​​Amazon Introduces its First Fully Autonomous Mobile Warehouse Robot ‘Proteus’

Amazon unveiled Proteus, its first fully autonomous mobile robot, on Wednesday. Proteus autonomously moves through facilities using the company's advanced safety, perception, and navigation technology. The robot was designed to be self-directed and move around employees, so it does not need to be confined to specific areas.

"It can operate in a manner that augments simple, safe interaction between technology and people, such as the lifting and movement of GoCarts, the non-automated, wheeled transports used to move packages through our facilities," Amazon said in a statement.

Proteus will first be used in the outbound GoCart handling areas of Amazon fulfillment and sort centers. The goal is to automate GoCart handling across the network, reducing the need for people to manually move heavy objects. Amazon has over 520,000 robotic drive units and has added over a million jobs globally.

Cardinal, a robotic arm capable of lifting up to 50 pounds, will also be added by Amazon. The robotic arms are expected to be installed in the company's warehouses sometime next year.

The company said, "With Cardinal, package sorting happens earlier in the shipping process, resulting in faster process time in the facility. Amazon shipping operations run more smoothly because Cardinal converts batch-based manual work into continuous, automated work."