Four months in a q-commerce dark store.
A four-month engineering pilot, concluded in 2026, in a Gulf-region quick-commerce dark store. Ambient groceries, one picking arm and automated bagging.
What made it hard.
The peak caps the day
With picking by hand, more orders mean more people and more floor. At the peak both run out.
Too many hands in the loop
At the start of the pilot, about four orders in ten needed an operator to step in.
No room to spread
About 580 products, in 28 square metres, under 3.2 metres. The system had to fit it.
Order in. Bag out.
- to complete an order
- 1.34 min
- picks per arm
- 6 a minute
- of orders without an operator stepping in, up from about 60%
- 96%
- products in 28 m²
- ~580
Four-month engineering pilot, concluded in 2026. Ambient groceries only.