It might seem like a flight of fancy to some, or too far in the future to think seriously about, but in fact, the roboticisation of warehouses is happening so fast that the vast majority of leading warehouses will almost certainly integrate robots within five years. In this white paper, we will look more closely at three points of discussion: (1) the competition that stands in the way of robots – namely, fixed infrastructure such as conveyors and automated storage and retrieval systems; (2) robots represent the flexible infrastructure model, which offers the opportunity to establish a warehouse without much if anything inside it, except for computer networking; and (3) which one will win out in the end? Or will they both coexist? We’ll know the answers within five years.

It might seem like a flight of fancy to some, or too far in the future to think seriously about, but in fact, the roboticisation of warehouses is happening so fast that the vast majority of leading warehouses will almost certainly integrate robots within five years. In this white paper, we will look more closely at three points of discussion: (1) the competition that stands in the way of robots – namely, fixed infrastructure such as conveyors and automated storage and retrieval systems; (2) robots represent the flexible infrastructure model, which offers the opportunity to establish a warehouse without much if anything inside it, except for computer networking; and (3) which one will win out in the end? Or will they both coexist? We’ll know the answers within five years.