Robotic In-Store Fulfillment Layout for Hybrid Retail Picking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Brick-and-mortar retail stores face challenges in competing with online retailers due to inefficiencies in order fulfillment and customer experience, particularly in handling both fungible and non-fungible goods, leading to increased costs and reduced market share.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an automated-service model in brick-and-mortar stores that utilizes robots for automated fulfillment of fungible goods and allows customers to hand-pick non-fungible goods, with integrated systems for order processing, non-fungible goods fulfillment, and delivery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If brick-and-mortar stores use traditional self-service model, then customers can physically examine products and receive immediate fulfillment, but operational costs increase and efficiency decreases due to manual picking and checkout processes
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables customers to self-select products through touchscreens and automatically guides the robotic fulfillment process. Customers place orders via self-service interfaces, and the system autonomously handles picking, packing, and delivery without requiring manual intervention from store employees for these tasks.
Solution Approach 2:
Manual mechanical processes are replaced with an automated robotic system. The robotic fulfillment center uses automated robots to pick products from storage, pack them into containers, and deliver them to customers, replacing the traditional manual picking and packing processes that required human labor.
2Ease of operation
If brick-and-mortar stores expand into e-commerce with online ordering, then customers gain convenience of ordering from any location, but picking orders in-store becomes inefficient and disruptive to customers
Solution Approach 1:
The store is divided into two distinct zones: a customer-facing shopping area and a separate robotic fulfillment center. This segmentation allows online order picking to occur in a dedicated backend area that does not interfere with customer shopping experiences, while still providing the convenience of online ordering.
Solution Approach 2:
The robotic fulfillment center acts as an intermediary between the online ordering system and the customer. Robots receive digital orders, autonomously pick and pack items, and deliver them to designated pickup locations, serving as a mediator that handles the fulfillment process without requiring human pickers to interrupt customer service.
3Ease of operation
If brick-and-mortar stores maintain traditional checkout lines, then customers can receive personalized service, but checkout lines become a necessary evil that reduces shopping experience
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service checkout where customers use touchscreens to select products, view their orders, and complete payments automatically. The robotic fulfillment center then handles the physical assembly and delivery of orders, eliminating the need for traditional checkout counters and associated queues.
4Adaptability or versatility
If online retailers offer vast product assortment through fulfillment centers, then product variety increases, but delivery time and logistics complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies a spatial dimension solution by locating the robotic fulfillment center within the brick-and-mortar store itself rather than in a remote distribution center. This allows the system to leverage the store's existing location advantage for immediate product availability while using vertical and horizontal space efficiently to accommodate diverse product assortments.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for a combination store, providing an automated fulfillment system at a level of the combination store, the automated fulfillment system configured for receiving an order of one or more goods selected by a customer or customer proxy, the automated fulfillment system including a storage structure having a plurality of rack structures separated by aisles and a plurality of storage levels, the storage structure configured for storing and retrieving totes from the storage structure with at least one mobile robot, where at least one mobile robot picks one or more totes with one or more goods for delivery to a pickup station of the combination store for pickup by the customer or customer proxy and presenting additional goods to the customer or customer proxy for picking for purchase at a shopping section at another level of the combination store above or below the level having the automated fulfillment system.