Amazon.com Inc. is working on software for humanoid robots that could eventually take the jobs of delivery workers, and it is putting the final touches on construction of an indoor humanoid park the size of a coffee shop in San Francisco to test them, according to a report in The Information.
The e-commerce giant is developing artificial intelligence (AI) software as the brains of the robots, whose hardware would be handled by other firms, the report said. The park, a glorified obstacle course, would include a Rivian van so robots can practice the full package delivery process.
Amazon had no comment.
Amazon is reportedly testing various humanoid robots for the task, including the $16,000 Unitree G1 robot. [On Wednesday, the company demonstrated how stockroom robots, human workers and its sprawling warehouses could benefit from AI speeding up delivery of packages to customers.]
Amazon has made no secret it has tested a humanoid robot called Digit from Agility Robotics that focuses on warehouse work. The company has created a new group at its Lab126 device unit to develop more-advanced warehouse robots, according to Reuters. The new robots come with agentic AI that lets them unload trailers and retrieve parts for repairs, leading to faster delivery times for customers, said Lab126 leader Yesh Dattatreya.
“We’re creating systems that can hear, understand, and act on natural language commands, turning warehouse robots into flexible, multi-talented assistants,” Amazon said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Amazon said it intends to use generative AI for better mapping tools to help drivers deliver packages more efficiently. The AI will provide more accurate building details than standard mapping apps, including shapes, obstacles and tricky layouts.
“We have millions of robot permutations at AWS fulfillment centers to manage operations and manufacturing tasks,” Doug Bellin, who leads global business development for smart manufacturing at Amazon Web Services, said in a recent interview. “How do we kill the keyboard to enter physical things on inventory-related tasks? Before working with Kiva, people were walking 15 to 20 miles a day picking inventory.”
With more than 750,000 robots of various sizes, capabilities, and intelligence, Amazon has grand designs on using them to automate manufacturing facilities. The concept of a humanoid robot is its most-sophisticated system yet, raising long-term concerns that they may replace humans on the job.
China, too, has put a premium on robotics in manufacturing amid a shortage of qualified, available labor. Ironically, the H1 humanoid robot model from Unitree recently behaved badly, flailing its limbs and even kicking in a Chinese factory as it appeared to push forward aggressively. Engineers nearby backed away in alarm, before one of them managed to intervene and bring the machine under control. Initial reports blamed a coding error.
