Picking mixed / irregular items
Warehousing & Delivery · Sorter / Picker
“Picking mixed / irregular items” (Warehousing & Delivery) is being replaced by AI: it entered in 2024 and is projected to be largely replaced by 2032.
What this task is
Grabbing items of every shape, size and material from storage totes, including soft packaging, fragile goods and irregular objects, and placing them correctly into order boxes.
How AI replaces it
This requires recognizing highly varied objects and controlling grip force, which robots long struggled with. Since 2024, general-purpose robot arms using vision models have begun deployment, but reliably handling most item types is expected only around 2032.
What stays human
Workers handle the items robots fail to pick, help train and tune the grasping systems, and carry out quality spot checks on outgoing orders before they leave the warehouse.