Leading British online supermarket Ocado has opened a new delivery hub in northwest London, creating 205 new jobs, and reportedly wants to develop humanoid robots to assist workers in warehouses to increase productivity.
Ocado explained that the new site in Park Royal has become necessary due to ‘continuing expansion and the boom in online grocery shopping’. Therefore, the online grocery retailer is now looking for 200 drivers to deliver products to online shoppers’ homes throughout the week and during all seasons.
Based in Origin Business Park, the new 6,381 sqm facility has been designed to be Ocado’s most environmentally innovative property to date, featuring solar roof panels and rain water recycling and achieved an EPC rating A. It is home to 100 new Mercedes delivery vans.
Julie Markey, Director Human Resources at Ocado, said: “As we continue to expand our business in Greater London, we’re excited to announce the opening of our newest delivery hub in Park Royal. Based in a rapidly developing area, it will be one of our biggest hubs yet, allowing us to create over 200 new jobs. ”
Ocado highlighted the ‘highly competitive’ salaries of its staff at all levels, with premium rates paid for evening and weekend shifts. Additional benefits include 15% staff discount, pension schemes, free shares and private healthcare after qualifying service.
In 2014, Ocado generated profits worth £7 million and revenues (online sales including charges for delivery but excluding relevant vouchers/offers and value added tax) worth £948.9 million corresponding to an increase of 19.8% compared to the previous year. The store also expanded its customer base to 453,000 active customers. It also increased its product range to over 43,000 products, including an increase in Ocado own-label products.
Last year, the online retailer was also able to further improve its delivery efficiency reaching a milestone of 200,000 Ocado.com deliveries per week.
Meanwhile, diverse media reports last week revealed Ocado’s plans to develop humanoid, autonomous robots that will use artificial intelligence, machine learning and advanced vision systems to increase safety, efficiency and productivity in the warehouses. The online grocer reportedly announced in an e-mail statement its “SecondHands project” as part of which it will work with four universities to develop innovative robots that are able to understand and support human workers.
However, the aim of the project is not to replace humans with the robots but rather to help them out offering assistance with difficult maintenance jobs, such as handing tools to human technicians and manipulating objects like ladders, pneumatic cylinders and bolts.
The robot will be completely autonomous and should be able to help with everything from fetching tools to holding objects and even assisting with cleaning and engineering tasks. The robotics team at Ocado Technology believes it could become "the most advanced assistive robot in the world".
SecondHands will use 3D vision to see both depth and colour, with artificial intelligence allowing it to learn by example and respond to its surroundings. Once trained in a series of basic tasks, the robot should be able to increase its own intelligence and act independently. SecondHands will also be able to understand natural speech, allowing it to respond to voice commands.
“The ultimate aim is for humans to end up relying on collaborative robots because they have become an active participant in their daily tasks,” Dr. Graham Deacon, Robotics Research Team Leader at Ocado Technology, said. “In essence, the SecondHands robot will know what to do, when to do it and how to do it in a manner that a human can depend on.”
To be completed over five years, the SecondHands project will be funded by the European Union with €7 million as part of its “Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme”, which includes one of the world’s largest civilian robotics programmes.
While coordinating and contributing to the research, Ocado will also be the end user, with the robots designed specifically for its factories. If the project is successful, the robots are expected to be deployed elsewhere.
The first SecondHands prototype will be operational at an Ocado testing facility in Hatfield in 18 months, with the final version to be assisting engineers in factories in 2020.
