A union said Amazon had “been treating their workers like robots for years”.
Rather than using wheels to move, Digit walks on two legs. It also has arms that can pick up and move packages, containers, customer orders and objects.
Amazon has ramped up its use of robots in recent years, as pressure has grown to cut costs.
Last year it announced it was trialling a giant robotic arm that can pick up items. It already uses wheeled robots to move goods around its warehouses, and it has started using drones for delivery in two US states.
On the same theme Amazon have been trialling delivery by drone in the US large noisy drones, soon to start trials in the U.K.
I’m not to sure about having my parcel crash landing from a height of some 12mtr-15mtr
I saw a report on the USA delivery…the drone delivered to a little trampoline type thing in the garden…it dropped it onto the trampoline and the parcel landed safely. I wonder will we all get a trampoline…that’ll be fun although I pulled a muscle last time I was on one…kids will love it though
Amazon has announced it will start using drones to deliver parcels in the UK in under an hour.
The online retail giant said the service would start in one location which is yet to be revealed, at the end of 2024.
The company already offers drone deliveries in two US states for goods weighing no more than 5lbs (2.2kg).
The aviation regulator said “exploring” how drones could be safely used in more of the UK’s airspace was “key”.
Amazon said it was working closely with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to meet regulations, while the government said the move would help it understand “how to best use the new technology safely and securely”.
Baroness Vere of Norbiton, the government’s aviation minister said Amazon’s plans would help “boost the economy” and offer consumers more choice “while helping keep the environment clean with zero emission technology”.
“It will also build our understanding how to best use the new technology safely and securely,” she said, adding that the government planned for commercial drones to be “commonplace” by 2030.
Amazon UK already thousands of delivery vehicles in the UK, including electric vehicles, each of which can deliver tens/hundreds of items. A drone will, typically, carry only one (small) delivery so the probability is that there will be tens/hundreds of thousands of drones using UK airspace. Other distributors will, no doubt, follow so, by 2030, drones may be as common as vans in the UK (currently over 4m). Low-level airspace will be as busy as motorways …
