Amazon has employed the help of robots big and small to help them fill in customer demands and cope with the massive influx of orders that are coming their way this holiday season, Engadget reported.
Shipping companies are faced with the task of having to deliver packages of all shapes and sizes to customers all around the world, more so during the holidays. With such a demanding workload, the online shipping company Amazon decided not to just bank on their 80,000 employees for manpower but also a series of robots that could handle the goods and help ship them out in time.
Amazon unveiled their robots in an official post on their website on Monday titled "Amazon Unveils its Eighth Generation Fulfillment Center."
They introduced the line of robots, such as the Kiva robots that deliver the smaller goods with more than 15,000 available in stores in the country and the Robo-Stow, a large robotic arm that can be used to move the bigger and heavier packages. They also have new vision systems to help them take inventory of a trailer filled with products in just 30 minutes, as well as a high-end computer system for their employees that make filling customer orders easier.
Images and videos of their robots in action are also available in their website. One of the videos in particular showed numerous Kiva robots scuttling around the place with tall stacks of products balance on top of them and a large Robo-Stow delivering a large package high up the shelves. Employees could also be seen operating the machines and handling the assembly line.
The Kiva line of robots came with Amazon's purchase of Kiva Systems in 2012, according to TIME. Amazon bought the company for $775 million and started utilizing the small robots back in July. Employees need only to rely on the Kiva robots to bring the items directly to them.
"Kiva eliminates the part that was not a fun part about picking," said Dave Clark, Amazon's Senior Vice President of Operations. He also shared that thanks to the robots, operations have increased in efficiency and have made their employees' lives and work easier.