仓储机器人：新型机器人正在接管仓库

The bots in the warehouse

仓储机器人

New robots—smarter and faster—are taking over warehouses

新型机器人——更智能更迅速——正在接管仓库

Most picking jobs will be done by bots

大多数分拣工作将由机器人来完成
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A decade ago Amazon started to introduce robots into its “fulfilment centres”, as online retailers call their giant distribution warehouses. Instead of having people wandering up and down rows of shelves picking goods to complete orders, the machines would lift and then carry the shelves to the pickers. That saved time and money. Amazon’s sites now have more than 350,000 robots of various sorts deployed worldwide. But even that is not enough to secure its future.

十年前，亚马逊率先将机器人引入“履约中心”，这是线上零售商对其巨大的配送仓库的称呼。无需人工在成排的货架中到处拣选货物来完成订单，而是由机器人将货架抬起后搬运到分拣员面前，这能节省时间和金钱。目前，亚马逊在世界各地的配送站点部署了35万多台各式机器人，但仍无法确保满足未来的需求。

Advances in warehouse robotics, coupled with increasing labour costs and difficulty in finding workers, have created a watershed moment in the logistics industry. With covid-19 lockdowns causing supply-chain disruptions and a boom in home deliveries that is likely to endure, fulfilment centres have been working at full tilt.

仓储机器人技术的进步，劳动力成本的不断上涨，用工荒问题使物流行业出现了分水岭。随着新冠疫情阻断供应链，以及送货上门热潮可能持续下去，“履约中心”一直在全力开工。

Despite the robots, many firms have to bring in temporary workers to cope with increased demand during busy periods. Competition for staff is fierce. In the run-up to the holiday shopping season in December, Amazon brought in some 150,000 extra workers in America alone, offering sign-on bonuses of up to $3,000.

虽然有机器人，但许多企业必须雇佣临时工来应对旺季增加的需求，对人才展开激烈的竞争。在12月份的假日消费旺季前夕，亚马逊光是在美国就额外雇佣了约15万名工人，提供的签约奖金高达3000美元。

The long-term implications of such a high reliance on increasingly hard-to-find labour in distribution is clear, according to a new study by McKinsey, a consultancy: “Automation in warehousing is no longer just nice to have but an imperative for sustainable growth.”

配送环节严重依赖越来越稀缺的劳动力，长远影响显而易见。麦肯锡咨询公司的最新研究表明：“实现仓储自动化不只是好事，而且是可持续发展的当务之急”。

This means more robots are needed, including newer, more efficient versions to replace those already at work and advanced machines to take over most of the remaining jobs done by humans. As a result, McKinsey forecasts the warehouse-automation market will grow at a compound annual rate of 23% to be worth more than $50bn by 2030.

这意味着企业需要用更多的机器人，包括效率更高的新型机器人代替已投入使用的机器人，需要用先进的机械来接管其余大部分由人类完成的工作。因此，麦肯锡预测到2030年，仓储自动化市场的年均复合增长率将达23%，价值超过500亿美元。

The new robots are coming. One of them is the prototype 600 Series bot. This machine “changes everything” according to Tim Steiner, chief executive of Ocado Group, which began in 2002 as an online British grocer and has evolved over the years into one of the leading providers of warehouse robotics.

新型机器人即将面世，其中包括600系列机器人原型机。奥凯多集团总裁提姆·施坦纳表示，这种机械能“改变一切”。这家英国线上杂货零售商创立于2002年，多年来已发展成为领先的仓储机器人技术供应商。

The 600 Series is a strange-looking beast, much like a box on wheels made out of skeletal parts. That is because more than half its components are 3d-printed. As 3d-printing builds things up layer by layer it allows the shapes to be optimised, thus using the least amount of material. As a result, the 600 Series is five times lighter than the company’s present generation of bots, which makes it more agile and less demanding on battery power.

600系列是一个外形奇特的怪物，就像一个底部有轮子的箱体，它由必需的少数零部件构成，这是因为半数以上的零部件是3D打印出来的。由于3D打印技术通过逐层打印的方式来构造物体，使形状得以优化，所以耗材最少。正因如此，600系列的重量比公司目前这一代机器人轻五倍，动作更灵巧，对电池电量要求更低。

March of the machines

机器人的进军

Ocado’s bots work in what is known as the “Hive”, a giant metallic grid at the centre of its fulfilment centres. Some of these Hives are bigger than a football pitch.

