Urbx "Skyscraper" Supermarket, Seaport

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From https://www.grocerydive.com/news/meet-the-vertical-automated-grocery-store/597002/ :

Building a fully automated omnichannel grocery store is certainly an eye-catching idea right now, but it’s also prohibitively expensive for most startups. In addition to pricey robotics and other hardware, real estate costs can balloon into the millions of dollars in urban neighborhoods that have the population density and income levels to support such a model.

That’s why Lincoln Cavalieri wants to build vertically. He’s the co-founder of Urbx, a startup that’s planning to build a grocery store with an automated fulfillment system attached to it that reaches up to 150 feet high and can squeeze into as little as 1,800 square feet of space.


Urbx Market, as it’s being called for now, will focus on filling e-commerce orders to the many consumers that live around its stores, the first of which is slated to be built in Boston by the end of next year. Pickup orders and e-bike deliveries will get orders to shoppers within an hour. There will also be a small storefront where shoppers can order using kiosks, or with their phones, and robots will bring their orders out to them within minutes. Order picking and packing will happen in a basement level, furthering the focus on vertical alignment.

Cavalieri said the store will cost between $5 million and $7 million to build — roughly the same cost to construct a Whole Foods, he said, but with lower real estate costs and higher e-commerce productivity.

"I think the whole process of how a grocery store is laid out is going to change significantly in the future, and it's going to be driven by e-commerce," he said.

Operating small, automated grocery fulfillment in a densely populated urban market isn’t a new concept. But being able to stack the hardware numerous stories high promises to alleviate at least some of the cost pressures that make urban e-commerce so tricky. Urbx’s system uses robots that travel vertically and horizontally along fixed tracks, and incorporates predictive picking software to optimize their routes.
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More about it here:
www.yahoo.com

A peek at the skyscraper grocery stores of the future

We’ve talked before about how Amazon has spent the past few years branching into cashierless grocery stores: shoppers simply scan a QR code upon entry, let Amazon monitor them as they shop, and then leave with their items, which will then get charged to their Amazon account. Part of the reason...
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com

URBX Logistics

Robotic Fulfilment, eCommerce & Logistics
www.urbx.com www.urbx.com

I doubt the building will come anywhere close to being built "by the end of next year." The site it appears they are planning for it seems to look like it is at the corner of Boston Wharf Road and "Autumn Lane" in the Seaport, which right now is a park.

1617029394411.png

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Interesting concept. It basically cuts the "human pushing the shopping cart through a grocery store" part out of the grocery distribution channel, and instead packs consumer grocery bags straight from the wholesale distribution network without the walkable aisles middle step. The tech behind it sounds like, basically, a giant vending machine.

BUT the render looks to really just be a demonstrative concept; I don't think there's any evidence that the company has any ties to a specific parcel in Boston. I'd recommend moving this thread from "Development Projects" to something like "Boston Architecture & Urbanism."
 
It used to be that a person would hand their grocer a list of things and they would pick and pack them. Then Piggly Wiggly pioneered the self-pick model. Now we’re returning to the older one.
 
Wonder where they got the $5 million quote from for a 150' tower packed with robotic systems... Seems really low to me..
 
Crazy and cool idea if it's actually automated, and not automated in the way Amazon warehouses are "automated." This would be incredible.
 
Hmm, the ground level, especially with the small fleet of delivery vehicles, reminds me of the small takuhaibin depots scattered about in Japanese neighborhoods.
 
Bizarre that they'd render it on a park in the Seaport. Two places this might actually work:
88 N Washington St (room to go tall, tiny lot, project falling through, big roads)
That Pencil tower site on Washington St downtown above Felt (though trucks a nono there most times)
 
Gameguy326 said:
Crazy and cool idea if it's actually automated, and not automated in the way Amazon warehouses are "automated." This would be incredible.
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It's not for the same reason Amazon warehouses are not. You simply cannot afford to do pick and pack on a grocery store variety of items today with current robotics. Add in the complexity of frozen foods, refrigerated foods, fragile produce, crushables like snacks and bread... Not there yet.
 
curcuas said:
Bizarre that they'd render it on a park in the Seaport. Two places this might actually work:
88 N Washington St (room to go tall, tiny lot, project falling through, big roads)
That Pencil tower site on Washington St downtown above Felt (though trucks a nono there most times)
Click to expand...

