Robots set to outnumber human workers in Amazon warehouses

The company currently operates over one million robots across its facilities, nearly equal to the number of human workers, and is expected to surpass that number soon. Amazon’s robots include machines capable of plucking, packing, and sorting packages, as well as a new model named Vulcan, which features a built-in sense of touch that allows it to distinguish between different items on shelves.

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Amazon is working to integrate its robotic systems with its order-fulfillment operations, enabling more collaboration between machines and employees to complete tasks.

“They're one step closer to that realization of the full integration of robotics,” robot analyst Reuben Scriven told the outlet.

The company says that robots have been a main factor in its improved productivity, as approximately 75 percent of all deliveries are helped by a robot at some point. The automation also reduces the need for employees to carry out physically demanding tasks such as lifting heavy objects.

Neisha Cruz, an employee at the company, told the Journal, “I thought I was going to be doing heavy lifting, I thought I was going to be walking like crazy.” Cruz, who spent five years picking items at an Amazon warehouse, now oversees the robotic systems, earns more than twice her starting pay, and works at a computer.

Despite individual success stories like Cruz’s, Amazon's embrace of automation has also led to slower hiring. CEO Andy Jassy recently acknowledged that the company expects to reduce its workforce as it adopts more artificial intelligence tools in the near future.

“As we roll out more Generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done,” Jassy explained in a staff memo last month. “It's hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce.”