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Robotics

Amazon Prepares To Test Humanoid Robots for Delivering Packages (theinformation.com) 69

Posted by msmash from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.
Amazon is developing software for humanoid robots that could eventually replace hundreds of thousands of delivery workers, [non-paywalled source] The Information reports. The company is building a "humanoid park" obstacle course at its San Francisco office to test robots that would ride in the back of Amazon's Rivian electric vans and deliver packages to customers, the report said. The indoor testing facility, roughly the size of a coffee shop, will house a Rivian van and serve as a controlled environment before Amazon takes the robots on "field trips" to deliver real packages on actual streets.

This summer, Amazon plans to test multiple humanoid models, including a $16,000 unit from China-based Unitree that has gained popularity among robotics developers, the report said. The initiative represents Amazon's most ambitious robotics project yet, extending beyond its existing warehouse automation to tackle the significantly more complex challenge of outdoor package delivery. Amazon currently operates more than 20,000 Rivian vehicles for deliveries and plans to expand its electric fleet to 100,000 vehicles by 2030.

Amazon Prepares To Test Humanoid Robots for Delivering Packages More | Reply

Amazon Prepares To Test Humanoid Robots for Delivering Packages

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    • First, you hate Amazon for the jobs it creates. Now you hate Amazon for ending the same jobs you hated.

  • Before taking these things out into the real world, they need to do some proper outdoor testing, perhaps by renting out one of the "towns" the military and police use for urban training. Testing needs to include "adversarial encounters," because that what's going to happen when they face real people.

    And do it somewhere in the north-east, in winter.

    It always amazes me that tech-bro's can call something - like autonomous vehicles - fully tested when it's only been run in So-Cal, Nevada and Arizona.

  • Can it figure out that I didn't shovel my driveway in the winter, and there's 3 feet of snow, and the robot will get stuck?
  • Hmmm... I don't know... an army of Chinese robots roaming the US. Kinda makes me nervous.

    • That's probably a better outcome than an army of US robots roaming the US with the way things are going over here.

      • May's Rasmussen poll: "In 20 years, the % of people who say the US is headed in the Right Direction has never been higher than today."

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cstacy ( 534252 )

      Hmmm... I don't know... an army of Chinese robots roaming the US. Kinda makes me nervous.

      Zhíxíng mìnglìng 66

  • What you really want is a dog-like robot with package grippers on its back, and one arm for doorknobs and elevator buttons - something like a Boston Dynamics bot.

    Four legs - stable without balancing, so longer battery life.
    Low profile - delivery vans could have more than one, in dog-house slots
    Can't be mistaken for a human - give it a few cute dog-like mannerisms

    • What you really want is a dog-like robot with package grippers on its back, and one arm for doorknobs and elevator buttons - something like a Boston

      ...

      give it a few cute dog-like mannerisms

      Dog-like mannerisms paired with an extra, human-like arm and package grippers doesn't sound like it could ever be "cute".

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cstacy ( 534252 )

      What you really want is a dog-like robot with package grippers on its back, and one arm for doorknobs and elevator buttons - something like a Boston Dynamics bot.

      Four legs - stable without balancing, so longer battery life.
      Low profile - delivery vans could have more than one, in dog-house slots
      Can't be mistaken for a human - give it a few cute dog-like mannerisms

      Stop it, you're turning me on.

    • Cute idea, but you're going to have to be careful about those "dog-like mannerisms." If not, they'll all end up chasing cats.

  • This story reminds me of the opening scene from I, Robot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    Robots out in an uncontrolled environment is not likely to be accepted by the public until the technology is advanced enough to prevent harm to people and property. It's hard enough to make a computer that can keep an airplane flying on a safe path when there's nothing but open sky. When a robot is on wheels, such as a self driving car, and on a smooth and well marked path, like a highway, there's incidents of prope

  • We're all going to be HVAC welding plumbers. They'll be plenty of people to hire us and our bodies won't break down around the age of 55 with 22 years left to go before we can even pretend to retire.

    Absolutely nothing about your life needs to change from the time you were 12. Just keep telling yourself that over and over and over again.
  • ... 5,000 Indians pretending to be robots.

    Not even original guys : https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/06/03/1954225/ai-startup-revealed-to-be-700-indian-employees-pretending-to-be-chatbots

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dgatwood ( 11270 )

      ... 5,000 Indians pretending to be robots.

      5,000 Indians controlling 100,000 robots, though, would represent a huge cost savings in this case.

      First, you wouldn't have to hire in the local market, so the labor would be cheaper. The median salary in India is about $350 per month. California's minimum wage (assuming four 40-hour workweeks) is $2,640 per month. So that's almost an order-of-magnitude reduction in cost by itself.

      Second, at least half of a delivery person's time is spent in a vehicle going from place to place, and in low-density area

  • Amazon is developing software for humanoid robots that could eventually replace hundreds of thousands of delivery workers...

    It's kind of disturbing to contemplate the rate at which AI and automation are replacing humans. Which, for the umpteenth time, prompts the question "Who's going to be buying all the products these corporations produce when a large percentage of the population is jobless?"

    Amazon plans to test multiple humanoid models, including a $16,000 unit from China-based Unitree...

    Unless the chip design and the programming for these robots are done in the US, mightn't this just give the Chinese a big kill switch on a substantial chunk of US logistics infrastructure? Not to mention a whole lot of intelligence-gatheri

    • Yep, and yep. Somewhere around 1.2 million workers in warehouse and delivery depend on Amazon for a living, at least partially. Instead of millions of jobs, you'll have a few thousand robot maintenance workers at the most. And those jobs will probably suck, require lots of unpredictable travel and not pay well.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by HiThere ( 15173 )

      If you want to worry, read this:
      https://ai-2027.com/ [ai-2027.com]
      then try to figure out whether we're following that timeline.

  • This reminds me of the Hitchbot experiment.

    The robot was able to make it across Canada, the Netherlands, and Germany, but it met its end in Philadelphia.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HitchBOT [wikipedia.org]

    • Its fate is described as "stripped, dismembered, and decapitated". It's lucky that it didn't get as far as Trenton, where its fate would have been worse.
  • Will the robots know not to leave packages out in the rain like my last Amazon driver? About 2% of them will put the package in a plastic bag, which is nice, but they are in the minority.
  • Of all the steps in an Amazon purchase, why optimize this one? Humanoid robots are slow, heavy, and terrible in unpredictable environments. Humans are far quicker and more agile and durable. How's this unitree going to handle rain, mud, snow, etc....and then how much money are you really going to save?

    I really don't see how this will benefit them. So the robot will no doubt be slower than a human delivery person...but you could have many on a truck...the only problem is that they'll take a ton of spa

  • The company is building a "humanoid park" obstacle course at its San Francisco office to test robots that would ride in the back of Amazon's Rivian electric vans and deliver packages to customers.

    Just a few quickie questions:

    How will you know for sure that it's an android, and therefore okay to kill or rape it?

    How will you know that it's okay to do that to androids?

    What happens when the nightly mind-wipe doesn't exactly take, and the robots start remembering? At first in strange dreams. Later with more cla

  • From what I gather, these are humanoid robots that walk erect and are capable of speech. Given that, I won't be a bit surprised if somebody channeling PT Barnum would start selling by mail order boxes of gold bullets to deal with them because regular bullets don't have any effect. Naturally, they won't really be made of gold but that won't matter to the suckers buying them.
  • If human drivers, what would be the point of having robots

  • Yeah, good, fine. Hoomans will be much cheaper for a long time to come.

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