Amazon’s Tye Brady expressed his views on the state of the robotics industry and how to build the ideal robotic system. By using Star Wars’ R2-D2 as a comparison he talked about how companies can build robots that TechCrunch’s Managing Editor Matt Burns then pressed him on Amazon’s ultimate plan to replace the human workers in its warehouses with robots, which he ultimately claimed is not Amazon’s goal.
Amazon significantly expanded its army of warehouse robots in 2016, according to a report by The Seattle Times.
The newspaper — based in the same city as Amazon’s global headquarters — wrote last week that the e-commerce giant now has 45,000 robots across 20 fulfillment centers.
That would be a 50% increase from the same time the year before when the company said it had 30,000 robots working alongside 230,000 people.
Amazon bought a robotics company called Kiva Systems in 2012 for $775 million (£632 million). Kiva’s robots automate the picking and packing process at large warehouses in a way that stands to help Amazon become more efficient. The robots — 16 inches tall and almost 145 kilograms — can run at 5 mph and haul packages weighing up to 317 kilograms. (http://uk.businessinsider.com)
