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Amazon is developing a software for humanoid robots that are designed to ‘spring out’ of the thousands of delivery vans roaming the country, according to a report.
The $2 trillion company is testing out the two-legged, two-armed electric-powered bots at a “humanoid park” in San Francisco where they will be trained to work as Amazon delivery workers, the Information reported.
Robots are put through the ringer at an indoor obstacle course about the size of a coffee shop where they are trained to replace Amazon delivery workers in the field.
The metal marvels are designed to “spring out” of the company’s 20,000 recently purchased electric Rivian vans and deliver packages to customers’ doorsteps.
“If Amazon restricts the scope, which means using relatively clear driveways and standard layouts of doors and surroundings, then the task would be quite a bit simpler,” Professor Subramanian Ramamoorthy, chair of robot learning at the University of Edinburgh told The Guardian.
“As the environments become more complex and variable, and others enter the picture — such as pets and small children — the problems become harder,” the professor added.
Amazon is planning to have 100,000 of the robot-friendly EVs on the road by 2030, according to the company.
Though robots would serve as delivery workers, the company stated that real-life human beings can still work as drivers of the vans without causing inefficiencies, the report stated.
Amazon currently employs roughly 275,000 drivers in the United States and employs 1.55 million people in total, Exploding Topics reported citing company data.
The e-commerce behemoth previously tested out humanoid robots at Amazon warehouses where they are expected to eventually replace human workers.
Company leaders said robots are expected to reduce order fulfillment times by up to 25%, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Amazon did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.