Amazon has introduced a new warehouse robot named Vulcan, designed with advanced touch capabilities that allow it to feel and maneuver items on shelves, making it more effective at selecting products for customer orders. This innovation marks a significant improvement in robotic dexterity, potentially paving the way for robots to handle more roles in fulfillment and manufacturing in the future.
Aaron Parness, Amazon’s director of robotics AI and lead developer of Vulcan, explains that the robot relies on touch sensors to interact with and distinguish objects on a shelf. Vulcan features a standard robotic arm enhanced with a custom spatula-like tool and suction device for retrieving items. Its joints are equipped with sensors that detect edges and shapes, and machine learning helps interpret these signals to guide its movements.
Unveiled at a fulfillment center in Hamburg, Germany, Vulcan is already operating there and at a site in Spokane, Washington. Rather than replacing humans, the robot works alongside them, focusing on tasks that are physically demanding—like retrieving items from high or low shelves. If Vulcan can’t locate an item, the task is handed off to a human worker.
According to Ken Goldberg, a robotics expert at the University of California, Berkeley, rummaging through storage bins is one of the toughest challenges for robots. He acknowledges the progress in robotic touch technology but emphasizes that machines still lag far behind the complex and sensitive human sense of touch.
As Amazon continues to expand its robot workforce, the impact on jobs remains a concern. While some roles may be lost, others are being created, such as robot support positions. Amazon also intends to equip more of its robots with Vulcan’s sensing tech, potentially making them smarter with help from AI. The company recently acquired Covariant, a startup focused on developing AI models for industrial use, hinting at further advancements in robotic intelligence.
Enhanced robots with a sense of touch could also play a crucial role in reshoring manufacturing tasks—like assembling smartphones in the U.S.—which require precise handling of delicate components.
