The company also gave a look at its containerized storage system. The company hopes to deploy the robot in its fulfillment centers next year. Cardinal is currently at the prototype phase, where it’s able to handle packages up to 50 lbs. The first of which is Cardinal, a robotic workcell that can pick packages from a pile, read the package’s label and then places it in a GoCart so the package can continue its journey.Ĭardinal helps reduce the amount of lifting and twisting Amazon employees need to do. With the announcement, Amazon gave a look into some of the other technology it plans on deploying in its warehouses. So AMRs are an additional tool in our toolbox to choose from when we want to add automaton somewhere.” Advancements at Amazon But the AMRs make sense in areas where you’re performing work you can’t reasonably, physically separate the people from – when there’s higher variability, more exception handling, etc. “To be honest, the structured fields (our legacy systems) are more efficient – and often cheaper – when you can use them. A source told the Mobile Robot Guide Amazon will use both the Proteus AMRs and the Kiva-like AGVs moving forward. Unlike the Kiva robots, which currently operate in caged off spaces away from Amazon employees, Proteus is able to work freely among them.Īmazon plans to deploy the AMRs initially in the outbound GoCart handling areas in its fulfillment centers and sorting centers. Proteus is able to slide under Amazon’s GoCarts, pick them up and move them across the warehouse to employees or other robotic cells, reducing the amount of walking Amazon workers need to do across warehouses to retrieve items. Proteus is an AMR with a similar design to the Kiva robots have have been at work in Amazon’s warehouses for years. Now, a decade later, Amazon has announced its first fully autonomous mobile robot (AMR), Proteus. Kiva offered automated guided vehicles (AGVs) that could navigate a warehouse using a series of computerized barcode stickers on the floor. | Source: AmazonĪmazon first entered the mobile robot space in 2012, when it acquired Kiva Systems for $775 million. Supporting the Growth of AGVs and AMRs in the WarehouseĪmazon’s autonomous mobile robots, called Proteus, were designed to be able to work comfortably around people.Company data shows that recordable incident rates and lost-time incident rates were 15% and 18% lower, respectively, at Amazon Robotics sites than they were at its non-robotics sites in 2022.įor a look at Amazon’s robotics lineup, check out this video. To date, Amazon has deployed over 750,000 robots across its fulfillment centers globally. Mobile robots like Titan work collaboratively with other robotics systems to create a safer and more ergonomic workplace that reduces repetitive motions, eliminates the need for employees to walk long distances or move heavy objects, and allows employees to focus on new tasks that require new skills. Amazon envisions many possibilities for Titan’s rise going forward, including with containerized storage solutions like Sequoia where it could transport inventory across the storage floor and bring it directly to employees. The facility launched in 2013 to process larger, bulkier items, and the use of this new technology will help modernize the site, supporting both workplace safety and efficiency. Xanthus helps carry small, individual items across fulfillment centers, and Proteus is the first mobile robot able to autonomously move through Amazon facilities using advanced safety, perception, and navigation technology developed by Amazon.Īmazon’s SAT1 fulfillment center in San Antonio, Texas, is the first to deploy Titan in its operations. The Hercules drive unit carries heavy totes of items across Amazon fulfillment centers. Titan also uses hardware components from Proteus to manage its operating system as it plans, executes, and interfaces with other technologies within the facility.
Titan integrates several technologies from previous mobile robots, including the battery and charging management solution from Hercules, and the computer vision, obstacle detection, and user control systems from the Xanthus mobile robot. Titan’s first task will be to carry larger, bulkier items like small household appliances or pallets of pet food and gardening equipment. Titan builds off over a decade of innovations in mobile robotics at Amazon and can lift up to two times more weight than Hercules, the most broadly deployed robot within the giant’s fulfillment operations. The new technology, the Titan mobile robot, is designed to help carry products across fulfillment centers, supporting safety and efficiency in operations. Amazon is deploying a new robot to take on the extra-heavy lifting in its fulfillment centers.