AFP – Amazon on Wednesday said it hopes to expand drone delivery into Britain and Italy by late next year, as it unveiled new warehouse robots and tech in its race to get shoppers what they want quickly.
The Seattle-based e-commerce colossus said it will expand drone delivery of certain purchases to a third United States state as well as to the two European countries by the end of 2024.
Amazon delivery drones are already at work in California and Texas, and a new MK30 model will be able to operate in more extreme weather conditions than those currently in use, Amazon Prime Air Vice President David Carbon said during a marketing event. “Our customers have always wanted things faster and I think this is a way we can get to it at scale,” said Prime AI Director of Engineering Jason Patrao, adding that the drone programme, while currently small, “is going to be something that I think we will all get used to”.
Amazon has also installed a new robotics system called Sequoia in one of its Texas logistics centres, the company said.
The system features automated vehicles, gantry cranes, mechanical arms, computer vision technologies and ergonomic workstations for employees, a presentation showed.
Amazon already uses 750,000 robots in its warehouses, but the idea is to make the various machines more interoperable, according to executives.
“It becomes magical when you blend multiple robotics systems with our amazing people,” said Amazon Robotics Chief Technologist Tye Brady.
Sequoia can identify and put away stock in warehouses “up to 75 per cent faster” than was previously possible, the company said in a statement. And order processing time can be reduced by 25 per cent in best-case scenarios.
“This means we can list items on sale on Amazon.com more quickly, benefiting both sellers and customers,” Amazon said.
