Amazon’s Latest Warehouse Robot – Digit | Is It A Threat to Human Employment or a New Opportunity?

Amazon recently started testing Amazon’s latest warehouse robot Digit. It is a bipedal humanoid robot developed by Agility Robotics. The robot has a turquoise torso and smiley eyes. This bipedal humanoid robot, Digit, is designed to work along with human employees in warehouses and other logistic tasks.

The Digit warehouse robot was first announced in 2021. Then Amazon began testing it in its warehouses in October 2023. The launch date for these robots is not announced yet, but sooner or later amazon will add these robots to warehouses to make them productive and efficient.

What does Digit Robot do?

Digit Robot perform a number of tasks:

• Picking and packing orders: It can pick items from shelves and pack them into boxes or totes.

• Moving shelves: It can move shelves around the warehouse to optimize storage space and picking efficiency.

• Restocking inventory: It can restock shelves with new inventory.

• Loading and unloading trucks: It can load and unload trucks easily.

• Cleaning up spills: It can clean up all the spills.

It is a flexible and adaptable robot and it can perform tasks in different environments.

One of the best things this robot can do is that it has a unique to walk and climb the stairs. So, it can easily access all those areas which are out of reach for other robots.

Another unique feature of this robot is that it has a smiling face. This feature is specially designed to help Digit to interact with human workers. It helps to create a welcoming and friendly atmosphere. 

Video Credits: Agility Robotics

Technical details of Amazon’s Latest Warehouse Robot – DIGIT

Height: 5 feet 9 inches (175 centimetres)

Weight: 143 pounds (65 kilograms)

Carrying capacity: 35 pounds (16 kilograms)

Speed: Up to 2 miles per hour (3.2 kilometres per hour)

Battery life: Up to 8 hours on a single charge

Sensors: Cameras, Lidar, and Force sensors. These sensors allow Digit to navigate its surroundings, avoid obstacles, and interact with objects.

Actuators: Digit has 26 actuators, which are motors that allow it to move its joints. This gives Digit a wide range of motion and allows it to perform a variety of tasks.

How Many Robots Is Amazon Using in its Warehouse?

Amazon is using over 750,000 robots in its warehouses all over the world. These robots perform a variety of tasks. They have helped the warehouses of company to improve its efficiency and productivity. However, the widespread use of robots may impact human employment in the long term.

Are Robots in Warehouses a Danger to Human Employment?

Amazon’s Digit warehouse robot is a danger to human employment in a number of ways:

Digit can perform many tasks that human workers are currently performing.

Digit can pick and pack orders, move shelves, and restock inventory. As Digit becomes more advanced and capable, it is likely that it will be able to automate even more tasks.

It can make warehouses more efficient and productive, which could lead to job losses.

Amazon is already under pressure to reduce its costs and improve its efficiency. If Digit is able to help Amazon achieve these goals, it is likely that the company will need fewer human workers.

It could lead to a decline in wages for human workers. 

If there is a surplus of human workers in the warehousing industry, employers will be able to drive down wages. This could have a negative impact on the earnings of human workers.

However, there are ways that Amazon could mitigate the negative impact of Digit on human employment:

• Retrain workers for new jobs to work along with robots.
• Create new jobs to support robots.
• Share the benefits of automation with workers by increasing wages or providing other benefits.

Amazon is currently testing Digit in a small number of its warehouses. It is a promising new and powerful technology that can completely change the way Amazon warehouses operate. Let’s wait for its launch to know more in detail about Digit, till then stay connected with Oreonow.