How many robots does it take to run a grocery store?

Tom Scott had a good video a couple of weeks ago about a grocery packing warehouse that has a sophisticated picking network: [VIDEO]

I thought this was an interesting insight into what a fully-automated grocery store looks like. And also wild to think about how different things are when you design them for automation from the ground up. [VIDEO]

Ha - the production setup includes Xbox Kinect components - right when the employee says "3d cameras" at 2:26 [VIDEO]

[VIDEO] I feel like a lot of factories are going to go in this direction. Lots of complex automation but ultimately very simple mechanisms with a strong framework to make sure nothing goes wrong.

I've been wrong many times before but still have trouble believing this would be more efficient than just having two separate buildings. Even in places where land is very expensive. How many dark stores would you have to run in a city like Boston to get the same efficiency you could get from a signle warehouse with a similar system to this?: [VIDEO] And if you insist on doing that multi-use concept - it still seems like a robot on wheels and with much different than human arms would be more efficient.

> I don't think Ocado has a dense enough network of local warehouses. yes, AFAIK, Ocado relies on a few large highly automated warehouses. (1) The main issue seems to be that the level of automation is so high that a fire is not noticed soon enough. This has happened twice. (2) 1) [VIDEO] 2) [LINK] [LINK]

I think your vision makes sense. It might not be optimal currently but as A.I., automation, and other technologies advance (Fusion fingers-crossed) I can see it becoming plausible and even desirable over the "pure-ish" capitalist economy we currently have. Just to showcase some of the automation prototypes that makes me a hopeful believer: [VIDEO] [LINK] [LINK] 3-d printed homes too

>rethinking the whole process instead yields a much bigger boost. Reminds me of a Tom Scott video where he checks out the Ocado warehouse in the UK: [VIDEO] It's crazy; they've rethought the entire system to have it navigable by machine.