Will warehouse automation replace humans?

Read any article on automated warehouse vehicles, and it’s pretty easy to see there is a lot of hype. Although automation in automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs)—my specialty—have come a long way, they are not replacing all warehouse workers.

There is a fair amount of automation hype but automation and various technologies like AGVs impact workers. Companies that manufacture this increasingly sophisticated equipment must consider the social impacts.

AGVs are getting smarter

AGV technology has advanced since the 1950s. The state of the art is being pushed by sensor technology, such that today’s vehicles do more than simply follow a line on the floor. Technology has advanced to a point where rigid infrastructure is no longer needed to tell the vehicle where it is or understand how to get from point to point. That has advanced, and it continues to advance.

In the world of AGV and AMR, there’s a bit of bleed over between the two. AGVs path-follow exclusively, meaning—if you take it all the way back to the earliest of AGVs—they just follow a line in the floor. The newest version of AGVs, don’t do that by any stretch of the imagination, but the concept is the same: Follow some form of guide or instruction to take you from point A to point B. AMRs, on the other hand, path-plan; they work from a blank sheet of paper and can take whichever path they determine is best to get where they need to go.

Sensor technology is at the point where the vehicles don’t necessarily need to be accurate to the millimeter range. Most are down to plus or minus 20 mm, which is quite good. AMRs are typically plus or minus 50 mm, which isn’t great, but the sensor tech is now allowing us to see where we’re going. So rather than driving to a specific, designated X and Y (and a Z in some cases) coordinate to pick a pallet—which requires a fair degree of accuracy—today’s AMR can now “see” what they want and drive up to it—no coordinates required.

Fear not... humans still needed

Several years ago, AGVs were sold exclusively on ROI, which meant that even though it was pure, horizontal transport—pick a pallet and drop a pallet—it was sold based on how many people (forklift drivers) you could displace from the workforce. AGVs were too expensive to justify otherwise. But that calculation is changing.

Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) in warehouses and distribution centers have come a long way. What does this mean for the human labor force that used to do those jobs?

Early on, companies had to accept an ROI of two to three years. Now, when you start talking multiple shifts, ROI is easily accomplished in far less time. Adding to that ROI are increased