The Hamburg mail-order group Otto wants to use autonomously working AI robots in its logistics centers in the future. This should also be an answer to the lack of workers.
In order to increase operational efficiency in the logistics centers, the mail order company Otto will use autonomous robots with artificial intelligence (AI) functions in the future. They should take over the selection, compilation and packaging of individual goods for individual orders and be able to learn. To this end, Otto has entered into a strategic partnership with the AI robotics company Covariant from California, as the group announced today.
Covariant was founded in the USA in 2017. The company offers robotic picking, placement and sorting solutions. “The vision of this partnership is to install hundreds of Covariant’s AI-driven robotic solutions in Otto Group’s fulfillment centers,” the company said. The locations Haldensleben (Saxony-Anhalt) and Altenkunstadt (Bavaria) should make the start.
“Success Factor in Logistics”
Logistics must be organized as cost-effectively as possible, said Otto board member Kay Schiebur. Artificial intelligence could also be “an answer to the massive shortage of workers”. “The use of AI will be a key success factor in logistics in the future.”
According to Schiebur, the Otto Group sees the use of AI robots as an alternative to relocating goods handling to cheaper locations. It’s about “automating time-consuming, manual work” that could not previously be automated. Since there is a great variety in shape, color and quantity of the goods to be processed, robots must also be able to deal with unfamiliar situations.
Many jobs could become redundant
Experts assume that the increasing use of artificial intelligence will have a major impact on the world of work in the coming years – in all kinds of industries. In a study, the US investment bank Goldman Sachs calculated that around two-thirds of current jobs are exposed to a certain degree of AI automation.
According to the study, up to a quarter of the current work could be replaced by so-called “generative AI”. This refers to computer programs that develop new ideas, content or solutions instead of just working through predefined rules or instructions. Nevertheless, experts like the economist Jens Südekum see no danger of new mass unemployment occurring as a result.