Posted on 10/26/2025 6:23:59 AM PDT by Red Badger
Whatever else its faults — and it has many — one of the good things you can say about Amazon is that it employs a whole heck of a lot of American workers.
At least, it does for now.
CNBC reports:
Amazon on Wednesday unveiled a new robotic system that's capable of performing multiple tasks at once in the company's warehouses.
The system, called Blue Jay, is made up of a series of robotic arms that are suspended from a conveyor belt-like track. Those arms are tipped with suction-cup devices that allow them to grab and sort items of varying shapes and sizes.
"Grabbing and sorting items of varying shapes and sizes" is of course like 90% of what an Amazon warehouse worker does.
To be sure, Amazon already has robots doing a lot of suction-cupping and sorting in its warehouses. But, per the New York Times, Blue Jay is part of an ambitious new bid by the company to deploy vast armies of automated workers and thus replace the flesh-and-blood humans that may get hired there in the future:
Executives told Amazon's board last year that they hoped robotic automation would allow the company to continue to avoid adding to its U.S. work force in the coming years, even though they expect to sell twice as many products by 2033. That would translate to more than 600,000 people whom Amazon didn't need to hire.
Now, according to materials published by Amazon itself, the new "Blue Jay" robot doesn't look all that different from the current set of Terminators the company deploys in its warehouses:
But the robot is "already able to pick, stow, and consolidate approximately 75% of all the various types of items we store at our sites," and the company says it developed the tech behind it much more quickly than previous innovations:
Blue Jay's development moved from concept to production in just over a year — a process that formerly took three or more years for earlier Amazon systems like Robin, Cardinal, or Sparrow. The reason: Years of trial-and-error were condensed into months of development thanks to advancements in AI.
Ahh, yes. AI.
According to the company, Blue Jay is "like a juggler who never drops a ball" and "like a conductor leading an orchestra, with every motion in harmony." That sounds a whole lot heck of a lot like "perfect non-human worker that will replace a butt load of human workers" to me.
Not a great sign if you work at Amazon, I'm afraid.
“scan a QR code that the Amazon website would then cause to open the locker door.”
Yes, using the cellphone is the way to go.
LOL, yep, soon it’ll be low level robot warfare going on in all neighborhoods all the time. Delivery bots versus pirate bots. It’ll just sort of be background noise.
Skimmed over my head that I could ask for an Amazon box. Where does that get specified?
The delivery companies might add on front bins.
After loading up at Amazon, they would drive to a nearby warehouse and load up there.
FedEx might choose to piggy-front on Prime trucks.
Oh, but they do make mistakes.
That’s when they call me.
I’m a Blade Runner.
I have used Amazon for many years. Nothing has arrived broken yet.
ps
I love Amazon but hate Jeff Bezos.
“”who then will throw my packages into the bushes?””
***
Not to worry. The Amazon drones will deliver your packages safely into your chimney... just in time for Christmas. Happy roasting!
Hoping your good luck holds forever. Wonder if Bezos ever packed anything himself.
There will be an extra charge for special handling.
Robot deliveries will have a hard time being more careless than the current crop of (sub)human delivery people. About a week ago, one of them pulled up within five yards of our porch to deliver an electronic device. That idiot threw the package out of the window into the dirt, took a picture, and drove off. We made a complaint to Amazon, for all the good that will ever do.
When you’re checking out, underneath the item, it’ll say if it’s going to show up in a manufacturers’ boss. There’s an option to click a little box if you want it hidden in an Amazon box.
I guess they’re more worried about people stealing stuff but they know what it is.
Thanks. I saw that but didn’t generalize to padding protection.
When did Amazon start demanding food restaurants pay more than they can afford for servers?
Thank you for that! I LOVE my land! Absolutely. Love. It.
Gotta get working on that Land Trust, though. I want this little Heavenly spot on Earth to be a real working farm Forever and Ever, Amen! :)
Amazon’s owner is liberal and therefore sticks his nose into politics
Amazon censored conservative products as well
How does amazon afford the cost of those cardboard boxes when the item is inexpensive that the box costs more then the product?
How do they pay for that free shipping and return shipping when I cannot ship a small box to anywhere without a high cost?
Somehow they gotta be subsidized by us.
I have guessed that they get a huge discount on shipping by the various companies. Particularly FedEx since they seem to use them the most. As well as their own and USPS. Well, they do charge us for prime. I’m sure they’ve done lots of calculations to see just how much we use in shipping cost versus the cost of prime.
Not to mention that right now, their generous return policies and free shipping on small items. Probably get people to buy a whole lot more than they normally would. I know I do.
I don’t think they’re hurting, they’re probably still making tons of money! I imagine that once they become more of a monopoly, the price of prime will grow up and the restrictions on shipping will start. Just like now, the return window has closed to 30 days. So I think the restrictions are starting.
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