Will Smarter Robots Give eCommerce A Boost? PYMNTS.com

The next great robotic breakthrough is upon us -- according to recent Wall Street Journal reports, it's a machine that can pick up a toy and place it in a box correctly. Admittedly it's a bit more exciting than it sounds, since it may sound like science has designed robots to have the net skill level of a five-year-old human child. But, as it turns out, that simple skill and figuring it out has been a major hurdle to automating warehouse work. But it seems the toy-picking robots may be upon us, as Hudson's Bay Co. and China's JD.com are now testing their own robotic "pickers" distribution centers. According to some robotics experts, robots can move inventory almost 50 percent faster than their human counterparts.