Amazon's Humanoid Robots Will Deliver Your Packages - Are You Ready for Robots on Your Doorstep?
Amazon is developing humanoid robots that will ride in Rivian electric vans and deliver packages, currently testing the technology in a San Francisco facility designed like an obstacle course. While the concept represents significant automation advancement, experts question whether society is ready for humanoid robots delivering packages in residential areas.
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Transcript
Amazon is reportedly.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:Training humanoid robots to deliver packages, folks, according to the Verge, not to be confused with the criminally underrated brand band the Verge, the Verve.
Speaker B:The Verve.
Speaker A:I still screwed that up.
Speaker A:And it's my favorite line read of all time.
Speaker B:I know.
Speaker A:And I screwed it up.
Speaker A:I know I screwed it up.
Speaker A:I look forward to every week when we get a Verge headline.
Speaker B:And I screwed it up.
Speaker A:All right, Sorry, folks.
Speaker A:Amazon is developing AI software that will enable robots to operate as package delivery workers that are ferried around in Rivian electric vans and will soon be ready to start real world testing at a new facility, citing a norm.
Speaker A:Citing an anonymous source that was, quote, involved in the effort, end quote.
Speaker A:The information also says that Amazon has almost finished constructing an indoor, quote, humanoid park at one of the retail giant San Francisco offices that's roughly the size of a coffee shop.
Speaker A:The obstacle course reportedly contains one Rivian van for training purposes, with Amazon aiming to have humanoid robots, quote, hitch a ride in the back of Amazon's electric Rivian vans and spring out to deliver packages, end quote.
Speaker A:Humanoid robots delivering packages.
Speaker A:Ann, is this yet another sign that the apocalypse is near?
Speaker B:No, not yet.
Speaker B:Not yet.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker B:I think, I think there's still so much experimentation to be done in the world of robots and robot delivery.
Speaker B:I mean, I think you also look at this as you're in a perfect environment.
Speaker B:You're in a San Francisco parking lot where the weather is pretty expected, we'll say, or that they, they can anticipate the conditions.
Speaker B:And robots work really well when they're in a controlled environment.
Speaker B:But unfortunately, the real world, you know, apartments in the middle of urban cities, like, that's not a controlled environment, especially, I mean, even with the stuff going on in the country right now, like, you do see the Waymox taxis we're getting, like, like, you just, you don't know.
Speaker B:Like the.
Speaker B:There's no, like, default button of, like, we gotta get the heck out of here.
Speaker B:So anyway, I think that, yes, robots, drones, even, like, Walmart announced this week that they're testing drones in five more cities.
Speaker B:Like, I still think we're in heavy experimentation level of robotics and of drone delivery.
Speaker B:I think we're still several years out before we start actually seeing this kind of, kind of proliferate throughout the rest of the country.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Night night.
Speaker A:You think this is either like a PR sizzle or like a scary story designed or a headline designed to be kind of a scary, you know, clickbait story?
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, I think clickbait, but I mean, I do think we're.
Speaker B:You, you have to figure this out.
Speaker B:You have to trial and error this as much as you can before you get to the point where we can do this.
Speaker B:But I just think we're going to see robotics being used for so many other things that are in controlled environments before we start seeing them let loose on the streets of the United States.
Speaker A:And it's not as a controlled environment too.
Speaker A:I mean, that's a part of it in terms of the testing, but it's also robots are best at doing the same thing over and over again.
Speaker A:So your point about drones is really good too, because that is the same thing over and over again.
Speaker A:And we're only seeing that.
Speaker A:We're not even seeing those quote unquote, get off the ground, for lack of a better way to put it.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker A:I don't, I mean, I kind of poo pooed the arm wielding robot in the warehouse and said we're probably 10 to 20 years out from seeing that thing fully deployed.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker A:Yeah, I'm with you on this one.
Speaker A:The funny thing for me is like, I can't even imagine the societal impacts of this if like I'm in, you know, a relative.
Speaker A:I just keep thinking of like the woman from like something about Mary, the old lady.
Speaker B:Magda.
Speaker A:Magda.
Speaker A:If she's sitting in her apartment and she sees like a Terminator robot coming down the hallway carrying a package.
Speaker A:Oh my God, imagine the freak out scale this would create.
Speaker B:Sort of.
Speaker B:I thought that, but then I.
Speaker B:We were at the Barcelona airport and they have autonomous wheelchairs that are driving people to gates and there is tons of elderly people sitting in those.
Speaker B:And I'm like, maybe they're okay with it.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:We didn't see.
Speaker A:It's different than like a bald robot.
Speaker B:That's true.
Speaker B:Oh, I, I was even thinking like the dinosaur like dog looking ones.
Speaker A:Like they'd be like, I wish I'd be like, okay, it's not like coming together.
Speaker B:Oh my God.
Speaker B:Yeah, I didn't even think of the humanoid robot.
Speaker A:Like the pictures are like humanoid.
Speaker B:Yes, that's true, that's true.
Speaker B:That is not something that.
Speaker A:I don't think we're ready for that as a society.
Speaker A:No, I just, I don't.
Speaker A:There's a lot of generations that live in society.
Speaker A:But anyway, let's keep rolling.
