Amazon "employs" over one million robots

The online retailer Amazon has reached a milestone in the use of robots in e-commerce: the number of robots in use has now exceeded one million. This was announced by Amazon on Monday. This means that the number of robots is slowly approaching the number of people working at Amazon.

Amazon employs around 1.56 million people worldwide. Most of them work in the warehouses in the logistics area. In contrast, there are now well over one million robots, which also work in logistics and mainly perform heavy and repetitive tasks for employees. Around 75 percent of Amazon's global deliveries are currently supported by robots to deliver goods more quickly.

Employee savings through robots

The use of robots can also save employees. Amazon repeatedly emphasizes that robots do not replace employees, but merely relieve people and give them more freedom for more demanding tasks. However, the reality is somewhat different. The average number of employees per Amazon location was 670 in 2024, compared to just under 1,000 in 2020. An analysis by the Wall Street Journal found that this is the lowest employment rate in 16 years. Amazon is thus killing two birds with one stone. On the one hand, Amazon is saving on expensive staff. Secondly, it is also countering the effects of staff turnover at its sites and the shortage of skilled workers.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the number of parcels sent per employee has risen from around 175 to 3,870 since 2015. This is made possible using robots, which work tirelessly around the clock and, in addition to automatically transporting goods and parcels, also pick out goods, sort them and help pack parcels.

Increased efficiency through DeepFleet AI

The new generative AI basic model DeepFleet is intended to further optimize processes in the future. The artificial intelligence that Amazon has developed and now wants to introduce will make the entire robot fleet more intelligent so that the robots can do their work even more efficiently. DeepFleet will coordinate the robots' movements better and reduce travel time in the fulfillment centers. According to Amazon, this measure should save around 10 percent of the time so that parcels can be delivered to customers even faster and more cost-effectively. It would also save energy.

Artificial intelligence should also help to reduce the movement of goods between the individual locations. To achieve this, the AI uses Amazon's internal data records to determine where a product needs to be stored to deliver it as quickly as possible to customers who may be interested in it.

Amazon has high hopes for the use of DeepFleet AI. The artificial intelligence should become smarter and smarter over time to further optimize delivery processes and store goods closer to the customer. This is also likely to result in further savings potential for employees.

(olb)