Amazon's Vulcan Robots Now Stow Items Faster Than Humans

Warehouses is definitely not where I expected robots with retractable blades to first appear.

The demo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWXco05eK28

That's still far slower than a human being, and those bins are far too neat.

The challenge is not only stowing objects. It is also optimizing space and keeping it clean. In that matter robots are faster and better.

Optimizing space and trying to keep things neat is a futile effort. Pickers and counters are constantly pulling things out of the bins and putting them back in, and during high demand it's a chaotic mess. If there are going to be robots being this meticulous at every step of the process, then it's too slow.

There's a reason human beings are worked to the point of exhaustion in these warehouses - the goal is to move as much product as fast as possible. Quality and productivity are at cross purposes, and between the two only the latter makes money.

That is why, in the end, only robots will remain. They are inexhaustible and strictly meticulous in all circumstances.

Robots aren't inexhaustible. They break down a lot and are far more expensive to repair and maintain than a human being.