Recently, Amazon has demonstrated its latest achievement in this field: a new "perceptive" Vulcan robot that is gradually replacing some warehouse workers.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy stated on social media that this "Vulcan" robot could improve work safety and provide employees with opportunities to upgrade their skills by handling ergonomic tasks. According to Amazon's blog post, the Vulcan robot can help humans retrieve items from high and low shelves in warehouses, so workers no longer need to frequently climb ladders or bend over. Human employees will be responsible for middle-shelf items that still require manual handling or those that the Vulcan robot cannot pick up.
Amazon also disclosed that as the Vulcan robots take on more warehouse picking tasks, the company is training some warehouse workers to become robot technicians. The blog post mentioned that these robots have already handled 75% of customer orders and created hundreds of new positions for the company, ranging from robot ground monitors to on-site maintenance engineers. Additionally, Amazon is offering career retraining programs for some workers to help them acquire maintenance skills related to robots.
However, Amazon did not explicitly state that this transition would be a simple one-to-one replacement. Due to the use of robots, the number of people needed in warehouses may decrease, and not all workers are willing or able to become robot maintenance technicians. Despite this, Amazon emphasized the importance of its retraining plan while promoting the Vulcan robots, indicating the company’s focus on employee future development.
In the future, although robots are widely used in large enterprises like Amazon, humans will continue to play a crucial role in many retail, restaurant, and driving jobs. Although Amazon has tried to promote its automation technology, these technologies have not been widely adopted in practical applications. Therefore, in the coming decades, collaborative work between artificial intelligence and human labor will be the prevailing trend.
Key points:
🌟 Amazon has launched a new "Vulcan" robot to assist warehouse workers in handling tasks and enhance safety.
🔧 Some warehouse workers will receive training to become robot technicians, creating new job opportunities.
📉 Although robots will change the nature of work, human positions will remain in many industries.