Amazon have unveiled a new robot called Sparrow, an intelligent robotic system that streamlines the fulfilment process by moving individual products before they get packaged.
An important part of Amazon’s fulfilment process happens before items are even packaged for shipment to customers. Sophisticated technology moves totes to employees who select inventory to be packaged. Once the items are boxed up, robotic arms can then redirect packages to various locations in the warehouse before they begin their delivery journey.
Sparrow, Amazon’s newest robotic system significantly advances item handling in their operations. Sparrow is the first robotic system that can detect, select, and handle individual products in our inventory.
Advancing robotics with Sparrow
Sparrow represents a major advancement in the state-of-the-art technology of industrial robotics. Leveraging computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI), Sparrow can recognize and handle millions of items. Last year, with the support of Amazon technologies, employees around the world picked, stowed, or packed approximately 5 billion packages—or over 13 million packages per day.
The design and deployment of robotics and technology across Amazon’s operations have created over 700 new categories of jobs that now exist within the company. These new types of roles, which employ tens of thousands of people across Amazon, help tangibly demonstrate the positive impact technology and robotics can have for employees the workplace.