I'm not sure this location will go over well at all. It's a really popular park / dog park and basketball court.
 
The last thing this area needs is something that not only removes an outdoor interaction place for the little human activity that exists there, but adds a use that further removes the human element as well.
 
I seriously doubt they are considering building on that park site. My guess is because their office is down the street from the spot they were like "hey that looks like a good place to put in our renders."
 
The renderings are entirely conceptual and are intended for branding.

From their behance page:

A continuation of the Urbx Logistics brand concept visualization as part of the role The Craft has taken. This time we've crafted the Urbx Flagship location in Seaport, Boston. Considering this location has all that one would expect from the future, we allowed ourselves to a bit more visual freedom.
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URBX Logistics

Robotic Fulfilment, eCommerce & Logistics
www.urbx.com www.urbx.com

The website invites you and your community to become members. The first market to be built will be located where there are the most 'members'.

49,500 unique items, supposedly. That is a large number of unique items in a comparatively small space. Supermarkets typically carry between 15,000 and 60,000 SKUs.

No mention of how the market's inventory is stocked, restocked. Presumably will be done by humans.

Finally, their promotional page concludes with this:
Don’t just take our word for it - contact us today to speak with a supply chain expert who can talk through your business needs and customize our solution to fit.
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^^^ This reads as if they're really marketing automated systems that can help existing/proposed distribution centers, and the rendered market in Fort Point is not something they intend to finance, build, and operate.

Conclusion: Big on 'splash'; but the result is a ripple, not a wave.
 
JeffDowntown said:
It's not for the same reason Amazon warehouses are not. You simply cannot afford to do pick and pack on a grocery store variety of items today with current robotics. Add in the complexity of frozen foods, refrigerated foods, fragile produce, crushables like snacks and bread... Not there yet.
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It's a little different here. If you decide to do pick and pack - yeah, that's not there. But if you design the warehouse in a way that you don't need "pick" - think a giant vending machine - then this becomes more feasible.
 
Gameguy326 said:
It's a little different here. If you decide to do pick and pack - yeah, that's not there. But if you design the warehouse in a way that you don't need "pick" - think a giant vending machine - then this becomes more feasible.
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Typical grocery store carries about 40,000 items. So, even if you do a major urban reduction, you are looking at a 10,000 item "vending machine". And every item in that vending machine needs to be packaged in vending compatible format (no damage due to rough handling, not hang up on the conveyors, chutes, etc.). That probably means getting the manufacturer to repackage about 1/2 of the stocked items (good luck). Then 25% of the machine needs to handle frozen items; 25% handle refrigerated items, and the remainder can be ambient temp.

That is one helluva complex vending machine.
 
JeffDowntown said:
Typical grocery store carries about 40,000 items. So, even if you do a major urban reduction, you are looking at a 10,000 item "vending machine". And every item in that vending machine needs to be packaged in vending compatible format (no damage due to rough handling, not hang up on the conveyors, chutes, etc.). That probably means getting the manufacturer to repackage about 1/2 of the stocked items (good luck). Then 25% of the machine needs to handle frozen items; 25% handle refrigerated items, and the remainder can be ambient temp.

That is one helluva complex vending machine.
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Well, they are proposing what sounds like a 15 story vending machine, so I agree. :ROFLMAO:
 
They should go with pneumatic tubes to rooftop trebuchets for delivery. Maximize the Beyond 2000 fantasy of the vision.
 
JeffDowntown said:
I was really hoping for an Elon Musk style hyperloop around the neighborhood, for fast deliveries.
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Every new planned city has something like this //envisioned//

I haven't seen one in operation.

In a city like Boston, I can only imagine the utility and easement nightmare that would induce.
 
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