An Army Of Robots Sorting Packages On A Factory Floor Without Any Help Is Both Scary & Amazing

Robots are the future of industry -- of factories of the future -- with automation poised to improve both manufacturing as well as delivery.

Now you can see for yourself just how efficient this kind of system can be, with the latest video to come out of a factory in China.

Published by Chinese media, the video shows a veritable army of tiny yellow bots sorting packages on the Shentong Express (STO) factory floor in Taijin, in what¡¯s called the world¡¯s largest fully automated sorting and delivery institution.

Human employees simply pull packages off the conveyor belt and place them on a bot standing ready nearby. The package code is then automatically scanned, and the robot identifies its destination on the floor and carries it to the underground chute there. The process has the robots sorting 200,000 packages a day, with each being sorted within three and a half hours of entering the plant. The same task used to take 100 experienced workers to do in the same amount of time.

What¡¯s impressive is the sort of calculations required to manage traffic as the various bots cross lanes, with the software capable of generating 300 billion route combinations. In addition, the robots also know how to direct themselves to a charging port when they¡¯re low on battery, so the army is up and running 24/7.

The downside, of course, is that a number of workers have been made redundant by the robot workforce, as STO says they¡¯ve been able to save half the expenses typically needed for human employees.