Robots At Amazon - Where Humans and Machines Become One

Artur Kurasiński
3 min readOct 4, 2019
Robots At Amazon Where Humans and Machines Become One

We live in a world where robots gain more and more opportunities to work with people. Is it possible that they will completely replace people working in your logistics centers?

That’s not how we see it; our vision is robots working *with* people. Simply put, we are piloting and implementing new technology with the goal of increasing safety, speeding up delivery times and adding efficiency across our network. We expect the efficiency savings will be re-invested in new services for customers, where new jobs will continue to be created.

What is the process of creating robots? On what basis are decisions made about what it should look like and what features should such a machine have?

At Amazon, we always start from the customer and work backwards and that’s the approach we’ve taken to technology.

We are not developing technology for technology’s sake — every move we make in this vein is to improve the experience for our customers, associates and partners.

How many different types of robots work in Amazon logistics centers?

We have a variety of different robots in our fulfillment centers around the world. Currently, we have deployed more than 200,000 drive units. These drive units travel to various locations in our FC to pick up mobile shelves of product and deliver them to employees who are fulfilling customer orders.

We also have robotic arms that help to build pallets of totes, enabling a more efficient stream of work in our buildings. You can more of our robotic technologies featured in this video here.

Do you think that in the future you will need robots that, in addition to incredible speed and strength, will also have to show human-like intelligence?

Human intelligence is unique and irreplaceable. We regularly look at our operations and evaluate how we can bring technology to create new solutions for employees. We aim to extend human capability by offering our employees the best tools on the planet and will continue to innovate in all ways for our customer.

We build collaborative robotics that allow our skilled associates to make high judgement calls onsite. For example humans can look at a pallet of maple syrup and understand how best to unpack it.

Robots aren’t yet able to easily detect what kind of liquid is in a container or if it’s spilled within is packaging. Humans can easily understand what they’re unpacking and then find a way to safely unpack it without causing further damage.

How complex and complicated robot can you create?

On the contrary, we take pride in how simple and robust we can make our growing fleet of collaborative robotics. We invent and simplify to enable safe use throughout our entire fulfillment chain. At Amazon, it’s about creating solutions that will solve customer problems and create a better, safer work environment for our associates.

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Tye Brady, Chief Technologist, Amazon Robotics

Tye Brady is a leading strategic thinker and engineering professional with more than 25 years of hands-on experience in team leadership, technical management, and system design for advanced instrumentation, autonomous vehicles, and robotic systems. Tye is chief technologist at Amazon Robotics, where he heads advanced technology and research efforts.

Before joining Amazon, Tye spent 15 years with Draper Laboratory in a variety of technical and leadership roles, advancing robotics and spacecraft engineering. He holds a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics engineering from MIT. Tye is a founding partner of MassRobotics, a not-for-profit organization serving as a world-class platform for robotic innovation.

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