Amazon Robotics
Kiva Systems is a company that makes robots for warehouse automation. Its robots are used by Staples, Walgreens, Zappos, and Gap, among others.[1]
Overview
Traditionally, goods are moved around a warehouse using conveyors, carousels, or human operators driving forklifts. Kiva's approach is to have goods stored on portable four-shelf storage units. When an order for an item arrives, it is transmitted wirelessly to a robotic platform, which navigates the warehouse, finds the storage unit containing the requested item, lifts the unit up by sliding under it, and brings it to a human worker. The worker takes the item that needs to be shipped, while the robot returns the storage unit to the warehouse. This turns out to be much more efficient than having human operators traveling around the warehouse locating and picking items.
A Kiva robot is typically orange in color, 2 feet by 2.5 feet, and one foot high. Each robot weights around 250 pounds, and can carry four times its weight. The robots uses a camera to read barcode stickers on the warehouse floor to find their way around the warehouse. They communicate wirelessly to computer servers that run order-processing software and deliver directions.[2]