Design Engineering
Showcase 2023

Ocado Technology

Tags
Robotics
Mechanical Design

Project Details

Student
James Howells
Team
600-series Bot
Role
Mechanical Design Intern
Sector
Technology
Links
LinkedIn

Ocado Technology is a leading software and robotics platform business, providing specialised products for online grocery ecommerce, warehousing, and delivery. It provides the ecommerce and logistics technology behind ocado.com in the UK, and partners with some of the largest grocery retailers around the world.

I have worked as a mechanical designer on the new and revolutionary 600-series Bot, which aims to make Ocado Technology’s offering more efficient by leveraging additive manufacturing, for the first time in a mass-produced product.

James Howells

Role and Contributions

My role in Ocado Technology has been as a mechanical design intern within the 600-series Bot team, which is a division of the Automated Storage and Retrieval System stream. I have been working with project teams made up of a mix of engineers from mechanical, electronics, verification, and other crafts on various projects to further the mechanical development of the bot, from tweaking aspects of the design to helping create entirely new subsystems. I have used Design Engineering skills such as rapid prototyping and design for additive manufacture, as large parts of the bot are 3D printed, as well as extensive CAD work, electronics prototyping and technical drawing, at one point going on a technical drawing course to learn how to create production-ready drawings. Key outcomes from the last six months have included contributions towards the enclosures for the electronics of the Bot, as well as extensive work on the mechanism it uses to change direction on the grids in Ocado-designed warehouses. These have ensured that the bot is easier for operators to use and maintain, which will contribute to the project achieving its goals of a lighter, more efficient bot.

James Howells