Amazon's New Vulcan Robots for Fulfilment Centres Have a ‘Sense of Touch’

Amazon introduced a new warehouse-focused robot last week that can carefully manipulate a wide range of objects. Dubbed Vulcan, the new class of robots feature force feedback sensors that allow it to understand the amount of force it is applying while picking an object or pushing a cart. These robots will be used in the tech giant's fulfilment centres globally and are designed to assist the human workers. Amazon said that these robots have created hundreds of new categories of human jobs at the warehouses.

Amazon's Vulcan Robots Come Close to Human Dexterity

In a newsroom post, the Seattle-based tech giant introduced Vulcan and highlighted its capabilities. The new robots solve a critical problem in automating Amazon's fulfilment centres – robots are numb and dumb. “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,” said Aaron Parness, Director, Applied Science, Amazon.

The company highlighted that Vulcan, which is built using advances in robotics, engineering, and physical AI, comes with dedicated force feedback sensors. Its arm is also fitted with a camera and a suction cup. The entire assembly uses both sensor-based object detection as well as computer vision to understand the amount of force it can apply.

Vulcan robot's ruler-shaped arm with camera and suction cup

Amazon's inventory storage in its fulfilment centres follows a specific arrangement to make shipping and stowing easy. Inventory is stored in fabric-covered pods that are divided into compartments. Each compartment holds up to 10 different items. Most robots struggle to pick objects from this mix of objects, but Vulcan is said to be able to navigate through the crowded space to carefully pick the required item.

Vulcan can pick and stow around 75 percent of all the items the company stores at its fulfilment centres, with speeds comparable to its front-line employees, Amazon said. Currently, the Vulcan robots are being tested at their fulfilment centres in Spokane, Washington and Hamburg, Germany.

Amazon highlighted that currently, it has deployed more than 7,50,000 robots into its fulfilment centres. The company was also quick to note that this large number of robots has also created new categories of jobs, such as robotics floor monitors and on-site reliability maintenance engineers. The tech giant is also offering training programmes to its human workers to move into robotics and find a place in an industry that is quickly taking the automation route.