A New Chapter of Logistic History: Human-Machine Collaboration

Asst. Prof. Suwan Juntiwasarakij, Ph.D., MEGA Tech Senior Editor

Machines, computers, and robotics are advancing such that they beginning to perform jobs previously reserved for humans who can think and move on their feet. Human can problem-solve, execute non-routine manual tasks, and use their brains to analyze, create, and decide. Thanks to technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics computers and machines are now better at performing tasks that we as humans currently perform with less errors, 24/7, and more efficient. Nevertheless, machine struggle to do cognitive, non-routine tasks as well as some manual non-routine tasks.

The Human Work of The Future

The advent of intelligence machinery gives us humans the opportunity to redefine work. Reskilling people to do a different type of routine tasks or to use a new technology to complete the same tasks does not fundamentally change the problem for worker or capture the potential for companies. Only redefining work itself has the potential to expand value for companies, customers, and workers. It require cultivating and drawing on intrinsic human capabilities to undertake work for fundamentally different purposes. By redesigning work, this issue explores DHL’s future vision that is perhaps one of the best showcases in response to human-machine collaboration initiatives.

Human-Machine Collaboration

In an effort to show human-machine collaboration, the British Transportation Research Library, DHL, and DAF Trucks are undergoing a platooning project on UK motorway. In this regard, platooning refers to the intelligence caravanning of groups of semi-trucks. With machine-to-machine communications and collaborative assisted cruise control technology, between two to five semi-trucks can follow each other and autonomously synchronize acceleration, steering, braking, and following distance. The platoon is controlled by a human driver operating the lead truck, with a backup driver in each following truck if needed. In addition, autonomous fleets will eventually be used in all aspects of supply chain from end to end. Early signs of this can be seen in intra-logistics, line-hual trucking, and last-mile delivery. The followings are DHL’s explorations on intelligence robotics and automation technologies that undergo testing, and the settings are distribution centers, sorting centers, and last-mile delivery.

DHL Future Vision: Distribution Centers

Workers train the robots through simple interfaces to do easy and repetitive tasks, the robots themselves get connected to the cloud and automatically download the knowledge needed to perform certain tasks. This yields humans to take more responsibility, more challenging, and higher-level tasks such as managing operations, coordinating flows, fixing robots, and handling exceptions or difficulties. Overall reliability will increase because there will be fewer single points of failure in each distribution center. If it breaks down, the robot can be replaced immediately.

DHL Future Vision: Sorting Centers

Robotic warehouses and sorting centers are just as effective on the last shift as they are on the first shift. Working in waves, the new supply chain facilitates multiple shipments to end customers each day. By fully utilizing equipment across shifts, we will be able to lower logistics cost and, by processing multiple daily delivery waves, we will achieve faster service to end customers. Goods will be brought to the sorting center by self-driving trucks which will arrive according to specific scheduled timeslots, and we will be able to efficiently control truck movements onto and around the yard using GPS and a yard management systems. When leaving the sorting center, most parcels will be loaded by robotic arms into line haul trucks which take them to the next sorting center in the network. Some items will be loaded into drones for airborne delivery to hard-to-reach addresses.

DHL Future Vision: Last-Mile Delivery

In the future, people will interact with robots on a daily basis. Delivery robots are physically safe because of collision prevention systems by using advanced sensors such as cameras, laser scanners, and proximity sensing. Using cloud computing techniques, these robots will provide high-quality customer service. They will be able to speak many languages, react to customer’s emotions, and access appropriate account information to ensure successful interaction. However, large items will still be delivered to customers by humans. The human workers may be assisted by mobile robots carrying several items and following behind the humans along their route.

Take-Home Message

Robots have already entered the world of logistics. However, a number of studies show that there will a labor shortage in many developed countries over the course of the next twenty years. This is problematic since the increased needs for labor in warehouses area growing according to the online shopping trends worldwide. In this regard, the outlook for robotics is very positive and the world of logistics will benefit from the coming advances in intelligence machinery technology.