Vulcan (warehouse robot)

History

2025: Product Announcement

In May 2025, Amazon unveiled the world's first sense of touch robot capable of identifying goods by touch. A robot called Vulcan already works in the company's logistics centers in Spokane (USA) and Hamburg (Germany), successfully performing tasks to move and sort various goods. The new development became part of the Delivery of the Future program and was demonstrated at the company's innovation center in Dortmund.

According to AboutAmazon, the key feature of the Vulcan robot is its ability to understand when and how it contacts objects. Thanks to this technology, the robot can accurately capture and move millions of different products, which is extremely important for the logistics operations of Amazon, which processes about 400 million products.

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Фото: Amazon

Director of Robotics at Amazon Adam Parness described Vulcan as a "breakthrough in robotics and physical artificial intelligence." Artificial intelligence helps robots feel and interact with the physical world, opening up new opportunities to optimize workflows, he said.

Technically, the robot is equipped with built-in cameras and sensors that allow you to work in real time without the need to remember the characteristics of all items. Cameras help find the right objects in a given place, and sensors allow you to "feel" the force necessary for contact so as not to damage the object. This is especially important when working with goods of different densities and weights - from light boxes of tea to heavy car tires.

The smallest object size that Vulcan can move is comparable to the size of a USB drive. The robot is supported by the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud service, which performs a preliminary calculation of the ability to capture a specific item and informs the operator in case of an error.^[1]

Notes