Amazon robots identify humans by e-vest signal

The largest online store Amazon has developed clothing for employees, which reduces the risk of encountering a robot. This is a special vest with built-in electronic sensors that tell the robot that a person is nearby.

Amazon partially robotized production processes: robots weighing 130 kilograms are used in warehouses of stores. They are five times faster and more efficiently than people do heavy physical work. These robots move at a speed of 7.5 km / h and are capable of transporting heavy loads weighing up to 280 kg.

Device routes are planned by a special program that takes into account where the warehouse staff are at this moment. This is necessary to avoid the collision of a heavy robot, rushing at high speed, with a man. To reduce the risk of a traumatic encounter, workers should indicate in which section and department they plan to work: this data is entered into the database by the route planner.

But such a system is not ideal since it is regularly necessary to conduct unscheduled work at Amazon warehouses: to find a faulty robot or goods that have fallen from the shelf. Therefore, the management of the online store has introduced additional security measures: for example, the company has developed electronic vests that alert the robot that a person is approaching. These signals are transmitted to a common base, with which the system adjusts the route and speed of devices. Now the robots "know" that the person is nearby and begin to move more slowly if there is a risk of collision.

The idea of Amazon itself is not new, but it is implemented quite unusual. Previously, so that the robot could recognize a person and understand how close it is, companies installed sensors on the devices themselves. But the solution from the online store is more effective: so, if the recognition system at the robot itself fails, now it will still be able to avoid colliding with people.

robo-hunter.com