E-Commerce Requires Jobs For Robots

Like Hansel in the movie Zoolander, robots and automation are "so hot right now." Books, articles, and television segments on automation, robotics, and the future of work are coming to dominate the Zeitgeist. People are becoming increasingly aware that automation and robots are going to be important -- and unavoidable -- parts of their working and non-working lives. One of the core reasons that robots have become so hot is that their use is being fueled by in-hand retail. U.S. e-commerce as a percent of all retail sales has been rising -- and it is going to rise further. In order to meet the demand of an accelerated pace of e-commerce, we need to go beyond what humans can do. Historically, the U.S. distribution supply chain involved shipping goods from warehouses to retail stores by pallets or batches.