As the latest indication that the e-commerce giant is automating more of its business processes, Amazon is conducting tests with humanoid robots in some of its facilities in the United States.
Amazon has stated that the move is intended to “free up employees so that we can better deliver for our customers.”
It stated that it was conducting tests on a new robot known as Digit. Digit has arms and legs and can move, grip, and manipulate objects in a manner that is comparable to that of a person.
According to a statement made by a labor organization, Amazon “has been treating their workers like robots for years.”
“The automation that Amazon is implementing is leading the way to the elimination of jobs. According to Stuart Richards, an organizer with the UK trade union GMB, “We’ve already seen hundreds of jobs disappear to it in fulfilment centers.”
During the time that the announcement was being made, Amazon stated that the company’s robots systems had in fact assisted in the creation of “hundred of thousands of new jobs” within the company’s operations.
“This includes 700 categories of new job types, in skilled roles, which didn’t exist within the company beforehand,” according to the organization.
The IT company claims that it now has more than 750,000 robots working “collaboratively” with its human workforce, the majority of which are employed to carry out “highly repetitive tasks.”
Using drones, Amazon promises to deliver packages within an hour.
The United States of America has charged Amazon with operating an unlawful monopoly.
At a media event held in Seattle, the head technologist for Amazon Robotics, Tye Brady, stated that people were “irreplaceable” and challenged the notion that the corporation would one day have fully-automated warehouses in the future.
“There’s not any part of me that thinks that would ever be a reality,” according to him.
“People are so central to the fulfilment process; the ability to think at a higher level, the ability to diagnose problems.”
Not wheels, but legs
Digit moves around by walking on its two legs, as opposed to using wheels. Additionally, it possesses arms that are able to pick up and transport objects, packages, containers, and customer orders.
According to Scott Dresser, who works with Amazon Robotics, the company was able to “deal with steps and stairs or places in our facility where we need to move up and down” because of this.
However, he stated that the robot in question was merely a prototype, and the purpose of the test was to determine whether or not it could coexist securely with human workers.
“It’s an experiment that we’re running to learn a little bit more about how we can use mobile robots and manipulators in our environment here at Amazon,” added the executive.
According to Mr. Dresser, the concerns of human occupations being replaced by machines do not correspond to what has occurred at Amazon.
“In our experience, not only do these new technologies allow us to grow and expand, but they also contribute to the creation of new jobs.” And this has been demonstrated in a number of different ways by the robots that we have available to us today.
“They don’t always run unfortunately and we need people to repair them,” according to him.
In recent years, in response to increased demand to reduce costs, Amazon has significantly increased the number of robots it uses.
The company made the announcement a year ago that it will be testing a gigantic robotic arm that could pick up objects. It already makes use of wheeled robots to transport goods around its warehouses, and it has begun employing drones to make deliveries in two of the states in the United States.