奥凯多机器人的作业场所被称作“蜂巢”，这是一种巨大的金属网格，它被布置履约中心的中心区，有些“蜂巢”比足球场还大。

Each cell on the grid contains products stored in plastic crates, stacked 21 deep. As orders arrive, a bot is dispatched to extract a crate and transport it to a picking station, where a human worker takes all the items they need, scans each one and puts them into a bag, much as happens at a supermarket checkout.

每个单元格包含的商品被存放在塑料货箱内，堆垛高度为21层。当收到订单时，机器人被派去提取一只货箱，并运送到分拣站，在那里由人工取出所有需要的商品，进行逐件扫描，再将它们放入包装袋，就像超市结账一样。

It could take an hour or so walking around a warehouse to collect each item manually for a large order. But as hundreds of bots operate on the grid simultaneously, they are much faster. The bots are choreographed by an artificially intelligent computer system, which communicates with each machine over a wireless network. The system allows Ocado’s current bot, the 500 Series, to gather all the goods required for a 50-item order in less than five minutes.

如果由人工在仓库里四处奔走，为大订单分拣每件商品，大概需要一个小时。但如果由数百台机器人在网格里同时作业，速度会快得多。机器人由人工智能计算机系统来管理，通过无线网络与每一台机器人沟通。该系统能使奥凯多现有的500系列机器人在不到5分钟内分拣完订单所需的全部50件商品。

The new 600 Series will match or better its predecessor’s performance and use less energy. It also “unlocks a cascade of benefits”, says Mr Steiner, allowing Hives to be smaller and lighter. This means they can be installed in weeks rather than months and at a lower cost. That will make “micro” fulfilment centres viable. Most fulfilment centres are housed in large buildings on out-of-town trading estates, but smaller units could be sited in urban areas closer to customers. This would speed up deliveries, in some cases to within hours.

新型600系列将媲美或超越上一代性能，能耗更低。“它还能提供一系列好处”，斯坦纳先生说道，使“蜂巢”变得更加小巧轻便。这意味着安装600系列只需数周而非数月时间，并且成本更低。这将使“微型”履约中心变得可行，大多数履约中心都设在城郊工商业区的大型建筑内，但较小单位可设在离消费者较近的市区内。这能加快配送速度，在某些情况下，几小时内即可送达。

Amazon is also developing more-efficient robots. Its original machines were known as Kivas, after Kiva Systems, the Massachusetts-based firm that manufactured them. The Kiva is a squat device which can slip under a stack of head-height shelves in which goods are stored. The robot then lifts and carries the shelves to a picking station. In 2012 Amazon bought Kiva Systems for $775m and later changed its name to Amazon Robotics.

亚马逊也在研发效率更高的机器人。原型机被称为Kiva，由位于马萨诸塞州的Kiva Systems公司制造，该机器人由此而得名。Kiva是一款矮胖的设备，它能滑进一人高的仓储货架底部，然后将货架抬起，搬运到分拣站。2012年，亚马逊以7.75亿美元的价格收购了Kiva Systems公司，后改名为“亚马逊机器人”。

Welcome to the jungle

欢迎来到丛林

Amazon Robotics has since developed a family of bots, including a smaller version of a Kiva called Pegasus. These will allow it to pack more goods into its fulfilment centres and also use bots in smaller inner-city distribution sites. To prepare for a more automated future, Amazon Robotics recently opened a new robot manufacturing plant in Westborough, Massachusetts, to boost its output.

“亚马逊机器人”自此研发出一个机器人家族，包括Kiva缩小版Pegasus。这将使履约中心装下更多的货物，市中心区规模较小的配送站点也能使用机器人。为迎接更加自动化的未来，最近“亚马逊机器人”在马萨诸塞州韦斯特伯鲁市新建了一家机器人制造厂来扩大产能。

In 2014, when it became clear that future Kivas would be made exclusively for Amazon, Romain Moulin and Renaud Heitz, a pair of engineers working for a medical firm, decided to set up Exotec, a French rival, to produce a different sort of robotic warehouse. The firm has developed a three-dimensional system, which uses bots called Skypods. Looking a bit like Kivas, they also roam the warehouse floor. But instead of moving shelves, Skypods climb them. Once the robot reaches the necessary level, it extracts a crate, climbs down and delivers it to a picking station.

2014年，当Kiva将明显成为亚马逊的专属机器人时，来自某家医疗公司的两名工程师罗曼·穆兰和雷诺·海兹决定创立法国竞争对手公司Exotec，制造另一种机器人仓库。这家公司研发出一种三维立体系统，使用的机器人名为Skypod。外观有点像Kiva，也是在仓库地面漫游，但它们不是搬运，而是攀爬货架。当机器人到达指定高度时，它会取下货箱，爬下来后将货箱运送到分拣站。

Skypods, says Mr Moulin, maximise the space in a warehouse because they can ascend shelving stacked 12 metres high. Being modular, the system can be expanded easily. As well as returning crates to the shelves, Skypods also take them to places to be refilled.

