Joseph Galante, Rise of the Orange Machine. Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Nov. 10, 2010 (title in the print).
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_47/b4204047877696.htm
My comment:
(a) Kiva Systems
http://www.kivasystems.com
Kiva is based at Woburn, Massachusetts, a Boston suburb. I have not heard of it, which is not unusual.
At the home page:
(i) click the "See Demo" button at the uppoer left corner for a video clip;
(ii) click "Solution" at the top horizontal bar. I read it ans still do not know how "robotic drive units retrieve the appropriate pods and bring them to the worker."
(b) pod (n):
"4: a usually protective container or housing: as
a: a streamlined compartment (as for fuel) under the wings or fuselage of an aircraft
b: a compartment (as for personnel, a power unit, or an instrument) on a ship or craft"
www.m-w.com
My guess in the context of Kiva is: a pod refers to a case atop a shelf. It turns out that I am right. See next.
(c) Candace Lombardi, Zappos tries robots on for size. CNET, June 27, 2008.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17912_3-9978844-72.html?tag=mncol;txt
(d) Well, after all of this I stil do not know how it works. I will chalk it up to trade secrets.
------------------------Separately
Ben Worthen, Dell's Mobile Chief to Quit. Wall Street Journal, Nov. 18, 2010.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703688704575621101353557126.html