Amazon is reportedly testing humanoid robots and a new sorting technology, aiming to enhance automation and efficiency in its warehouses. The technologies could have a troubling impact on the number of humans employed in the e-commerce giant’s extensive network of warehouses.
Bloomberg reports that Amazon is taking a leap in warehouse automation by introducing two groundbreaking technologies. The company has unveiled a humanoid robot named Digit, alongside a sophisticated sorting technology known as Sequoia, both aimed at streamlining warehouse operations and improving overall productivity.
ROMEOVILLE, IL – AUGUST 01: Workers pack and ship customer orders at the 750,000-square-foot Amazon fulfillment center on August 1, 2017 in Romeoville, Illinois. On August 2, Amazon will be holding job fairs at several fulfillment centers around the country, including the Romeoville facility, in an attempt to hire more than 50,000 workers. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Digit, a humanoid robot, is the brainchild of Agility Robotics, a company that has received investment from Amazon. This bipedal robot is designed to mimic human movements such as squatting and bending, and it has clasps that imitate human hands.
Digit is expected to play a significant role in assisting employees, particularly in consolidating totes that have been emptied of items.
In addition to Digit, Amazon is rolling out Sequoia, an innovative technology engineered to identify and sort inventory into containers meticulously.
Employees then step in to pick the items that customers have ordered, ensuring that the right products reach the right customers promptly. According to Amazon, Sequoia can reduce the time it takes for a warehouse to process an order by up to 25 percent.
Amazon claims that the adoption of Sequoia will enable warehouses to transition from traditional models where employees search for items and take them off shelves to a more efficient assembly line approach.
Breitbart News has previously reported on the massive costs that Amazon deals with due to the harsh working conditions for humans in its warehouses and other facilities:
The leaked Amazon documents, obtained by Engadget, “paint a bleak picture of Amazon’s ability to retain employees, and how the current strategy may be financially harmful to the organization as a whole,” the report notes.
“[Worldwide] Consumer Field Operations is experiencing high levels of attrition (regretted and unregretted) across all levels, totaling an estimated $8 billion annually for Amazon and its shareholders,” internal documents labeled “Amazon Confidential” state.
“Regretted attrition” refers to employees choosing to leave the company. It occurs twice as often as “unregretted attrition” — meaning employees being laid off or fired — “across all levels and businesses,” according to the documents.
Read more at Bloomberg here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.