The word is Kiva...

Last weeks discussion about Robots has inspired to me to blog about them this week! Recently in the news a new type of Robot has entirely replaced the staff at a Staples Business Depot warehouse. Although this may sound insignificant, these robots can life 4 times their weight and move paper four times quicker than the average human. Creator Michael Mountz says that "The Kiva robots, powered by rechargeable lead-acid batteries, are typically 2 feet by 2.5 feet (0.6 metres by 0.76 metres) and stand a foot (0.3 m) high, with blue running lights on their orange facades. They weigh 250 pounds apiece and can carry four times their weight, a trait that befits the company's name: Kiva is a Hopi word for "meeting place of the ant people." These robots use scanning technology to know where to go and where not to go in the warehouse so that they do not bunch into each other. For example (depending on the item) a Kiva carrying a box of pens versus one carrying paper come into each others path. They read labels stuck to the floor to see where they are going and simply zoom around the warehouse on wheels to various shelves to pick up the stock. They make it to their destination at the shelf and begin spinning up a cork-screw-like skid that picks up whatever item is needed to bring it to where it is needed. What can I say? This is amazing! I have enclosed a video, of coarse presented by YouTube to show you exactly how these things work, its quite amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWsMdN7HMuA
So what does this type of invention mean? With this type of technology are we making things easier at the expense of our employment or does it simply create productivity and the ability to focus on more meaningful tasks?
The answer I think is YES!! To begin with they are electronically cost efficient as they do not take up much power, they get the job done much faster, but perhaps more importantly it reduces the amount of workplace injuries that take place which are a huge problem pretty well anywhere. The fact that they are now being offered even cheaper than before makes them all the more accessible to various companies. Mountz says that that "Kiva can outlast the downturn and be ready to scoop up clients in a recovery. He compares his company with the Internet successes that emerged in the wake of the dot-com bust. "Web 2.0 is plowing ahead," he says, "Kiva is fulfillment of 2.0." Whether or not he is right will be determined in the next 5-10 years.