How Amazon’s next-generation tech will impact colleagues and customers

From robots that can “sense touch” to new automated packaging machines, Retail Week visited the site to see the next generation of tech.

At the global testing facility in Dortmund, journalists from across the world gathered to see and hear more about what Amazon is introducing in Europe with the aim of making the lives of staff and customers easier.

What’s become commonplace at the bi-annual event is the unveiling of shiny new robots, a focus on colleague safety, enthusiastic staff that can’t wait to demonstrate the new tech, and an emphasis that said technology will not replace human colleagues.

With Amazon now possessing a 750,000-strong fleet of industrial robots across fulfilment centres and a €700m investment in technology innovations across European delivery stations from 2021 till the end of 2025, how will this affect future operations, staff, and customers?

Vulcan

Another cool-yet-slightly-scary robot was displayed at the German facility, but this particular one has a “sense of touch”.

Dubbed “Vulcan”, this next iteration is built on advances in robotics, engineering and physical AI to pick and stow items in a speedy, efficient way.

The sense of touch means Vulcan now understands when and how it can touch an object, and can even move items to make room for whatever item it’s stowing.

It even knows how much force to use and can stop before it does any damage to a package.

While it doesn’t have any thumbs or fingers (yet) it uses an “end of arm tooling” that Amazon described as looking like a “ruler stuck onto a hair straightener”, which can push and move items around.

When picking up items, Vulcan uses a robotic arm equipped with a camera and suction cup that views the compartment and picks out any items.

Amazon Robotics director of applied science, robotics and AI Aaron Parness described Vulcan as a “fundamental leap forward” and something that was “unimaginable three years ago.”

Robots like Vulcan aid in completing 75% of global customer orders and help get packages delivered in a super speedy manner. 

The aim is to scale up Vulcan in the US, Europe and UK in the next couple of years to improve efficiency, worker safety and ergonomics, and to broaden the selection of items it can deliver to customers.

Delivery station of the future

Once a manual, physically demanding, repetitive process for humans, Amazon has long overhauled the way packages are sorted, picked and packed before heading out to customers.

During a tour of the expansive facility, guests were treated to demonstrations of new innovations being tested.

“Tipper” allows employees to bring carts of items to it, and the machine automatically transfers packages to the conveyor belt.  “Echelon and six-sided scanner” work together to manage the flow on the belts, while capturing package information.

“Agility and Matrix” also work together to work out the best paths for package sorting and limit the need for staff to push, reach, or handle packages.

“ZancaSort” brings packages and bags straight to employees at an ergonomic height so staff don’t have to reach or stack parcels.

“Vision Assisted Sort Station (VASS)” applies computer vision and projection technology to boost the efficiency of package sorting by highlighting said packages and their correct sorting locations.

Nicola Fyfe, vice president of Amazon Logistics Europe, said in a keynote speech: “In the future, technology will unload packages automatically, saving our employees time and effort. 

“Our innovations will assess and find the best path for each package that’s sorted in a delivery station, eliminating the need for employees to push or reach for packages.

“Our inventions are all designed to serve multiple tasks across the journey in delivery stations. These and other innovations will be incorporated into our first fully operational Amazon delivery stations in 2026.”

No doubt impressive, but it does ponder the question of the role of humans in all of this. If these innovations are removing the need for some manual tasks, surely that means fewer staff?

Well, according to Amazon, this actually means more staff. It was stressed in a blog post, during Fyfe’s speech, and throughout the visit that “hundreds of thousands” of employees have been hired since robots were introduced.

Over 20,000 employees in the European delivery station network gained new skills in automation technology and AI-powered innovations in 2024 and design, software, maintenance and engineering roles are also growing at Amazon.

The company did not say much about what happens to employees who simply can’t or don’t want to upskill or retrain.