I doubt robots need an office The Importance of AI in Industrial Distribution A few months ago, I found myself in a late-night discussion of robotics.  My compatriots were a distinguished group of automation distributors, and our conversation was fueled by a perfect desert evening and copious amounts of Mexican Cerveza.  The conversation turned to robotics in off-the-wall applications.     Flippy, the burger-cooking robot, now works at White Castel and CaliBurger.  Little Caesars has pizza-making robots.  My local Checkers drive-through has a robotic voice order taker that handles my nearly daily request for two chili dogs.  The list went on for a very long time, when somebody jokingly shared this little gem, “With all this AI stuff, all of us will be replaced by some form of automation.”   I shared this thought with Jenny, who serves as my assistant and editor, and somehow it percolated to top of mind.  While waiting a few m...