Chinese company JD.com plans to purchase 3 million robots and 1 million autonomous vehicles over the next five years to automate logistics operations. The company's logistics division announced the plans at an event in Beijing, according to the South China Morning Post. At the same time, JD.com intends to retrain employees to work with robotic systems and maintain equipment.
The robots will be used at various stages of order processing and delivery. The company plans to deploy them for warehouse picking, cargo sorting and movement, as well as order delivery. JD.com unveiled a lineup of industrial robots called Wolf Robot, designed to perform repetitive operations. The lineup also includes specialized machines capable of operating at temperatures down to −20 °C, automated systems for pharmaceutical delivery, and unmanned aerial vehicles.
In the delivery and logistics sector, JD.com and its affiliated entities currently employ approximately 700,000 people. The company states that the introduction of robotic systems will be accompanied by a shift in the employment structure. Under the Nirvana Plan program, couriers and warehouse workers are set to be trained in technical specialties. After retraining, employees will be able to handle the operation, maintenance, and repair of robots, as well as perform other tasks related to the functioning of automated infrastructure.
A separate aspect of the project involves data collection for the development of embodied artificial intelligence systems capable of interacting with physical objects and the surrounding environment. JD.com intends to collect more than 10 million hours of data on robot and human operations. To achieve this, the company plans to use its own warehouses, stores, and pharmacies. In addition, more than 80 RoboBase centers are planned to be established across China. These will focus on robotics research, pilot manufacturing, data collection and annotation, as well as equipment upgrades and maintenance.
To process data, JD.com is also developing computing infrastructure. The company has signed an agreement with Chinese chipmaker Moore Threads to create a computing cluster based on 100,000 domestic processors. It is planned to be used for training and running AI models, simulation, and the development of embodied artificial intelligence applications. JD.com expects to use this infrastructure at all stages of robotic system development – from data collection and model training to their deployment in real-world conditions.