Brad Porter keynote | re:MARS 2019 | Amazon Science

In this talk

1. 0:03

   Robots and people in fulfillment

   Porter describes forecasting and inventory placement as the planning behind operations, with people and robots carrying out the work together. Since Amazon acquired Kiva Systems in 2012, it has deployed over 200,000 robotic drive units and added over 300,000 full-time jobs. He also describes palletizing robots that stack inventory totes and have handled over 2 billion pounds of totes.

2. 1:49

   Safety and middle-mile sorting

   Porter says a wearable tech vest helps associates enter robotic work areas while drive units detect and avoid them. With delivery expectations rising, he turns to package sorting across Amazon’s middle-mile network, which links fulfillment centers to local delivery points. Accurate sorting matters because lost, misrouted, or damaged packages can undermine delivery promises.

3. 3:29

   Pegasus package sortation

   Porter introduces Pegasus, a package sorting system built on Amazon Robotics technology and designed for facilities with different numbers of destinations. Associates place packages on moving drives, which carry them to destination chutes for loading onto outbound transport. The system was already operating, its drives had traveled over 2 million miles, and Amazon reported over 50% fewer misroutes than with conventional sorting.

4. 5:35

   Xanthus and broader robot mobility

   Porter presents the Xanthus drive as thinner, with one-third as many parts and half the cost of earlier drives, while retaining safety features including tech vest detection. A package-carrying version can serve Pegasus, and Porter says the platform could support other applications. After Amazon’s acquisition of Canvas Technology, he expects its autonomous mobility capabilities to help robots move beyond designated drive fields and work alongside associates.