Amazon announced a major milestone on Monday, deploying its one-millionth robot into its global network of warehouses. This landmark achievement follows 13 years of strategic investment and development in robotic technologies, marking the company’s rapid progress in robot-assisted automation. The millionth robot was recently installed at an Amazon fulfillment center in Japan.
This milestone underscores Amazon’s accelerated path toward greater automation. According to recent reports, the number of robots employed by the company is fast approaching parity with the number of its human warehouse workers. Currently, robots are assisting with approximately 75% of all Amazon deliveries worldwide in one capacity or another.
Alongside this significant achievement, Amazon revealed a new generative AI model named DeepFleet. Developed using the company’s AWS platform, specifically Amazon SageMaker, DeepFleet optimizes robot operations at warehouse-scale. Trained on Amazon’s proprietary warehouse and inventory data, the model is expected to increase the robots’ operational efficiency by 10%, improving coordination and routing inside facilities.
This announcement comes in the wake of recent advances by Amazon Robotics, including the debut of its advanced Vulcan robot, introduced in May. Vulcan features innovative capabilities such as dual arms—the first arm dedicated to rearranging items, and the second equipped with a camera and a suction system for handling individual objects. The most distinctive feature of Vulcan, according to Amazon, is its “sense of touch,” which enables it to precisely grasp and process items in the picking process.
Amazon had also revealed its plans for next-generation fulfillment centers in the fall of 2024. These new facilities, exemplified by the recently opened center in Shreveport, Louisiana, incorporate significantly higher ratios of robots to human staff, reflecting the company’s aggressive push toward greater operational automation.
Amazon’s journey in robotics began in earnest in 2012 with its acquisition of Kiva Systems, laying the foundation for the growth of the company’s robotic infrastructure seen today.
