerce operation has been a lifeline for sales.
Robots don't get sick or get your warehouse shutdown and everyone Quarantined.
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