Amazon is increasing its use of robots as sales growth slows and cost-cutting pressures mount.
Already approximately 75 percent of the shipments delivered by the e-commerce giant have been handled by robots.
In the next five years, though, Amazon Robotics’ chief technologist, Tye Brady, predicts that this percentage will reach 100 percent.
The company refuses to specify how much the investments contribute to cost savings.
Staff members were also ready to deflect queries over the rate at which machines are likely to replace humans, stating that 700 new types of professions have been developed as a result of technological advancements.
Mr. Brady stated, “Jobs will undoubtedly change, but the need for humans will always exist.”
Mr. Brady addressed a gathering of reporters at an event held at the business’s robotics hub near Boston, Massachusetts, where the company presented its latest array of robots, drones, and mapping technology.
The company is testing a huge robotic arm that can pick up products before they have been placed in boxes – a feat regarded by officials as a major advance – and a machine that can roam freely alongside humans on the warehouse floor.
It plans to begin drone deliveries in the United States later this year.
Joe Quinlivan, vice president of robotics fulfillment and IT, stated, “I truly believe that what we’ll accomplish in the next five years will dwarf what we’ve accomplished in the prior ten.” We believe it will significantly transform our network.
Amazon is in some ways late to the robot party.
Almost five years ago, the Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com announced a warehouse with only four employees, while rival Walmart already has a drone delivery program in place.
Dwight Klappich, vice president of research for Gartner’s logistics team, stated that companies across the supply chain are putting money into such initiatives due in part to the difficulty of hiring people.
He stated, “There is a great deal of innovation happening in the place.” This applies to virtually every sector and organization size.
Amazon, which reportedly warned in an internal email last year that it could run out of workers to hire for its US warehouses by 2024, had been working on similar endeavors for over a decade.
It acquired Boston-based robotics firm Kiva Systems in 2012 to launch its effort, and founder Jeff Bezos discussed the company’s drone ambitions in a 2013 interview.
Amazon stated that it now has more than quadrupled the number of mobility drive robots in its warehouses compared to 2019. It has also placed approximately one thousand of an earlier version of its robot arm to sort parcels at locations in the United States and Europe.
The company’s robots on display on Thursday are still in the testing phase, but deployments are projected to become more common over the following two years.
The company expects to deliver 500 million parcels yearly by drone by the end of the decade, including to heavily populated cities such as Seattle.
However, this will still represent a negligible portion of the 5 billion items the company handles annually.
Robotics has not been exempt from the company’s cost-cutting efforts, as the company’s sales have stagnated and economic recession fears grow.
This year, Amazon terminated its UK drone program and portions of its robotics division, including Scout, which was developing a machine capable of delivering packages to people’s homes.
Mr. Brady noted that the company’s hiring freeze applies to its robots section, stating, “We are acutely cognizant of the current financial climate.” However, he stressed, “we will not reduce our investing efforts.”
