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A24 TECHNOLOGY
Tuesday 31 december 2019
As robots take over warehousing, workers pushed to adapt

By MATT O'BRIEN Reveal found that robotic
AP Technology Writer warehouses reported more
NORTH HAVEN, Conn. (AP) injuries than those without.
— Guess who's getting Reveal looked at records
used to working with ro- from 28 Amazon warehous-
bots in their everyday lives? es in 16 states and found
The very same warehouse that the overall rate of seri-
workers once predicted to ous injuries was more than
be losing their jobs to me- double the warehousing
chanical replacements. industry average. Amazon
But doing your job side-by- has countered it's mislead-
side with robots isn't easy. ing to compare its rate with
According to their makers, rivals because of the com-
the machines should take pany's "aggressive stance
on the most mundane and on recording injuries no
physically strenuous tasks. matter how big or small."
In reality, they're also creat- The Reveal report also
ing new forms of stress and found a correlation be-
strain in the form of injuries tween robots and safety
and the unease of working problems, such as in Tracy,
in close quarters with mo- In this Dec. 17, 2019, photo dozens of Amazon robots transport packages from workers to chutes California, where the seri-
bile half-ton devices that that are organized by zip code, at an Amazon warehouse facility in Goodyear, Ariz. ous injury rate nearly qua-
direct themselves. Associated Press drupled in the four years af-
"They weigh a lot," Ama- other forms of warehouse "set the tone for all the that can be found working ter robots were introduced.
zon worker Amanda Taillon automation, retailers say other retailers to stand up the early-morning shift at a Melonee Wise, CEO of
said during the pre-Christ- they wouldn't be able to and pay attention," said warehouse in the Phoenix California-based Fetch
mas rush at a company fulfill consumer demand for Jim Liefer, CEO of San Fran- suburb of Goodyear, Ari- Robotics, which sells its au-
warehouse in Connecticut. packages that can land cisco startup Kindred AI, zona. A crisscrossing fleet tonomous robotic carts to
Nearby, a fleet of 6-foot- on doorsteps the day after which makes an artificially of robots carries packaged retailers and other clients,
tall roving robot shelves you order them online. intelligent robotic arm that items across the floor and credits Amazon's Kiva ac-
zipped around behind a But while fears that robots grasps and sorts items for drops them into chutes quisition for propelling inno-
chain-link fence. Taillon's will replace human workers retailers such as The Gap. based on the zip code of vation in the industry.
job is to enter a cage and haven't come to fruition, A rush of venture capital their final destination. But she said that Amazon's
tame Amazon's wheeled there are growing con- and private sector invest- All of this is transforming system forces workers to
warehouse robots for long cerns that keeping up with ment in warehouse robotics warehouse work in a way do "un-ergonomic moves"
enough to pick up a fallen the pace of the latest arti- spiked to $1.5 billion a year that the head of Amazon such as reaching up high
toy or relieve a traffic jam. ficial intelligence technolo- in 2015 and has remained Robotics says can "extend or crouching down to pick
She straps on a light-up gy is taking a toll on human high ever since, said Rian human capability" by shift- out and stow inventory into
utility belt that works like workers' health, safety and Whitton, a robotics analyst ing people to what they the shelves-on-wheels.
a superhero's force field, morale. Warehouses pow- at ABI Research. are best at: problem-solv- "They have robots that live
commanding the nearest ered by robotics and AI soft- Canadian e-commerce ing, common sense and in cages," she said. "Our
robots to abruptly halt and ware are leading to human company Shopify spent thinking on their feet. robots are designed to
the others to slow down or burnout by adding more $450 million this fall to buy "The efficiencies we gain work safely around people,
adjust their routes. work and upping the pres- Massachusetts-based start- from our associates and which is a very large dis-
"When you're out there, and sure on workers to speed up 6 River Systems, which robotics working together tinction between the two
you can hear them mov- up their performance, said makes an autonomous cart harmoniously — what I like systems." Amazon hasn't
ing around, but you can't Beth Gutelius, who studies nicknamed Chuck that to call a symphony of hu- disclosed how its safety
see them, it's like, 'Where urban economic develop- can follow workers around mans and machines work- record at robot-powered
are they going to come ment at the University of Il- a warehouse. Other mo- ing together — allows us warehouses compares to
from?'," she said. "It's a little linois at Chicago and has bile robot startups are part- to pass along a lower cost those without. But com-
nerve-racking at first." interviewed warehouse op- nering with delivery giants to our customer," said Tye pany officials remain opti-
Taillon says she's gotten erators around the U.S. such as FedEx and DHL or Brady, Amazon Robotics' mistic that Amazon workers
used to working with robots It's not that workers aren't retailers such as Walmart. chief technologist. are adapting to the new
— something Amazon and getting trained on how to Amazon this year bought "It sounds quite lovely, but technology.
its rivals are increasingly re- work with robots safely. "The another warehouse ro- I rarely hear from a work- At a visit with a reporter
quiring warehouse employ- problem is it becomes very botics startup, Colorado- er's perspective that that's earlier in December to the
ees to do. Amazon now has difficult to do so when the based Canvas Technol- what it feels like," she said. warehouse in North Ha-
more than 200,000 robotic productivity standards are ogy, which builds wheeled Gutelius co-authored a re- ven, Connecticut, Brady
vehicles it calls "drives" that set so high," she said. robots guided by com- port published this fall that was explaining the work-
are moving goods through Much of the boom in ware- puter vision. Such robots found new warehouse ings of a powerful robotic
its delivery-fulfillment cen- house robotics has its roots would be more fully au- technology could contrib- arm called a "palletizer"
ters around the U.S. That's in Amazon's $775 million tonomous than Amazon's ute to wage stagnation, when crates it was stack-
double the number it had purchase of Massachusetts current fleet of caged-off higher turnover and poorer ing on a pallet started tum-
last year and up from startup Kiva Systems in 2012. vehicles, which have to fol- quality work experiences bling over. Unfazed by the
15,000 units in 2014. The tech giant re-branded low bar codes and previ- because of the way AI temporary malfunction, he
Its rivals have taken notice, it as Amazon Robotics and ously mapped routes within software can monitor and watched as an employee
and many are adding their transformed it into an in- warehouses. The tech giant micro-manage workers' disabled the machine,
own robots in a race to house laboratory that for is also still rolling out new behaviors. A recent jour- discovered an apparent
speed up productivity and seven years has been de- models descended from nalistic investigation of in- structural weakness in the
bring down costs. signing and building Ama- the Kiva line, including the jury rates at Amazon ware- pallet, adjusted the stack
Without these fast-moving zon's robot armada. Pegasus, a squarish vehicle houses from The Center for of crates and let the robot
pods, robotic arms and Amazon's Kiva purchase with a conveyor belt on top Investigative Reporting's get back to work.q