Amazon is putting some fifteen thousand robots to work in its e-fulfilment centres ahead of the holidays. Last year, 426 items per second were ordered from Amazon on Black Friday, the busiest day of the year for US retailers. Therefore, the retailer says it does have to use robots. "They simply work faster than people," said Dave Clark, senior vice president at Amazon. The robots drive around racks containing the ordered products. The racks are taken by the robot to a 'live' employee, who then takes care of packing the order.
Employees stay in one place
According to Amazon, it is more efficient for staff to remain in one fixed location. Staff do not need to wander around the warehouse, as the robots do that for them.
Controlled by barcodes
The orange robots, which are about the size of a suitcase, are hardly intimidating. Each robot can cover around 19 kilometres a day and is guided by barcodes placed on the floor. They were developed by Kiva Systems, a company acquired by Amazon in 2012.
The video below shows how the robots work.
