According to an article by the Seattle Times, 45,000 robots are working away at Amazon fulfillment centers. Within the past three years, the e-commerce powerhouse increased its robo-workforce by 15,000 a year. Amazon Robotics’ very own ‚Kiva‘ travels at a speed of 5,5 kilometers per hour und can lift up to 340 kilograms.
Nevertheless, the human workforce is growing rapidly. The Amazon workforce stood at 300,000 employees at the end of September 2016. That’s double the numbers than in 2014. Will increased automatization reverse this trend? It doesn’t look like it – at least, for now.