Inside Ocado's burning robotic warehouse

Walking into the first chamber of Ocado's robot warehouse system in May, I was immediately struck by three things: how cold it was, how enormous it was, and how quiet. No shouts from warehouse staff, or tinny radios playing pop hits. The robots collect groceries from crates beneath them, and drop them off at a packing station. Occasionally they would all simultaneously come to a halt, green lights blinking, awaiting their next command, received via an unofficial 4G network custom-built by Ocado. Hundreds of swarm robots at Ocado's automated warehouse gathering grocery orders - they have a top speed of 4m per second.