When the economy rebounds some workers will find that while they were trying to avoid Covid-19 their employers were replacing them with robots. The virus is turning out to be a boon for companies in the robotics business.
“We could not get as many people in our distribution centers safely,” said Kevin Kuntz, Gap’s senior vice president of global logistics fulfillment. So he called up Kindred AI, the vendor that sells the machines, to ask: “Can you get them here earlier?”
Each machine handles work typically performed by four people, Kuntz said. Neither the deal to triple the number of robots, nor the expedited installations, have been previously reported.
The news illustrates how the pandemic may speed up automation in the retail industry. Companies including Gap and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) have long used such systems for a range of tasks, like moving items across warehouse floors. Various new technologies are capable of supplanting some cashier, box packing and item picking roles that employ millions of U.S. workers, and the pandemic is giving vendors a chance to make their case.
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