Amazon has deployed over 750,000 robots to its fulfillment centers over the last decade or so, but now there's a new, shall we say, more sensitive addition. The company has announced Vulcan, its first robot with a sense of touch. It's one in a series of new robots introduced today at Amazon's Delivering the Future event in Germany. Vulcan uses force feedback sensors to monitor how much it's pushing or holding on to an object and, ideally, not damage it. "In the past, when industrial robots have unexpected contact, they either emergency stop or smash through that contact. They often don't even know they have hit something because they cannot sense it."

Amazon's newest robot could one day take the place of many human workers across its giant fulfillment network, generating apprehension among some of the company's more than 750,000 US warehouse employees. The robot, called Sparrow, is Amazon's "first robotic system in our warehouses that can detect, select, and handle individual products in our inventory," a spokesperson said in a statement. Using AI, computer vision, and a suction-cup "hand," the robot is capable of handling around 65% of the products sold on Amazon's website before they are packaged, the company said at a technology expo where Sparrow was unveiled. The robot arm is currently deployed at one warehouse in Texas for testing, the spokesperson added. Amazon envisions a wider rollout as soon as next year.

Since Amazon began bringing robots to its warehouses in 2014, company executives have repeatedly claimed that they improve worker safety. But company records obtained by Reveal showed that between 2016 and 2019 serious injuries occurred more often in Amazon warehouses with robots than those without them, suggesting that robots made employees less safe by causing managers to raise performance quotas. Analysis of filings with the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) by The Washington Post found that in 2020, serious injuries were roughly twice as likely to occur in Amazon warehouses than those run by other companies. A separate analysis of OSHA data by labor union coalition the Strategic Organizing Center found the same pattern for 2021. Amazon didn't mention that track record late last month when it announced a machine called Proteus, which company officials call their first fully mobile and collaborative robot.

Unpredictable spikes and drops in demand combined with chronic supply chain and labor shortages are accelerating the pace of digital transformation in manufacturing, starting with worker safety. Forty-eight percent of manufacturers say their progress on digital transformation initiatives has accelerated so much that it's years ahead of what was originally anticipated, according to a KPMG study. Keeping workers safe and connected is the primary goal of most digital transformation and hiring plans, with on-site distancing & workplace safety listed as the two highest priorities. The company's SENTRI360 platform proves effective in preventing workplace injuries and operational downtimes at several steel-heavy manufacturing companies, including Zekelman Industries and SeAH Besteel. From redesigning shop floors, to meeting social distancing guidelines, and doubling their investment in training and development, worker safety now dominates manufacturing -- even more so due to the pandemic.

Unpredictable spikes and drops in demand combined with chronic supply chain and labor shortages are accelerating the pace of digital transformation in manufacturing, starting with worker safety. Forty-eight percent of manufacturers say their progress on digital transformation initiatives has accelerated so much that it's years ahead of what was originally anticipated, according to a KPMG study. Keeping workers safe and connected is the primary goal of most digital transformation and hiring plans, with on-site distancing & workplace safety listed as the two highest priorities. The company's SENTRI360 platform proves effective in preventing workplace injuries and operational downtimes at several steel-heavy manufacturing companies, including Zekelman Industries and SeAH Besteel. From redesigning shop floors, to meeting social distancing guidelines, and doubling their investment in training and development, worker safety now dominates manufacturing -- even more so due to the pandemic.

Japanese auto giant Toyota Motor unveils their new violin-playing robot at the company's showroom in ... [ ] Tokyo, 06 December 2007. Toyota unveiled three mobile robots, one called a "partner robot", one that plays the violin and a third which can transport a passenger with two wheels. IoT or the Internet of Things has been widely deployed in the past decade as sensors became smarter, machine learning proliferated and advanced, access to WiFi, Bluetooth and other wireless communications became prevalent, and cloud storage and computing technologies matured. In general, IoT achieved intelligent networking of "things" that were typically static or stationary, through movement of data. The ongoing and imminent revolution is in the Autonomy of Things or AoT - which for purposes of this article is defined as autonomous movement of "things" or robots, either in public (mostly uncontrolled), semi-public (somewhat controlled, includes outer space) or private (highly controlled) spaces.

E-commerce has long represented both challenges and opportunities for e-tailers and omnichannel retailers. Now, a spotlight has been shown on both aspects of e-commerce by the acceleration of online shopping during the pandemic. Consumer expectations are rising along with e-commerce volumes, and success is being defined from the consumer's perspective. In the process, e-fulfilment and returns management have become complex undertakings that increasingly require the use of advanced automation. This is one of the foremost trends in logistics today -- and, as logistics operations become more reliant on automation for satisfactory results, the combination of humans and machines that is driving efficiency can help improve health and safety as well.

Amazon is testing a variety of robotic and smart technology solutions designed to create a safer workplace. At its Amazon Robotics and Advanced Technology labs located near Seattle, in Boston, and in Northern Italy, the e-tail giant is working on new technologies to help move totes, carts, and packages through its facilities. In the Seattle-area research and innovation lab, one project in early development involves the use of motion-capture technology to assess the movement of volunteer employees in a lab setting. These employees perform tasks that are common in many Amazon facilities, such as the movement of totes, which carry products through robotic fulfillment centers. Motion-capture software enables Amazon scientists and researchers to more accurately compare data captured in a lab environment to industry standards, rather than other traditional ergonomic modeling tools.

Weeks after a study revealed that Amazon warehouse workers are injured at higher rates than staff at rival firms, the company has revealed it's testing new robots designed to improve employee safety. The e-commerce giant has ingratiatingly named two of the bots after Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie. Bert is an Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) that's built to navigate through Amazon facilities. In the future, the company envisions the bot carrying large and heavy items or carts across a site, reducing the strain on its human coworkers. Ernie, meanwhile, is a workstation system that removes totes from robotic shelves and then deliveries them to employees.

Amazon is once again betting that robots will improve safety at its warehouses. The online shopping giant has offered looks at several upcoming bots and other technologies meant to reduce strain on workers. The company is testing a trio of autonomous robots to carry items with little intervention. "Bert" can freely move around a warehouse carrying carts and goods. "Scooter" (above) carries carts like a train, while the more truck-like "Kermit" hauls empty tote boxes using magnetic tape and tags to shape its path.