When it comes to heavy lifting, Amazon.com Inc. is putting its weight behind robots.  Recently the online retail giant won a patent to automate the loading and unloading of cargo trucks at its massive fulfillment centers.

The patent, filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in August 2016, describes using the Roomba-like robots to haul products to and from freight trucks traveling between the warehouses. The robots already transport shelves full of inventory inside the warehouses, writes Casey Coombs for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

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The goal behind the use of such technology is, of course, speed of delivery  of products ordered on Amazon’s online marketplace, including groceries from Whole Foods.

“In inventory systems tasked with responding to large numbers of diverse inventory requests, inefficient utilization of system resources, including space, equipment, and manpower, can result in lower throughput, unacceptably long response times, an ever-increasing backlog of unfinished tasks, and, in general, poor system performance,” according to the filing.

In addition to fulfillment centers, the robots could be used in “mail order warehouses, supply chain distribution centers, airport luggage systems, and custom-order manufacturing facilities,” the filing states.

To read the complete story click here.

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