I hope there are some security videos yet to be released, showing robots delivering stuff on fire all over the place.

Brad Waybright

It's all okay as long as it's okay.

I wouldn't be surprised if this incident drives a new standard or series of standards from NFPA regarding facilities or occupancies designed exclusively for robots. Living in the future is fascinating.

That's an interesting problem. Assuming the sprinkler system worked as intended (as indicated in the articles), I'll be curious to see what the cause of fire was and why it spread so quickly/wasn't suppressed. I wonder if the individual robots have a smoke sensor to detect fire and shutdown to avoid rapidly spreading the fire.

Names of deceased robots are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

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All gave some, some gave all. RIP robots.

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The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.

Since there was obviously a fire detection system, it would seem prudent that all robots in a fire zone would stop motion. I believe that should have been obvious to the designers.

Brad Waybright

It's all okay as long as it's okay.

Quote (From the Article)

Fortunately nobody was hurt.

Except the robots.

Quote (From the Article)

"One of the pitfalls of a robot-only workplace: they can't smell the smoke when said workplace is on fire," wrote one commenter.

Apparently this warehouse didn't use union robots, who have been fitted with robotic noses...https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/nze7ek/...

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I guess you might not think to tell a robot it shouldn't deliver a package that's on fire...

We need to go back to the three laws of robotics.

Too many eggs in one basket?

Think about all those polyethylene bins melting and burning like diesel fuel and the batteries for the robots. Unless the sprinkler system is using a special extinguishing agent, it isn't likely to do much. The high stack nature of the combustibles would make it difficult to get extinguishing media where it is needed.

700 people lost their jobs & cars aparently. Luckily for Ocado, they opened an even larger 200,000 order facility in the 3rd quarter of last year.

Oh! The machinery...

The problem with sloppy work is that the supply FAR EXCEEDS the demand

I think the investigation will find there were insufficient exits with the burned robots jam-packed at the few that were available.

You guys crack me up.


It really would be spectacular to see the video of that evolving disaster.
I wonder if the robots started moving faster in an ant-like frenzy to complete their tasks.

Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com

There's a video on the BBC youtube channel. I assume it's not regional specific. Search for 'Ocado fire Andover'.

www.tynevalleyplastics.co.uk

Politicians like to panic, they need activity. It is their substitute for achievement.

Thanks PUD! It was fascinating/mesmerizing watching the swarm.

Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com

I worked in a large warehouse once, and the stock and retrieve were all automated.
We built fire resistant partitions in the building so that any incident could be contained.
And our fire suppression was closer to deluge than sprinkler, we handled a lot of flammable stuff.
And our system was tied into the fire detection/suppression system.
If the heat or smoke sensors tripped the machines in that zone simply stopped where they were, and machines in other zones all went 'home'.
This was 40 years ago .....

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P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube

Well as someone told me a good few years ago, there hasnt been a system yet , built by man , that hasn't or couldn't fail. Chernoble, Fukishima ,
the Space shuttle should be enough to convince anyone of that idea.

I suspect that with todays technology there probably exists an attitude of " that was then , today we know so much more and our computers say.....",


I suspect there was a complete absence of risk analysis in the design of this plant. and I suspect there wasnt anybody old enough to even ask " What if such and such event occurred?

Old lessons have to be relearned by every generation

As someone who has experienced first hand what it's like to be standing in a warehouse, under a sprinkler head when it goes off, and this was in Connecticut in the Winter so the water was ice cold, I can feel for what it must have been like for the robots

For details as to the circumstances of this event, go to: https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=427490

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

Maybe the robots did stop, but looking at the videos of the site this could have prevented the sprinklers from accessing the fire under one of the robots. Also the robots worked on complex grid system. Any damage to the robots sensors or blocked lanes would throw it into chaos.

Will be interesting to see if we ever do how they analysed the sprinkler layout taking into account the 1100 moving blocks above combustible material.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

If fire is detected all those robots should've left the building, maybe onto a ramp in the parking lot, to give the fire system a chance and to remove probably several megawatts of battery energy from the evolving calamity.

Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com

Robot arson, perhaps? Similar to a prison riot.

From this article it appears that many of the robots were still in operation while the fire fighters were trying to extinguish the fire:

Ocado robots at Andover warehouse ‘hampered’ firefighters

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ocado-robots-at...

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

Interesting. In the US the requirements in the International Fire Code addresses this specific issue. The material handling equipment is required to shut down upon sprinkler water flow.

I'm sure the requirements/standards will go up when the insurance industry decides not to insure unless...blah, blah, blah.. is done.

www.tynevalleyplastics.co.uk

Politicians like to panic, they need activity. It is their substitute for achievement.

In the US if your equipment does not shut down in a fire then you insurance Co will likely not pay since you wern't complying with the rules.

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P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube

I read this as “Avocado automated/robotic warehouse fire.” Which made it even funnier to me to think about flaming robots scurrying around with armloads of produce while the building burned around them.

Quote (RVAmeche)

I wonder if the individual robots have a smoke sensor to detect fire and shutdown...

It seems clear that AI applied to the physical world requires all the usual senses (vision, feel, smell, etc.).

Sooner or later we will being seeing Autonomous Vehicles wandering around, oblivious to the fact that they're on fire....or worse.

I'm not sure that this seemingly rather-obvious conclusion has yet been 'hoisted aboard' by the applicable industries.

And we are getting into autonomous cars. Picture a fire in the Queens Tunnel.

FYI, the cause was an electrical fault with a charging unit.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-4809...

I'm still hoping for release of security video showing flaming robots driving around, spreading the fire throughout the place.

Brad Waybright

It's all okay as long as it's okay.

I'm always most struck by the phenomenal pollution and waste of natural resources things like this cause. Think of the hit a landfill gets from this mess.

Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com

There will be a lot less going to the landfill than if there had been no fire. Everything eventually goes to a landfill unless it gets burned (including people).