Warehouse Robots Pave Way for More AI Logistics PYMNTS.com

Robots have taken their place inside eCommerce and other commerce-related warehouses, and will in the coming years take even larger roles in fulfillment, according to estimates. Hot on their trail are machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) technology -- the software and algorithms promising to reduce the risks of overstocking and understocking, and providing other benefits that can boost retailers' revenue. Overstocking costs retailers about $470 billion annually, according to one of the most recent estimates, this one from IHL Group. Understocking is even more expensive -- about $630 billion in global annual costs. Algorithms -- most notably, the ones used by Amazon -- already help assuage both problems by predicting consumer demand "for hundreds of millions of products it sells, often as much as 18 months ahead," according to The Economist.