Amazon says its warehouses now deploy more than 750,000 robots, most of them robotic arms or wheel-based machines designed for repetitive jobs to free up employees for other tasks.
Recommended Videos Undergoing testing at its robotics research and development site just south of Seattle, Digit is a humanoid robot that’s capable of moving between locations while grasping and handling packages destined for customers. “Its size and shape are well suited for buildings that are designed for humans, and we believe that there is a big opportunity to scale a mobile manipulator solution, such as Digit, which can work collaboratively with employees,” Amazon said in an online post this week, adding that its initial use for Digit will be to help employees with the repetitive task of picking up and moving empty crates after they’ve been emptied of picked items.