June 23, 2022 · less than 3 min read
Proteus is the most advanced model yet.
New robot, who dis?
One solution to labor shortages? Robots. And okay, logistics firms have been promising the world when it comes to automation for quite a long time now. But while the competition might be promising, Amazon sure is delivering.
It’s just announced its first fully autonomous mobile robot. The Proteus has “advanced safety, perception, and navigation technology” and is more than capable of doing all the heavy lifting at Amazon’s warehouses. Far-fetched? Check out the demonstration video for yourself.
The tip of the iceberg
Amazon has been all-in on robots for a long time, but we’re only now starting to see some of the most impressive tech hitting warehouses. At the same time as Proteus, Amazon has been revealing more info about the future of its robot range. One of the new robots they plan to bring out, Cardinal, is kitted out with plenty of smart tech helping it pick out large-sized parcels, even if it’s in a pile of several others. Neat.
So impressive stuff all around – but what does this mean for workers? Amazon has assured its workforce that it’s not an either/or matter and that the new tech is there to help empower and complement its existing workforce. Unlike some its earlier versions, Proteus is designed to manoeuvre around humans. Previous models, that were anything but optimized for human collaboration, had to be kept in cages because they were such a risk to Amazon’s human workers.
But at a time when industrial disputes are ripe all over the country, it remains to be seen exactly what the future of the Amazon workforce will be.
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