施泰纳和克拉克也开始看食品之外的领域，寻找利润丰厚的业务。Ocado在物流、人工智能、机器人技术和仿真方面的专长可应用于自动停车场、包裹分拣、行李搬运、铁路货运、集装箱港口和模块化、可配置建筑等。克拉克说，公司已经在相关领域申请了多项专利。克拉克表示，Ocado研发了模拟停车系统，而且开始探索扩大版机器人，以处理比一箱香蕉重得多的货物。
公司还为硬件搭配了诸多新软件，从基于云的移动应用到人工智能均囊括在内。现在Ocado向全世界的杂货店提供集成软件包，以及维护和升级的工程支持服务。
Such doubts haven’t stopped Ocado from raising capital. It issued a $187 million share offering in 2018. In February 2019, it sold 50% of its British e-commerce operation to U.K. retailer Marks & Spencer. The sale simplified Ocado’s proposition to investors, positioning it as more of a pure-play tech platform, while raising $982 million. (Marks & Spencer will also become Ocado’s new wholesale food partner; Ocado’s long-term supply contract with Waitrose comes to an end in late 2020.) Ocado also sold $655 million of convertible bonds in December.
投资者似乎相信Ocado能抓住当前的机会。2月28日以来，尽管全球市场暴跌，Ocado股价还是上涨了28%。然而，未来看起来有点灰暗。由于Ocado采取许可经营，前期要花巨资建设数十个订单分拣中心。相关债务导致一些分析师怀疑，目前背负逾7.5亿美元债务的Ocado承担的风险是不是太大。而且，即使大流行过去，有个问题也不容忽视，不管是哪家杂货商，即便引进Ocado的机器人帮助，能否挡住什么都卖的亚马逊，还有总部位于本顿维尔的沃尔玛的冲击。
本文另一版本登载于《财富》杂志2020年5月刊，标题为《新冠疫情前线上的杂货机器人》。
平日里，Ocado的机器人分拣仓库已业务繁忙，新冠危机爆发以来简直忙得不可开交。疫情蔓延也证明，即便人类劳动力面临前所未有的压力，杂货电商业务也能保持蓬勃发展。然而与此同时，危机也颠覆了日常生活，在Ocado有望在全球拓展业务之际可能影响业务增长。
It’s a common refrain among Ocado’s customers: They lack the resources to replicate Ocado’s technology. “We are a big company, but we are not a technology company,” says Anders Svensson, the CEO of ICA Sweden. Ocado, in contrast, employs more than 1,800 software engineers and 600 hardware specialists. That’s far less than Amazon or Google, but it’s a lot for a grocer.
Still, like its peers, Ocado has sometimes stumbled as it races to keep up. To try to slow the overwhelming order volume, Ocado shut down its mobile app and implemented a queuing system on its website. But demand was simply too great, and with all its delivery slots booked for a week out, Ocado was forced to temporarily shut down its website in mid-March. When it came back online, almost a week later, the company restricted orders to existing customers; even so, delivery slots remain difficult to find. And, like many grocers, Ocado temporarily limited customers to two or three of any individual item to deter hoarding.
机器人由Ocdoo与英国机器人公司Tharsus共同设计，通过内部4G网络控制，其基站之密集，在全球都无出其右。网络中每台机器人每秒能跟控制软件完成10次通信。厄里斯的蜂巢每天产生4兆兆字节的数据，所有数据都反馈到数字孪生体中以完善系统。