Automated robotics is has always fascinated me. Kiva Systems makes a Robotic Warehouse system that is simply amazing. Just imagine not having employees needing to go out to shelves to retrieve product but rather have the product come you the employee. That is a cool concept but it does take a ton of technology and equipment. I have always wondered how long one of my Mouser order takes to get packaged especially when I am evaluating a bunch of potential parts for a new project. I am assuming that it takes quite a long time for 20 or 30 individual 30 cent parts to be picked but who know Mouser might have a kick ass system in place that makes it a breeze.
I am thinking the next step that Kiva needs to look into is have some generic bins that are filled with all the items and just have a person package the items in the final shipping box. I guess this might be more difficult that it sounds since there would need to be either a very sophisticated picking system that could identify how to lift every item out of the box or a manual effort up front to load the items in individually dispensable slots.
Thanks for the tip Rod
