Amazon currentlyAn artificial intelligence technology solution called "Sequoia"It is integrated into its warehouse in Houston and claims to be able to increase the speed of picking and storing goods by 75%, while speeding up order shipment by 25%.
The artificial intelligence technology solution, called "Sequoia," begins with a delivery robot delivering goods to a sorting machine. A robotic arm integrated with computer vision identifies the goods and distributes them for subsequent delivery by warehouse workers. During the distribution process, the robotic arm places the goods at approximately waist height, making it easier for workers to distribute goods without the extra effort of removing them from high shelves.
Through this solution, Amazon said it will be able to improve warehouse sorting and shipping efficiency, and speed up the overall freight delivery speed, so that goods can be delivered to consumers in a shorter time. In addition to using "Sequoia" to speed up warehouse shipments, Amazon has previously also usedSparrow robotic armAssist in sorting and sorting goods.
However, according to statistics released by the Center for Investigative Reporting in 2020, between 2016 and 2019, the injury rate of employees in Amazon warehouses and logistics centers equipped with robots was 50% higher than that in traditional manual operations.
Among them, not only are many employees still unfamiliar with working with robots, which may lead to them being bumped or pinched during the robots' operation routes, but the introduction of robots has also significantly increased the demand for cargo scanning and filing. Compared to the past, when workers only had to scan 100 items per hour, with the addition of robots to picking and delivering goods, each worker must now cooperate with the robots' work efficiency, and the number of items scanned per hour has increased significantly to 400. Amazon has therefore had to increase the number of staff, but this has also increased the proportion of workers accidentally injured by robots in warehouses and logistics centers.
However, in subsequent explanations, Amazon emphasized that it has significantly reduced the number of workers accidentally injured by robots through data training and workplace replanning.
