Amazon has hundreds of thousands of robots working in its warehouses, but not every robotic initiative becomes a success story. The e-commerce giant has halted its Blue Jay warehouse robotics project just months after unveiling the technology.
Blue Jay was a multi-armed robot designed to sort and move packages. It was unveiled in October for use in the company’s same-day delivery facilities. At the time, Amazon was testing the robots at a facility in South Carolina. The company said it took significantly less time to develop Blue Jay—only about a year—compared to its other warehouse robots, a speed credited to advancements in artificial intelligence.
An Amazon spokesperson stated that Blue Jay was launched as a prototype, although that was not made clear in the company’s original announcement. The company plans to use Blue Jay’s core technology for other robotics manipulation programs. Employees who worked on Blue Jay are being moved to other projects.
The spokesperson explained that Amazon is always experimenting with new ways to improve the customer experience and make work safer and more efficient for employees. In this case, the underlying technology developed for Blue Jay is being accelerated and nearly all of its components will continue to support employees across the network.
Amazon also unveiled the Vulcan robot last year. Vulcan is used in the storage compartments of the company’s warehouses. It is a two-armed robot where one arm rearranges and moves items while the other arm, equipped with a camera and suction cups, grabs goods. Vulcan can allegedly feel the objects it touches and was trained on data gathered from real-world interactions.
Amazon has been developing its internal robotics program since 2012 when it purchased Kiva Systems. That company’s warehouse automation technology formed the foundation of Amazon’s fulfillment operations. Amazon surpassed one million robots in its warehouses last July.