Inside many Amazon warehouses are workers known as “water spiders,” who pick up and move the numerous plastic storage bins used to shuttle goods around the facility, and who restock worker stations with merchandise, boxes, and other material. At a warehouse in Sumner, Wash., recently, a special crew of workers stepped in to help the people moving the plastic bins—humanoid robots.
The droids, made by Agility Robotics, are about the size of a person and can walk around the warehouse floor as well as squeeze into tight spaces thanks to their backward knees. Amazon, which has invested in the startup through its Industrial Innovation Fund, is testing a handful of Digits (as the Agility robots are called), observing how well the droids communicate with its other warehouse systems, as well as how the company’s human workers feel about their robotic colleagues.
