Amazon bought Kiva a while back now to do robotics for them, and it's used heavily in their warehouses and facilities around retail side. Anything they can automate through robotics, they try to as robots can work 24x7 (other than maintenance requirements) and over their life span cost less than human workers. They also sponsor engineering competitions around trying to make generalised picking machines. It's good PR for them, and although unlikely any time soon, someone _might_ have an inspired idea and solve something that has vexed experts for a long time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUx-ljgB-5Q shows some footage of the robotics they use.