穆兰先生说，Skypod机器人能最大限度利用仓储空间，因为它们能爬上12米高的堆垛。该系统采用模块化设计，易于扩展。Skypod不仅能将货箱放回货架，还能将货箱运送到补货地点。

A number of retailers have started using Skypods, including Carrefour, a giant French supermarket group, gap, an American clothing firm, and Uniqlo, a Japanese one. Because such robots move quickly and could cause injury—Skypods zoom along at four metres per second (14kph)—they tend to operate in closed areas. If Amazon’s staff need to enter the robot area they don a special safety vest. This contains electronics which signal to any nearby bots that a human is present. The bot will then stop or take an alternative route.

许多零售商已开始使用Skypod机器人，包括法国大型超市集团家乐福、美国服装公司Gap、日本服装公司优衣库。由于这种机器人移动速度快，可能伤到人——Skypod每秒移速可达4米（每小时14千米）——所以它们通常在封闭区域内作业。如果亚马逊的员工需要进入机器人作业区，他们会穿上专用安全背心，里面包含的电子器件向周围的机器人发出有人类在场的信号，这时机器人会停下或选择其他路线。

Some robots, however, are designed to work alongside people in warehouses. They often ferry things between people taking goods off shelves and pallets to people putting them into bags and boxes for shipping. Such systems can avoid the cost of installing fixed infrastructure, which lets warehouses be reconfigured quickly—useful for logistics centres that work for multiple retailers and have to deal with constantly changing product lines.

但是，有些机器人的设计初衷是在仓库里与人类并肩作业。它们通常在人类之间运送货物，将货物从货架和托盘中取下后运送给人类，由人类将货物放入包装袋和包装箱，以待运输。这种系统免去了安装固定基础设施的成本，允许仓库进行快速的重新配置——适用于为多个零售商服务，并且必须应对生产线不断变化的物流中心。

When robots work among people, however, they have to be fitted with additional safety systems, such as cameras, radar and other sensors, to avoid bumping into staff. Hence they tend to move slowly and are cautious, which can result in bots frequently coming to a standstill and slowing operations. However, machines that are more capable and aware of their surroundings are on the way.

但当机器人与人类并肩作业时，必须为它们安装额外的安全系统，诸如摄像头、雷达及其他传感器，以避免碰撞物体。所以它们通常动作迟缓而谨慎，这可能导致机器人频繁陷入停顿，减慢作业速度。但是，更加强大和感知周围环境的机器人即将问世。
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For instance, nec, a Japanese electronics group, has started using “risk-sensitive stochastic control technology”, which is software similar to that used in finance to avoid high-risk investments. In this case, though, it allows a robot to weigh up risks when taking any action, such as sexting the safest and fastest route through a warehouse. In trials, nec says it doubles the average speed of a robot without making compromises on safety.

例如，日本电子集团NEC率先采用“风险敏感度随机控制技术”，类似于金融界用于规避高风险投资所用的软件。但在仓储领域，该技术能使机器人在采取任何行动时权衡风险，例如在仓库内选择最安全和最快的行进路线。在试验中，NEC透露在不牺牲安全性的前提下，机器人的平均移动速度提高了一倍。
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New tricks

新技巧

The toughest job to automate in a warehouse is picking and packing, hence the demand for extra pairs of hands during busy periods. This task is far from easy for robots because fulfilment centres stock tens of thousands of different items, in many shapes, sizes and weights.

仓储自动化最困难的任务是分拣和打包，所以在消费旺季需要增派人手。这项任务对机器人来说绝非易事，因为履约中心存放着数万件不同的商品，它们的形状、尺寸、重量各异。
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Nevertheless, Amazon, Ocado, Exotec and others are beginning to automate the task by placing robotic arms at some picking stations. These arms tend to use cameras and read barcodes to identify goods, and suction pads and other mechanisms to pick them up. Machine learning, a form of ai, is employed to teach the robots how to handle specific items, for example not to put potatoes on top of eggs.

然而，亚马逊、奥凯多、Exotec等公司开始在一些分拣站里安装机械臂，使这项任务实现自动化。这些机械臂一般利用摄像头和阅读条形码来识别商品，使用吸盘等装置拾取商品。采用“机器学习”这种人工智能技术教会机器人如何处理特殊商品，例如不要将土豆放在鸡蛋上面。

Ocado is also developing an arm which could bypass a picking station and take items directly from crates in the Hive. Fetch Robotics, a Silicon Valley producer of logistics robots that was acquired last year by Zebra Technologies, a computing firm, has developed a mobile picking arm which can travel around a fulfilment centre.

