Amazon built an e-commerce empire by automating much of the work required to move goods and pack orders in its warehouses. There is still plenty of work for humans in those massive facilities because some of the tasks are too complex for robots to perform reliably, but a new robot called Sparrow could shift the human-machine balance that Amazon strikes.
Sparrow is designed to sort out items stacked in shelves or bins so that they can be packed into orders for shipment to customers. That’s one of the hardest tasks in warehouse robotics, because there are so many different objects, each with different shapes, textures, and malleability, that can be piled up randomly. Sparrow tackles that challenge by using machine learning and cameras to identify objects in a bin and plan how to grab one using a custom grapple with several suction tubes. Amazon first demonstrated Sparrow today at the company’s robotics factory in Massachusetts.
Amazon is currently testing Sparrow at a Texas facility where the robot is already sorting products for customer orders. The company says Sparrow can handle 65 percent of the more than 100 million items in its inventory. Tye Brady, chief engineer at Amazon Robotics, says the range is what’s most impressive about the robot. “Nobody has the inventory that Amazon has,” he says. Sparrow can grab DVDs, socks, and stuffed animals, but still struggles with loose or complex packaging.
Creating machines that can pick a wide variety of individual objects with the accuracy and speed of humans could change the economy of e-commerce. A number of robotics companies, including Berkshire Gray, Righthand Robotics and Locus Robotics, are already selling systems that can pick objects in warehouses. Startup Covariant specializes in teaching robots how to handle items they have not seen before at work. But matching humans’ ability to handle any object reliably and at high speed remains unattainable for robots. A person can typically collect about 100 items per hour in a warehouse. Brady declined to say how quickly Sparrow can pick items, saying the robot is “learning all the time.”
Automating more work in warehouses naturally leads to thoughts of the specter of robots crowding out humans. Until now, the relationship between robotics and human workers in the workplace has been more complex. Amazon, for example, has expanded its workforce even as it has implemented more automation as its business continued to grow. The company appears to be sensitive to the perception that robots can harm people. At today’s event, the company spotlighted workers who had moved from low-level jobs to more advanced jobs. However, internal data obtained by Reveal suggests that Amazon employees in more automated facilities are more injured because the work rate is faster. The company has claimed that robotics and other technology are making its facilities safer.
When asked about employee replacement, Brady said the role of robots is misunderstood. “I don’t see it as replacing people,” he said. “It’s humans and machines working together — not humans versus machines — and if I can allow people to focus on higher-level tasks, that’s the win.”
Robots have become significantly more capable in recent years, although it can be difficult to separate hype from reality. While Elon Musk and others show off futuristic humanoid robots that will no longer be useful for many years, Amazon has quietly started automating much of its operations. The e-commerce company says it now produces more industrial robots per year than any other company in the world.
The use of industrial robots is growing steadily. In October, the International Federation of Robotics reported that companies around the world will have installed 517,385 new robots by 2021, a 31 percent year-over-year increase and a new industry record. Many of those new machines are either mobile robots driving through factories and warehouses carrying goods, or examples of the relatively new concept of ‘collaborative’ robots designed to work safely alongside humans. Amazon introduced its own collaborative robot this year called Proteus, which transfers shelves of products around a warehouse, avoiding human workers.
At its event today, Amazon also demonstrated a new delivery drone, called the MK30, that can carry loads of up to 5 pounds. Amazon has tested drone delivery in Lockeford, California, and College Station, Texas, and says the new, more efficient drone will be operational in 2024. The company also showed a new electric delivery vehicle made by Rivian with modified collision warning safety systems and automatic braking, as well as a system called Fleet Edge that collects street images and GPS data to improve delivery routing.
