There are systems like that, but they&#x27;re much more expensive than the Kiva system.  Kiva just needs a standard, simple mobile robot base and a lot of sheet metal shelving units.  It&#x27;s reliable, because no one robot is essential; if one fails, another one takes over. All you need is a big warehouse with a flat floor; there&#x27;s not a lot of custom mechanical engineering of conveyors and tracks.<p>The Kiva system is low-maintenance and low-skill.  All you need on-site is someone to replace batteries and tires and clean the things; anything more than that, just ship the robots back to Kiva HQ in Massachusetts.  No need for any on site engineering talent or on call maintenance.<p>Dispensing racks for picking systems are complex, expensive, and have single points of failure for each item. They&#x27;re essentially huge vending machines. They do exist, though.[1]<p>Amazon has an R&amp;D program under way to automate the picking process where the Kiva shelf unit reaches a human. They have a competition for robot picking.[2]  The prize is $26,000 for a solution that will save Amazon billions.<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ssi-schaefer.de&#x2F;en&#x2F;conveying-and-picking&#x2F;automatic-order-picking&#x2F;a-frame.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ssi-schaefer.de&#x2F;en&#x2F;conveying-and-picking&#x2F;automati...</a>
[2] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amazonpickingchallenge.org&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amazonpickingchallenge.org&#x2F;</a>