Amazon says its new Vulcan robot isn't 'numb or dumb,' designed to work like humans
Amazon has introduced a new robot for its fulfilment centres called Vulcan. The company describes it as "neither numb nor dumb," and its first robot with a sense of touch. Amazon revealed Vulcan during its Delivering the Future event in Germany. Amazon Vulcan has helped in creating new job categories, Amazon says.(Amazon)
"What many humans do so easily, few robots can tackle," Amazon says. It added that most robots can't feel most things, not just emotionally but in terms of sensory perception. The company calls most robots "numb and dumb." But with Vulcan, it plans to change this. Here's how.
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Amazon claims that Vulcan is transforming how Amazon operates at its fulfilment centres. It's helping to make employees' jobs safer and customer orders more efficient. This primarily stems from Vulcan's ability to sense more objects and handle them better.
Typically, Amazon's inventory is stored in fabric-covered pods divided into compartments about a foot wide, each holding an average of ten items. But for the average robot, grabbing an item from these spaces has been challenging, which lacked the natural style of human hands.
This is where Vulcan comes in. It can easily manipulate objects within these compartments, making room as needed. This is because Vulcan can actually detect when it makes contact, how much force it is applying, and how much force should be applied before stopping, ensuring no damage to products.
This is achieved through an "end of arm tooling" that resembles a ruler stuck to a hair straightener, alongside force sensors that measure how hard it's pushing or how strongly it's holding an object.
Vulcan also has an arm featuring a camera and a suction cup. This arm is responsible for grabbing objects while the camera monitors to ensure it picks up the correct item.
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Amazon claims that Vulcan has the ability to pick and stow about 75% of the items in its fulfilment centres. It operates at speeds comparable to frontline employees, marking a significant shift in how automation and AI support human workers.
The introduction of Vulcan has allowed Amazon to create new role categories, ranging from robotic floor monitors to on-site reliability maintenance engineers. To support this shift, Amazon is offering training programmes to help employees transition into robotics and other technical fields.
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