Amazon’s Robots Bring One Day to Today

Written By Vika Kolotov
 

Warehouses all around the world are experiencing rapid growth attributable to technological advancement.

 
 

Amazon has made its name as a 1.7 trillion dollar company, an ambitious innovator in the E-commerce industry, and a titan in the enhancement of worldwide technological usage. At the heart of this tech-giant lies the fast-paced environment of a typical warehouse facility. Like any Amazon warehouse, the million square feet of space - think over 20 football fields - has been majorly distinguishable by the image of workers and overflowing packages. More recently, the soft hum of robotic machinery has become a striking presence in multiple Amazon warehouses.

Since 2012, Amazon has deployed over 350,000 Kiva-brand drive units in their facilities. The addition of these units has created an average of 40% more storage space in the already enormous warehouses, paving the way for the execution of their ambitious one-day-delivery promise. The impressive, bright orange robot is navigated using WiFi and cloud technology, and features a bar code reader that guides the robot to specific locations within the facility. The units are loaded with pods containing packages ready for delivery and travel straight to a designated warehouse worker for sorting. Drive units are even capable of rushing themselves to a charging station when need be, with their list of responsibilities still intact.


Considering the many capabilities of each compact and efficiency-improving machine, it’s no wonder the robots come with a hefty price tag. Each unit costs somewhere around one to two million dollars to maintain in addition to expenses. While seemingly costly, they verify their value by increasing service capability, decreasing transportation time, and heavily reducing the physical labor workers endure on a daily basis. The benefits and flaws of the steadily approaching modernized-warehouse are yet to be discovered. If we had to guess, the continual implementation of this machinery will have a colossal impact on efficiency, speed, and customer satisfaction.

 
 
 
 
Vika Kolotov
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