奥凯多也在研发一种机械臂，它能绕过分拣站环节，直接从“蜂巢”的货箱中取出货物。来自硅谷的物流机器人制造商Fetch Robotics（去年被Zebra Technologies收购）研发出移动式分拣机械臂，它能在履约中心四处移动。

Boston Dynamics, another Massachusetts robot-maker, has come up with a heavyweight mobile version called Stretch, which can unpack lorries and put boxes on pallets. On January 26th dhl, a logistics giant, placed the first order for Stretch robots. It will deploy them in its North American warehouses over the next three years.

马萨诸塞州的另一个机器人制造商“波士顿动力公司”研发出重型移动式机械臂Stretch，它能给卡车卸货，将货箱放到托盘上。1月26日，物流巨头DHL下了第一笔采购Sretch机器人的订单，并在未来三年内将它们部署到北美洲的仓库。

That timetable gives a clue that progress will not be rapid. It will take ten to 15 years before robots begin to be adept at picking and packing goods, reckons Zehao Li, the author of a new report on warehouse robotics for idTechEx, a firm of British analysts. Some companies think their bots will be able to pick 80% or so of their stock over the coming years, although much depends on the range of goods carried by different operations.

从时间表来看，进展不会很快。李泽浩在为英国分析师事务所idTechEx最近编写的一篇关于仓储机器人技术的报告书中预测，机器人需要10-15年才能熟练于货物的分拣和打包。有些企业认为，机器人在未来几年能够分拣大概80%的货物，但很大程度上取决于不同企业运输的货物种类。

obxts with irregular shapes, like bananas or loose vegetables, can be hard for a robot to grasp if it has primarily been built to pick up products in neat packages. The bot might also be restricted in what weight it can lift, so would struggle with a flat-screen television or a heavy cask of beer. Further into the future, systems could emerge to overcome many of these limitations, such as multi-arm robots.

如果机器人主要被用于拾取包装规整的产品，可能难以抓取形状不规则的物体，诸如香蕉或散装蔬菜。机器人在抬举重量上可能也会受限，所以面对平板电视或沉重的桶装啤酒会很吃力。未来可能出现能够克服这些局限性的系统，例如多臂机器人。
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So what jobs will remain? On the warehouse floor, at least, that mainly leaves technicians maintaining and fixing robots, says Mr Li. He thinks there are also likely to be a handful of supervisors watching over the bots and lending a hand if there remains anything that their mechanical brethren still can’t handle. It is not just inside the warehouse where jobs will go, but outside, too, once driverless delivery vehicles are allowed. At that point many products will travel through the supply chain and to people’s homes untouched by human hand.

那么未来将保留哪些岗位？至少仓库里主要保留维修机器人的技术人员，李先生说道。他认为还可能保留少数几个监督员来看护机器人，当机械同僚仍有应付不了的情况时伸出援手。一旦无人驾驶货车被允许使用，仓库内外的岗位都将消失。到那时许多产品将以无人方式，通过供应链运送到人们家里。

People will also be employed building robots. Amazon Robotics’s new factory will create more than 200 new manufacturing jobs, although that dwindles into insignificance compared with the more than 1m jobs which the pioneer of e-commerce has created since the first robots arrived in its fulfilment centres. A lot of those jobs are bound to go, although many are monotonous and strenuous, which is why they are hard to fill.

制造机器人也将需要雇人。“亚马逊机器人”的新工厂将新增200多个制造业岗位，但自从首批机器人到达履约中心以来，这家电商先驱已创造100多万个岗位，相比而言微不足道。大量的岗位消失是必然的，但许多都是枯燥繁重的工作，所以很难雇人填补这些岗位。

However, other jobs will emerge. Technological change inevitably creates new roles for people. In the 1960s there used to be thousands of telephone switchboard operators, a job which has almost disappeared since exchanges became automated. But the number of other jobs in telecoms has soared. As logistics gets more efficient through greater automation, and online businesses grow, the overall level of employment in e-commerce should still increase. Many of these roles will be different sorts of jobs, just as there are many different sorts of robot.

但是，未来将出现其他岗位。技术变革必然为人类创造新的角色，20世纪60年代有过数千名电话接线员，自从电话局实现自动化以来，这种岗位几乎消失了，但电信行业的其他岗位激增。随着自动化程度的提升使物流变得更有效率，以及电商企业的增加，电商行业的整体就业水平应该还会提高。正如种类繁多的机器人，这些角色有许多将成为各种各样的工作。