Amazon has announced a major breakthrough in warehouse automation with the launch of Vulcan, a new robot equipped with a sense of touch, capable of handling around 75% of items in the company’s vast fulfilment network.
Unveiled at the retailer’s “Delivering the Future” event in Dortmund, Germany, Vulcan represents what Amazon calls a “fundamental leap forward in robotics”, with AI-powered tactile sensing that allows it to identify and handle items based on what they feel like, not just how they look.
“It’s not just seeing the world, it’s feeling it,” said Aaron Parness, Amazon’s director of robotics. “Enabling capabilities that were impossible for Amazon robots until now.”
Unlike previous robots in Amazon’s fleet, which rely on suction cups and computer vision to move items, Vulcan’s ability to “feel” enables it to pick up and sort a wider range of products, and store them on upper and lower shelves, reducing the need for humans to climb ladders or bend frequently.
Vulcan will join Amazon’s growing army of warehouse robots — now numbering more than 750,000 — designed to work alongside humans at picking stations. The company says these innovations are intended to improve efficiency and safety, not to replace human workers entirely.
“There’s no such thing as completely automated,” said Tye Brady, Amazon’s chief technologist for robotics. “People will always be part of the equation. Robots are here to handle the menial, the mundane and the repetitive.”
Brady likened Vulcan’s collaborative nature to R2D2 from Star Wars, calling it an “amazing collaborative robot” that supports rather than supplants humans.
Amazon says the next generation of robots — powered by machine learning — are being designed to navigate complex warehouse spaces, adapt to new tasks, and even ask for help to improve their performance. Vulcan, for example, can autonomously learn how to move safely and efficiently alongside people and other machines.
“It’s really exciting to bring both the mind and the body together,” Brady said. “It’s finally here, and it’s just beginning.”
Amazon is also rolling out new automated packaging technology that uses AI to create bespoke packages and cut waste. More than 70 machines will be installed across Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain this year, with more planned by 2027.
The launch of Vulcan is likely to reignite concerns over automation and job displacement, especially in light of Amazon’s history of industrial action over pay and working conditions in its warehouses.
A 2023 report from Goldman Sachs suggested that 300 million jobs globally could be replaced by AI by 2030, while research from the Tony Blair Institute estimates that up to 275,000 jobs in the UK could be displaced annually at the peak of AI disruption.
But Brady insists that humans remain essential, not just for oversight, but also for practical judgement — whether it’s spotting a broken item in a delivery or detecting a cybersecurity issue that automation might miss.
The debut of Vulcan coincides with the UK launch of Amazon Haul, a low-cost shopping site offering products under £20 as Amazon ramps up competition with Shein and Temu.
As Amazon continues to expand its robotics capabilities and AI-driven logistics, the company appears intent on staying ahead in both e-commerce innovation and operational efficiency — even as the human implications of that progress become harder to ignore.
