Amazon has just unveiled its newest warehouse robot called Vulcan, which has a “sense of touch”. Designed to gently stow items using pressure-sensitive gripping and artificial intelligence (AI), Vulcan is now being tested in two Amazon facilities, in Spokane, Washington state, US, and Hamburg, Germany.
The robot is part of Amazon’s long-term investment in warehouse automation. The inevitable question that always comes up is: will robots like this replace human workers? In short: not yet, and probably not completely. In fact, Vulcan is a good example of how robotics are being designed to work with people, not against them.
Vulcan is designed to assist warehouse workers in stowing – the process of placing items into storage bins (called pods) before they’re picked, packed and shipped. Human pickers often work at different height levels when they’re stowing, with repetitive bending, reaching or climbing of steps.
