The world's first humanless warehouse is run only by robots and is a model for the future

At a recent technology show in Tokyo, a large robot arm reached into a full-sized mockup of a shipping container and began unloading boxes from it. Set on a platform that moved back and forth, the robot was doing a job usually carried out by warehouse workers and forklift operators. The goal of the company that's developing it, Mujin, is total automation. The system, still a prototype, doesn't work perfectly -- it accidentally damaged a box during the demo -- but it's going to be trialed in warehouses in Japan this year. "Lifting heavy boxes is probably the most backbreaking task in warehouse logistics," said Mujin's American co-founder and CTO, Rosen Diankov.