Online marketplaces are slowly accelerating towards food technology innovations, in which IoT (Internet of Things) will benefit food delivery and product development. For Ocado, the online food retailer, to develop a 4G-based wireless protocol means it would enhance the rise of food delivery within the industry.
Advances around analytics, real-time tracing, routing optimization and customer notifications have been applied in Ocado's food delivery management, made possible by the Internet of Things. IoT and other technologies related to it all show a promising way to alter the food supply chain from farms to households. These advancements will also affect takeaway food ordering and delivery.
Ocado's Robot Technology Powers Automated Warehouses
Internet Retailing reports that Ocado has plans in developing a 4G-based wireless protocol to control the robots in its new warehouses better. The supposed solution was formulated to overcome technical challenges, one of them being the capability to communicate with more 10,000 robots concurrently.
Ocado's highly automated warehouses are to be offered as a portion of a managed service called "Ocado Smart Platform." This proposal will enable international partners to build profitable and sustainable ecommerce businesses. The protocol is to become the first in the world to make use of the unlicensed 4G spectrum for warehouse automation.
Ocado: The Food We Eat Revolutionized Through IoT
Today's generation of shoppers in Ocado and other online marketplaces has already experienced the benefits of the Internet of Things in the food industry. From how consumers do businesses or how customers shop, IoT has provided ways in giving customers real-time insight on how products are really used.
"Creating a swarm of thousands of robots and making sure you can communicate with every single in a tenth of a second is a whole different ball game," said Ocado's Adam Green. The platform was handpicked out of the many ideas, to which Cambridge Consultants emerged triumphant, reports the Ocado Technology blog. Cambridge Consultants was chosen for their outstanding DSP (digital signal processing) and RF (radio frequency).
"The partnership has proven to be very successful because we have produced a fully featured prototype within two years (it usually takes three to five)," Green said in the blog post. Ocado pioneering the technological advancement on food technology may pave way for others to follow suit and completely change how consumers order and consume food.