South East: Ocado teaches robots to talk over 4G

The world’s largest online-only grocery retailer, Ocado, has developed a 4G-based protocol to communicate with thousands of robots powering its new automated warehouses.

The protocol marks the first deployment anywhere of the unlicensed 4G spectrum for warehouse automation. It guarantees a connection 10 times per second to each of the 1,000-plus robots roaming around the warehouse, all working within a 150m radius. 

Building a robot is a relatively straightforward task, but creating a swarm of thousands of robots and making sure you can communicate with every single one in a 10th of a second is a whole different ball game. Ocado has worked closely with Cambridge Consultants to develop an innovative system that takes advantage of modern wireless communications principles but which has secret ingredients that tailor it to the firm’s specific environment.  

What is more, the firm’s highly-automated warehouses will be offered as part of a managed service called the Ocado Smart Platform which will enable international partners to build scalable, sustainable and profitable online retail businesses.

Adam Green, wireless team leader at Ocado, explained: “Since the protocol works in the license-free spectrum, it can also be deployed at a moment's notice in any location around the world.”

The wireless protocol can also be repurposed for other IoT applications which mandate reduced communications delay between many devices. These include vehicle-to-vehicle connectivity for smart cars, air-traffic-control systems and large-scale industrial systems.