Amazon assesses proximity sensing system to prevent robot killings

"Blog network" November 16, after the robot killings this July, Amazon recently submitted a report to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Amazon is stepping up robotics research and development, and by testing new technology more secure operation of the storage center of the growing fleet of robots. By testing the proximity sensing system, the robot killing events are prevented from happening again.

On the July 2 of this year, a robot killed a human worker in a Volkswagen factory in Germany. The 21-year-old worker was installing and modulating the robot, who suddenly "shot" at the worker's chest and crushed it on a metal plate. The worker died on the spot.

It's not an Amazon event, but this year, in a booming Amazon robotics business, the report said, "Amazon robots are looking to evaluate the radio location technology used by robots in overseas warehousing centers." ”

While Amazon insists that these technologies are strictly limited to internal use and will not be considered for sale to "end users", Amazon's paper also highlights the company's efforts to increase the investment and innovation of robots and ultimately the possibility of getting the business into a promising industrial and consumer market.

After spending $775 million in 2012 on the acquisition of Kiva Systems, the robot maker, Amazon has been integrating automation into its warehousing hub. This August, Amazon created the Amazon Robotics division by fully absorbing Kiva technology.

Amazon's third-quarter results revealed that the company's storage center has doubled its use of robots.

Currently, there are over 30,000 robots encoded in the Amazon 13 Warehouse center. Fille Harding, the company's senior executive, said in a conference call that Amazon will have a wider application of robots in the future.

But this year another well-known company's robot business has appeared "Homicide accident". In July this year, a 22-year-old outsourced employee at the Volkswagen Baunatal plant in Germany was killed by an accidental robot injury. Shanghai

Amazon assesses proximity sensing system to prevent robot killings