On Wednesday, October 9th, Amazon announced at the "Delivering the Future" event plans to construct new warehouses utilizing robots for package delivery. The first of these "next-generation distribution centers" is located in Shreveport, Louisiana, covering an expansive 3 million square feet—equivalent to 55 football fields.

This five-story facility showcases Amazon's latest advancements in robotics technology, building on over a decade of research since the acquisition of Kiva in 2012. Amazon is committed to deeper integration of robotics and AI into its operations, and while the specific number of robots in the new warehouse remains undisclosed, it will feature ten times the robots of a standard warehouse. Currently, Amazon operates nearly one million robots across its U.S. facilities.

The company employs various types of robots, including autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and robotic arms named Robin, Cardinal, and Sparrow. Additionally, Amazon has unveiled a new inventory system called Sequoia, touted as the "most advanced multi-layer container inventory system," designed to enhance the speed and safety of goods access. The updated Sequoia system in Louisiana is expected to accommodate over 30 million items, five times larger than the original system deployed in Houston last year.

To support this ambitious rollout, Amazon has hired Covariant's founders—Pieter Abbeel, Peter Chen, and Rocky Duan—to enhance the integration of AI across its robotic systems. Testing is currently underway to ensure seamless collaboration between different robot systems in the Louisiana warehouse, a task that has proven challenging in the past. Despite this high level of automation, Amazon maintains that human employees remain crucial to these operations, with plans to hire 2,500 workers when the Louisiana warehouse is fully operational.

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