We might be closer to an episode of The Jetsons than ever. And that’s because Amazon is working on replacing its human delivery workers with robotic alternatives.
The company reportedly started working on robotics 12 years ago when it launched a drone delivery program. According to an article in the Street, it’s now pivoting to an AI-based software that would control humanoid robots. Those robots could presumably be trained to do everything that a human delivery driver does today—drive Rivian trucks and deliver packages.
Amazon will reportedly start testing this technology in a controlled environment in California’s Bay Area. The humanoid robots will be placed inside an obstacle course of sorts and tested to see if they can follow instructions to make deliveries under a complex set of circumstances.
All of that is very interesting. And the change might result in your packages showing up on your porch more quickly, sure. But there would also be a huge human cost in lost jobs.
What people are saying
Of course, the news is being dissected on Reddit. In a post to r/Singularity, users discussed what fields robotics and AI will disrupt next. Others just expressed unease with the prospect.
“That looks nothing like a murderbot at all,” joked one person.
“Ever since seeing ‘I, Robot’ when it came out, I always thought about how cool it would be to have humanoid courier robots coming to my door. And it turns out that the movie timeline 92034) might actually be fairly accurate,” someone else wrote.
“Amazon should make a robot ambulance that charges $300 instead of $3,000,” said another.
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