Amazon testing Humanoid Robots for package delivery
Science Fiction? Nope, this may be coming to your doorstep soon.
Multiple sources have reported that Amazon has almost finished constructing an indoor “humanoid park” at one of the retail giant’s San Francisco offices that’s roughly the size of a coffee shop. The obstacle course reportedly contains a Rivian van for training purposes, with Amazon aiming to have humanoid robots “hitch a ride in the back of Amazon’s electric Rivian vans and spring out to deliver packages.”
The report coincides with Amazon launching a new agentic AI team to help develop technologies that will power robots “operating in Amazon distribution and logistics hubs.” In a statement to Silicon Valley, Amazon says that “instead of rigid, specialized robots, we’re creating systems that can hear, understand, and act on natural language commands, turning warehouse robots into flexible, multi-talented assistants.”
Amazon has a long history of using robots in its warehouses, and even acquired robotics company Kiva Systems back in the day (Amazon acquired Massachusetts-based Kiva Systems in 2012). Since then, Amazon has developed, produced, and deployed more than 750,000 robots across its warehouses and operations network. So they definitely have some expertise in this area.