Maybe OT, thousands of robots, but there must be a PLC somewhere

Its the same concept for AGV type of robots or the amazon puck robots. All got some software inside, probably gets a one command download from SCADA. This is same concept (1 command do it, tell me when your done) they use on palletizing robots that build different products on one pallet.
 
One day, we may have cars that drive us around without traffic lights. They just know exactly when to turn at the right moment. Position error tolerance = .0001 mm. Haha
 
The robots probably have motion controllers instead of PLCs. The master coordinator program didn't look like it was allowing for a lot of motion at the same time. It seemed like there were robots just "standing around".


Doing this right would take skill like those that write games. handling the shortest path with lots of "pieces" like in Starcraft takes tricky algorithms and processing power. I doubt a PLC could come close to do that.
 
I've been to an interview for them and they're actually two companies. You have Ocado (which sells groceries) and the real value in Ocado Technology where they make stuff like this.

Their old distribution centers (with some manual interaction) actually run off of Siemens S7 PLCs. These little robots have dedicated controllers probably running some sort of RTOS (ROS if I had to guess).

They have a lot of related machinery designed by them too. The plastic bags are put onto the baskets with a machine designed in house and when I was there for the interview they were trialing a camera system to double check that the correct items were put inside the bags.

Although the tech and what they were doing is really cool, I can't stand working for people that say the following two sentences in a conversation "Strictly no overtime. We don't like people looking at the clock". Although he may have meant something different, the pension terms indicate he didn't. So I don't work for them, although I do the ocasional shop.
 
It seemed like there were robots just "standing around".
Click to expand...
That video was from 2018, I couldn't find the one I had seen on TV, on a program called 'The Gadget Show' here in the UK. In the TV program there seemed to be a lot more action and the robots seemed to move faster. I guess that they have made some improvements in 2 years, even allowing for No Overtime and Covid-19 :).
 
Could be the power of being able to speed up a video clip to fit it into the program schedule lol, many years ago I worked on a automated warehouse (not involved with the robot fork lifts), it was quite eyrie, the trucks used some form of strip to follow embedded in the floor, if you stood in front of one it would stop bleep & flash a beacon, if you did not move it would get angry by increasing the bleep & flash then back off and move forward again, eventually informing the control room there was a problem. What I called the programmers artistic licence. By the way if you were caught deliberately holding up the trucks you were kicked off site as one guy found out.
Maybe have a look at this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKCJsvZdBmI
 
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Liam Moran said:
This system is called AutoStore which was developed by the Norwegian Hatteland Group. Ocado is just a site installation.
Click to expand...


Different companies! There are however claims from Autostore that Ocado is infringing on their patent but thats a different story.
 
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