E-commerce giant Amazon expects today to be one of its busiest days of the year - so they have drafted in 15,000 robots to streamline and speed-up work in their US warehouses.
Video Report by CNET
The orange-bots can travel around the warehouse, bundling together goods ordered by users,before they are then sorted by human workers for shipping.
Some orders that used to take 90 minutes to be put together can now be collected in 15 minutes. Amazon claims that the robots are intended to work along-side warehouse staff, not to replace them. In the 10 centres where they are working the robots have increased productivity by 20 percent.
They are made by Kiva systems, a technology firm that is owned by Amazon. Bots weigh 145 kg and can travel at 4 mph.
This project is part of the firm's on-going mission to shave as much time as possible off the gap between when a customer clicks to confirm an order, and when that order is delivered to them. The company is also known to be experimenting with a fleet of delivery-drones to speed-up this operation.
Working conditions
The company has been criticised in the past for its treatment of warehouse staff. In November 2013, BBC Two aired a Panorama special called Amazon: The Truth Behind the Click, which saw reporter Adam Littler go undercover in Amazon's Swansea warehouse.
During one shift he walked 17.7 km over a 10.5 hour period. Mr Littler said he found the experience dehumanising, saying that he felt like a robot (he was working as a 'picker' and doing the same kind of job that these robots are now doing).
The report included input from professor Michael Marmot, one of the UK's leading experts on work-related stress, he said the working conditions discovered at the warehouse represented "all the bad stuff at once."
Carole Cadwalladr, a British author and journalist, wrote a similar piece for The Observer, also based on experiences working undercover at the Swansea warehouse.
Amazon defended their working practises in the wake of the BBC report, saying: "We strongly refute the charge that Amazon exploits its employees in any way. The safety of our associates is our number one priority, and we adhere to all regulations and employment laws."
