Amazon Tests Humanoid Robot To Increase Automation In Warehouses

Amazon claims that it’s currently testing two new technologies to increase automation in its warehouses. A humanoid robot is one of them. Amazon warehouses now deploy more than 750,000 robots. According to the company, most of them are robotic arms or wheel-based machines designed for redundant jobs to free up employees for other tasks. The company aims to push automation in warehouses to “free up” staff. Right now, it is testing a humanoid robot, called Digit. It is bipedal and can squat, bend, and grasp items using clasps that imitate hands. In addition to that, Digit is built by Agility Robotics Inc. and will initially be used to help employees handle totes that have been unloaded.

Amazon Trials A Humanoid Robot Called Digit

Reports claim that Amazon invested in Agility Robotics last year. The retailer is the second-largest US employer after Walmart Inc. However, it has also deployed robots in its warehouses for more than a decade, especially to move inventory to waiting employees. Most of the systems which start with humans loading inventory items into mesh shelving, are undergoing a modification to container-based storage. It allows robotic arms and other automated technology to sort and pick items more easily. Amazon says:

“Its size and shape are well suited for buildings that are designed for humans, and we believe that there is a big opportunity to scale a mobile manipulator solution, such as Digit, which can work collaboratively with employees,”

In addition to the Humanoid robot, Amazon is also testing a technology called Sequoia. It will identify and sort inventory into containers for employees. The employees will then pick the items customers have ordered. The company says that the remaining products will then be consolidated in bins by a robotic arm called Sparrow. For those who are unaware, the company revealed Sparrow last year and this system is already deployed at an Amazon warehouse in Houston.

No doubt, the company underscored quick delivery to fend off challenges from e-commerce rivals. The Sequoia system also reduces the time it takes a warehouse to process an order by as much as 25%. It is also tipped to move the process in warehouses closer to an assembly line from the traditional warehouse model of employees searching for items and taking them off shelves. By providing employees with new technology and training them to develop new skills, Amazon is no doubt creating career paths and new and exciting ways for people to contribute to the company.

According to the company executives, the basic goal is to use automation in part to free employees from repetitive tasks that can lead to injuries. It is pertinent to mention here that Amazon is under fire from Washington state and federal regulators for injury rates that surpass industry averages.