The sprawling Amazon fulfillment center in DuPont, Washington, seems more like the set of a science fiction flick than a warehouse crammed with consumer goods. Thousands of bright orange robots haul heavy stacks of pallets and packages across the slick concrete floor, while hulking yellow robotic arms retrieve and return inventory to sky-high shelves. Yet human workers still roam the DuPont center, fulfilling tasks too complex or granular for the center's fleet of automatons. Around 500 full-time employees help decide which boxes go where and how to arrange products. Unlike the robots, the humans have two key tools -- hands -- for essential warehouse operations like packaging and stowing goods.

The sprawling Amazon fulfillment center in DuPont, Washington, seems more like the set of a science fiction flick than a warehouse crammed with consumer goods. Thousands of bright orange robots haul heavy stacks of pallets and packages across the slick concrete floor, while hulking yellow robotic arms retrieve and return inventory to sky-high shelves.