Humanoid robots will soon be tested by Amazon for package delivery. Packages are supposed to be delivered to your home by the robots that emerge from the Rivian electric delivery vehicles.
Amazon shipments are currently delivered by more than 20,000 Rivian electric vehicles, and by the end of the decade, that figure is predicted to rise to 100,000.
Humanoid robots may soon take over the tasks of driving them and delivering the products to doors, which are currently done by people.
According to a recent article published by The Information, Amazon has constructed a new facility to test humanoid robots in a setting that simulates real-world delivery scenarios:
“As part of the project, Amazon is putting the finishing touches on a “humanoid park,” an indoor obstacle course at one of the company’s San Francisco offices where it will soon test such robots, this person said“.
According to reports, the online store has a Rivian electric delivery van on the property to test robots that deliver products to customers’ doors as they enter and exit the van.
“Amazon hopes humanoid robots will be able to hitch a ride in the back of Amazon’s electric Rivian vans and spring out to deliver packages.”
Although the story only mentions one from China-based Unitree, Amazon intends to test a number of different humanoid robots.
Although Amazon has a lot of experience with autonomous robots in its operations, most of that experience has been with specially designed robots.
Although the company has little expertise with humanoid robots, it has utilised ‘Agility Robotics‘ humanoid robots:
The main distinction is that Amazon’s own warehouses, which are enclosed spaces, are where these robots were employed.
The purpose of this new test program is to evaluate humanoid robots that will be used to deliver products to clients in the real world.
Amazon intends to test them on its obstacle course for the time being, but discussions about ‘field trips’ in the real world are already underway.
The online retail behemoth intends to test a number of humanoid robots, although it is apparently developing its own software to power them based on Alibaba’s Qwen and a Quant fund’s DeepSeek-VL2.