Is Amazon On Verge Of Replacing Delivery People With Humanoid Robots?

How much does a robot have to cost and how good does it need to be in order to replace a human delivery person? If there’s one company that knows, it’s Amazon, and that online retail giant may be on the verge of reaching that critical juncture.

Reportedly, Amazon has set up a whole “humanoid park” where it is testing out humanoid robots that can “spring out” of Amazon delivery vans and then go bring a package to someone’s front door.

The Information discovered this from someone who used to be involved in the program. Amazon is reportedly developing the AI software, while it is relying on an outside company for the robot bodies/hardware.

The “humanoid park” is reportedly about the size of a coffee shop and includes various obstacles. How far along the robots are and what challenges they still have, we don’t know.

Naturally, if (or when) these humanoid robots are good enough to delivery packages reliably, a lot of actual humans are going to lose their jobs. We we deal with that, I don’t know.

“Even with a human driver behind the wheel, a robot could theoretically speed up drop-off times by visiting one address while the human employee delivers to another. Amazon also has an interest in self-driving vehicles through its Zoox unit,” The Guardian reports. Indeed.

The next step beyond training at the humanoid park is going to be taking the robots on “field trips” to practice real-world deliveries. I wonder what the humans going along with the robots will be thinking about their job security and future career plans.

Naturally, humanoid robots will also require more electricity than humans, who don’t need to be plugged in or recharged with electricity. Aside from the need for recharging, though, robots could be working the streets 24/7. We may not be approaching the space world of the The Jetsons, but this does very much give me Jetsons vibes.