|
Fifty-five small, four-wheeled
autonomous mobile robots -- or AMR's -- powered by artificial
intelligence, glide around Hellenic Post's sorting centre in
Athens, speeding up an often arduous process.
They scan the postal code, weigh the package and, directed by
sensors, empty it into the corresponding mail sacks set up
around a platform.
The robots are part of the state-owned company's digital
restructuring programme, which aims to tackle growing numbers of
parcels from online shopping during the coronavirus pandemic.
"Until recently, sorting has been carried out by manual labour
with a high demand in time, often with errors occurring, causing
delivery delays for our customers and increased costs for the
company," Hellenic Post Chief Executive George Constantopoulos
told Reuters.
Up to 80% of parcel sorting has been handed over to the robots
and Constantopoulos said the process was up to three times
faster, ensuring next-day delivery.
The robots can handle as many as 168,000 parcels weighing up to
15 kg a day and only need to be recharged every four hours for 5
minutes.
"The purpose is not to replace human workers with robots, but
rather to augment human workforces and make them more
efficient," Constantopoulos said.
(Writing by Phoebe Fronista; Editing by Karolina Tagaris and
Alison Williams)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
