Amazon introduces item picking robot

A CRITICAL part of Amazon’s fulfillment process happens before items are even packaged for shipment to customers. Technology moves totes to employees who select inventory to be packaged. Once the items are boxed up, Amazon’s existing robotic arms—like Robin and the recently announced Cardinal—can then redirect packages to various locations in the warehouse before they begin their delivery journey.

Amazon says: “In our focus on robotics, we knew we had an opportunity to dig deeper into research and development to support individual product handling. We have millions of products of all shapes and sizes in our inventory, and we recognised the opportunity to invent new technology that could help handle them at Amazon’s scale.

“That’s why we are thrilled to introduce Sparrow, our newest robotic system that significantly advances item handling in our operations. Sparrow is the first robotic system in our warehouses that can detect, select, and handle individual products in our inventory.”

Leveraging computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI), Sparrow can recognise and handle millions of items. Robotics technology enables Amazon to work smarter, not harder, to operate efficiently and safely.

The company continues: “Beyond the technological advancements of Sparrow, what we’re truly excited about are the implications the technology has and the ways it will benefit our employees and customers. Working with our employees, Sparrow will take on repetitive tasks, enabling our employees to focus their time and energy on other things, while also advancing safety. At the same time, Sparrow will help us drive efficiency by automating a critical part of our fulfillment process so we can continue to deliver for customers.”

Interact Analysis senior analyst Rueben Scriven comments: “There are many workflows in a fulfillment centre that requires individual item manipulation including stowing, picking, consolidation, packing. By the looks of it, the Sparrow will be used for multi-line order consolidation, rather than picking which will still be done by associates and represents the bulk of the human workforce.

“Order consolidation, the process of combining batch-picked items into their respective orders, accounts for approximately 5% of total labour demand in fulfillment centres. This pales in comparison to order picking which accounts for 53% of total labour demand in fulfillment centres.”

He adds: “Amazon announced this year that it would be slowing down its fulfillment centre expansion, given the slow down in eCommerce sales. However, this doesn’t mean that Amazon will slow down its investments in automation. Instead, we’ll likely see more investments automating its existing facilities with technologies such as piece picking robots which are the final frontier for automation.”