What robots are doing in warehouses right now
Assisted picking and case automation are proven at scale; grocery fulfilment centres and sidewalk delivery have produced the most expensive retreats in robotics.
13Jobs robots do for a operation today
20Independent deployment records behind this page
5 of 20Records that document a pause, removal or failure
Tick the jobs you want a robot to take
Each card shows how mature the job isWhere this does not work — read before you enquire
- Grocery fulfilment centres have the worst track record here. Site closures and large write-downs; volume per site decides it, and it is not in the vendor’s control.
- Dense grids burn. Fires have destroyed grid sites. Insure for it and design fire breaks in.
- Under about 2,000 lines a day, goods-to-person is unlikely to pay. Assisted picking is the usual entry point: it retrofits into an existing building and scales unit by unit. Limited evidence
- Sidewalk delivery has been abandoned by almost everyone who tried it. The exception runs at city scale on a delivery platform.
- Headcount falls, and it gets reported. Plan the workforce transition before the robots arrive, not after.
- Brownfield grids over-run. Retrofits have slipped by a year and gone well over budget; new builds fare better.
Unlabelled points come from operator-reported or independently observed deployments.
Built on 20 independent deployment records. Robot prices are vendor or reseller list figures and vary by market — confirm with the vendor.