Amazon CEO says robotics is key for faster delivery, lower costs

Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon.com Inc., immediately gave perception into his firm’s robotics technique in his 2026 letter to shareholders. Amazon is all the time seeking to make its prices decrease and its deliveries quicker, and it sees robotics as a promising a part of this aim, he mentioned.

“Whereas we proceed to work on productiveness and stock ranges, robotics gives a step-level change for a way we will ship quicker, scale back the price of carrying extra choice, and automate actions that trigger strains and accidents to our teammates,” Jassy wrote.

Amazon now has greater than 1 million robots working in its achievement facilities, serving to with stowing, choosing, sorting, and intra-facility transport. Regardless of this, Jassy mentioned he believes the corporate continues to be within the early phases of determining the way it will absolutely use robotics.

Amazon plans to spend money on rural and speedy deliveries

Final month, Amazon acquired RIVR, a developer of quadruped wheeled robots for doorstep supply.

RIVR had been on Amazon’s radar since 2024, when Jeff Bezos led the corporate’s $22 million seed spherical by Bezos Expeditions and HongShan. And, having shut down its personal Scout supply robotic program again in 2022, Amazon could possibly be on the lookout for a brand new robotic doorstep supply possibility.

The corporate is actually investing extra in supply, significantly in its rural supply community. Jassy mentioned the Amazon will spend $4 billion to broaden its rural supply community. As soon as the enlargement is full, the e-commerce supplier plans to ship over a billion extra packages annually to clients dwelling in additional than 13,000 ZIP codes spanning 1.2 million sq. mi. (3.1 million sq. km).

The corporate additionally plans to carry Amazon Now, which gives supply on 1000’s of things inside 20 minutes, to the U.S. and Europe. To this point, the corporate has seen traction with the service in India and the United Arab Emirates.

With Amazon ramping up deliveries on a number of fronts, it could possibly be making room to incorporate extra robots in its increasing community.

The corporate can be nonetheless pursuing Prime Air, its drone supply service. Jassy mentioned Amazon “plans to serve communities with 30 million clients by yr’s finish and expects to ship half a billion packages by the top of this decade.” Amazon goals to make these deliveries in half-hour. 

Will Amazon take one other guess on client robots?

Amazon plans to maintain innovating in kind elements, use-case variety, agility, greedy, and intelligence, Jassy mentioned. The corporate will even discover leveraging its scale and real-time suggestions loop from the robots it has in its achievement community to construct robotics programs for different industrial and client clients.

Jassy didn’t share many particulars about Amazon’s plans for what these robots may appear like, however the firm did not too long ago purchase Fauna Robotics, a humanoid robotic developer. Fauna’s Sprout is a analysis platform, not a client robotic for residence use, however Amazon mentioned it’s taking a “nicely thought-out and measured method to actually perceive the potential of non-public robots.”

Previously, Amazon hasn’t gained a lot traction within the client robots class. In 2021, it released Amazon Astro, a small robotic designed for residence or small enterprise safety monitoring, distant care of aged family members, or as a digital assistant. Since then, nevertheless, Astro hasn’t gained a lot traction.

Amazon additionally canceled its acquisition of robotic vacuum maker iRobot in 2024 due to antitrust considerations.

Editor’s observe: Aaron Parness, director of utilized science at Amazon Robotics, will communicate within the opening keynote on “Constructing Dependable Robots at Scale” and the RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards Dinner on the Robotics Summit & Expo in Boston subsequent month. Registration is now open.

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