亚马逊开发出工人可与之对话的仓库机器人 Proteus

The company insists its robot investments are designed to support, not replace, warehouse workers.

The company insists its robot investments are designed to support, not replace, warehouse workers.

The design hasn’t changed much from the original Proteus, which was announced in 2022.

Image: Amazon

Amazon has announced a new version of its fully autonomous warehouse robot, Proteus, that will interact using language instead of code. The expanded capabilities come as part of a growing pivot toward automation as the e-commerce giant replaces its human workers with robots.

Amazon says the AI-powered upgrade means its human employees can assign the robot tasks in the same way they’d communicate with colleagues. Previously, workers would need to use specialized software to direct the floor-level, tortoise-like systems, which are designed for heavy lifting and moving large carts throughout Amazon’s warehouses. “You tell it what needs to be done. It figures out the priority, the route, the timing,” says Scott Dresser, vice president of Amazon Robotics.

The next generation of Proteus will also work across a much larger area than the ones currently in use, which Amazon says only operate in dock areas. “The new system can work anywhere items need to be moved,” the company says. This includes transporting containers as they arrive on site, moving them between workstations, and assisting employees across fulfillment centers and delivery sites.

Image: Amazon

The new system is currently being piloted in Amazon’s labs, but the company says it has plans to deploy it in Europe during the first half of 2027.

Proteus is part of Amazon’s broader robotics roadmap. It says it has plans to expand its touch-sensitive robot, called Vulcan, and a collaborative tote-handling system first piloted in Barcelona, to more sites across Europe in the coming year.

Amazon says it is “creating new jobs alongside these technologies” and claims to have hired hundreds of thousands of employees globally since introducing robotics into its operations. The company insists its robots are designed to support workers and streamline operations, rather than replace hundreds of thousands of workers with robots.

1. Dave Eggers told OpenAI staff that ChatGPT was ‘silencing an entire generation’

2. The PS6 sure sounds like a handheld

3. The FBI reportedly won’t investigate ICE anymore

4. Kodak EC35 is a dirt-cheap point-and-shoot film camera

5. Sony’s flagship RGB LED TV is incredible

More in AI