Amazon’s got a new toy in town, and it’s called Vulcan, a robot with a fancy sense of touch that can pick up items from storage trays in their warehouses. This high-tech machine can handle about 75% of the stuff you’d find lying around in Amazon’s massive storage spaces. With Vulcan, Amazon is taking a big leap forward in the world of robotics, says Aaron Parness, the director of applied science at the e-commerce giant.
To pull off this impressive feat, Vulcan uses a special wand equipped with a camera to identify items and a suction cup to grab them. This wand is attached to a robotic arm that can reach into storage bins, grab items, and move them around with ease. The suction cup pulls items closer to the gripper, which acts like a conveyor belt to transfer items in and out of bins. Vulcan also learns from each item interaction, getting smarter with every pick-up and drop-off it makes. And if it ever gets stuck, Vulcan can ask for help from its human buddies.
Vulcan is currently hard at work in Amazon’s fulfillment centers in Spokane, Washington, and Hamburg, Germany. The company hopes that by deploying robots like Vulcan, it can boost efficiency, reduce strain on warehouse employees, and even create new job opportunities for humans. But let’s be real, Amazon also has its eyes set on cutting down on labor costs by relying more on robots. In fact, an internal document revealed that Amazon plans to use robots to save a whopping $10 billion annually by 2030. So, while Vulcan may seem like a friendly helper now, who knows what the future holds for Amazon’s robotic army.
