Amazon Unveils New Tech for Warehouse Automation

About this video

• Video Title: Amazon Unveils New Tech for Warehouse Automation
• Channel: Bloomberg Podcasts
• Speakers: [Not specified in transcript]
• Duration: 00:07:32

Overview

This video discusses Amazon's advancements in warehouse automation and robotics. It highlights new technologies like the "Blue Jay" manipulation robot and the "Proteus" robot for moving packages, emphasizing their role in increasing efficiency, safety, and augmenting human capabilities within fulfillment centers. The discussion also touches upon the long-term return on investment for these technologies and addresses speculation about job displacement due to automation.

Key takeaways

• New Robotics Innovations: Amazon has introduced "Blue Jay," a manipulation robot designed to handle a significant portion of inventory and fit multiple assembly lines into a single footprint, and "Proteus," which moves large cargos of packages.
• Efficiency and Safety: The primary goals of these robotic advancements are to increase efficiency in fulfillment processes and create a safer working environment for employees, leading to a reduction in recordable injury rates.
• AI-Powered Development: The use of AI has accelerated the development and deployment of new robotics, with "Blue Jay" being developed in just over a year, compared to previous systems that took around three years.
• Collaborative Robotics: Amazon's philosophy centers on people and machines working together, with robotics augmenting human capabilities rather than solely replacing them.
• Job Creation vs. Displacement: While acknowledging that the nature of tasks changes with automation, Amazon highlights that in the past ten years of significant robotics investment, they have created hundreds of thousands of new jobs and expanded their workforce significantly.
• Data as Fuel for AI: Data is crucial for powering AI systems, enabling robots to be more adaptable and fluid in their operations within warehouses.