Amazon is claiming a “fundamental leap forward in robotics”, after unveiling a robot that has a sense of touch.

Amazon at its ‘Delivering the Future event in Dortmund, Germany’ announced that its Vulcan robot is not the usual “numb and dumb” robot, but “built on key advances in robotics, engineering, and physical AI, Vulcan is our first robot with a sense of touch.”

Amazon has been working on robotics for some time now. In October 2022 Amazon had ended field tests of its Scout delivery robot after about three years, after admitting to Silicon UK that the current iteration of Scout was not “meeting customers’ needs”.

Amazon Vulcan

Then in October 2023 Amazon began testing Digit, a two-legged robot that could grasp and lift items at a facility near Seattle.

It also began testing another robotic system called Sequoia was designed to speed up deliveries at one of its Houston warehouses.

Amazon at the time said it already has over 750,000 robots working collaboratively with its employees at fulfilment centres, “taking on highly repetitive tasks and freeing employees up to better deliver for our customers.”

But now Amazon is claiming that “Vulcan is our first robot with a sense of touch,” which it said will “make workers’ jobs easier and safer while moving orders more efficiently.”

Amazon noted that a typical robot would struggle to do one thing that humans can do easily – picking up a coin from the ground and flipping it into a hand or pocket.

“The typical robot is ‘numb and dumb,’” Aaron Parness, Amazon’s director of robotics AI stated, especially those that work in commercial settings. “In the past, when industrial robots have unexpected contact, they either emergency stop or smash through that contact. They often don’t even know they have hit something because they cannot sense it.”

But Amazon’s Vulcan is neither numb nor dumb, thanks to key advances in robotics, engineering, and physical AI, which makes Vulcan “our first robot with a sense of touch.”

“Vulcan represents a fundamental leap forward in robotics,” Parness said. “It’s not just seeing the world, it’s feeling it, enabling capabilities that were impossible for robots until now.”

Amazon said that”Vulcan is not our first robot that can pick things up, but with its sense of touch – its ability to understand when and how it makes contact with an object – Vulcan unlocks new ways to improve our operations jobs and facilities.”

How it works

Just like a human, it can manipulate objects within storage compartments to make room for whatever it’s stowing, because it knows when it makes contact and how much force it’s applying and can stop short of doing any damage. Where a human does this with opposable thumbs and fingers full of sensory receptors, Vulcan uses an “end of arm tooling” (aka a hand) that resembles a ruler stuck onto a hair straightener.

The ruler bit pushes around the items already in those compartments to make room for whatever it wants to add. The arms of the hair straightener (the “paddles”) hold the item to be added, adjusting their grip strength based on the item’s size and shape, then use built-in conveyor belts to move the item into the bin.

Amazon said that for picking items from those compartments, Vulcan uses an arm that carries a camera and a suction cup. The camera looks at the compartment and picks out the item to be grabbed, along with the best spot to hold it by. While the suction cup grabs it, the camera watches to make sure it took the right thing and only the right thing.

With those skills, Vulcan can currently handle about three quarters of the millions of products we offer. It also has the ability to identify when it can’t move a specific item, and can ask a human partner to tag in.

Amazon said it has done this “all this work to improve not just efficiency, but worker safety and ergonomics. At our fulfilment centres in Spokane, Washington and Hamburg, Germany, Vulcan is already at work picking and stowing inventory in the top rows of those inventory pods. Because those rows are about eight feet up, they typically require an employee to reach them using a step ladder, a process that’s time-consuming, tiring, and one that is less ergonomic than stowing and picking at their midriff. Vulcan also handles items stowed just above the floor, so our associates can work where they’re most comfortable.”

“Vulcan works alongside our employees, and the combination is better than either on their own,” said Parness.

Amazon said its 750,000 robots already play a role in completing 75 percent of customer orders.

Self learning

Vulcan apparently even learns from its own failures, figuring out how different objects behave when touched and steadily building up an understanding of the physical world, just like kids do. So, users can expect it to become smarter and more capable in the years to come.

The result, Parness said, is “a technology that three years ago seemed impossible but is now set to help transform our operations.”

Amazon said it plans that the Vulcan robot will be deployed over the next couple of years at sites throughout Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

“Our vision is to scale this technology across our network, enhancing operational efficiency, improving workplace safety, and supporting our employees by reducing physically demanding tasks,” Parness said. “Better operational efficiency translates to getting the right product to right truck at ever faster speeds, allowing us to continue widening our selection and offer industry-leading prices.”