By Greg Bensinger
MILPITAS, California (Reuters) -In its relentless drive to bring everyday items to customers faster, Amazon has shifted expectations from two-day delivery to same-day and even within an hour. Now, with robots, artificial intelligence and even eyewear, it is working to pare seconds off each delivery.
On Wednesday, Seattle-based Amazon showed off advanced eyeglasses for delivery workers for the first time publicly after Reuters exclusively reported the company was developing them last year. Known internally as Amelia, the glasses have a small screen that gives turn-by-turn directions, scans package codes and takes photos for proof of delivery.
The glasses could replace the bulky handheld Global Positioning System devices drivers use today and give helpful navigation tips like which way to turn when leaving an apartment elevator or how to avoid an aggressive dog at a customer’s home. The glasses rely on a paired controller placed in a driver’s vest and Amazon solved the challenge of battery life by having swappable battery packs, the company said.
The announcements made at Amazon’s annual “Delivering the Future” logistics event are part of the firm’s particular focus on the “last 100 yards,” which contribute to the expensive final steps in a delivery’s journey to customers. Last year, it unveiled a delivery van scanner to direct drivers to packages for each stop by shining a green spotlight on them, shaving seconds off time usually spent reading labels. And in June, it showed reporters new digital maps that gave far more detail about neighborhoods, building shapes and obstacles, than, say, Google Maps.
Also on Wednesday, the online retailer showed off a robotic arm that it says can work in concert with warehouse employees picking items off shelves and sorting them for faster and more accurate order fulfillment. Amazon claimed the robot, dubbed Blue Jay, could reduce injury rates and work in a smaller space than equivalent robots that previously required three separate stations.
The robot is in use already at a warehouse in South Carolina, Amazon said, and it plans to roll it out to more facilities in the coming months, particularly what are known as sub-same-day sites focused on delivery in a few hours or less.
Additionally, Amazon said it plans to deploy an artificial intelligence system at warehouses, starting at one in Tennessee, that can help manage operations at a high level, to prevent gridlock and other challenges that can slow operations. It was not immediately clear how Amazon planned to institute the software or who would have access to it.
The company’s expansion of warehouse robots is expected to reduce its U.S. hiring by 160,000 workers over the next two years, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. Amazon said it planned to hire 250,000 temporary workers for the holiday season.
(Reporting by Greg Bensinger; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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