Blue Origin is a space exploration company founded by Bezos, but separate from Amazon. It has shown off its capsules before, such as the video that showed Mannequin Skywalker's ride aboard the Crew Capsule 2.0 as the space company gets ready to fly humans.
Robots moving boxes was a big topic at the show and it's harder than it looks. In order to lift and move things, a robot has to adjust its balance to accommodate the weight of the object it's lifting, for one thing.
Goldberg points out that Bill Gates named robot dexterity as one of the 10 breakthrough technologies he expects in 2019.
But it points to why Amazon is still employing 300,000 people in its warehouses, a statistic shared on stage by Amazon Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon's global consumer operations.
A special pair of haptic gloves allows the wearer to control a separate robotic arm and hands. Jeff Bezos described the sensation of controlling the robotic hands as "weirdly natural."
Today I got to check something off my bucket list when I had the chance to meet and chat with Founder and CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos! Thank you for inviting me to the 1st annual Amazon re:Mars conference. I learned about a new drone, robotics, & all of the new Alexa features. pic.twitter.com/NDB3bqiuKJ
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) June 6, 2019
Adam Savage: Every Tool's A Hammer #reMARS #amazon @ServicesLoud pic.twitter.com/SPNRaY30gt
— Elio Capelati Jr (@eliocapelati) June 6, 2019This one, for example, functions as sort of mobile iPad and it insisted on following me around. It can access Alexa, make video calls and do other such stuff.
These new robots will eventually be able to roam an entire warehouse campus, even outside, instead of being confined to the strict robotics boundary used in warehouses today, Amazon execs say.
Here's the promo video Amazon showed for Scout. Notice that Scout doesn't try to maneuver over front steps.
Amazon's drone will be self-flying thanks to an array of sensors. These sensors can detect wires, people, pets, objects and know not to land if the landing zone isn't clear and safe, execs say.
It's a program called DeepRacer where people learn the tools by training a fully autonomous 1/18th scale race car to drive around a track. Amazon then throws DeepRacer competitions. Leagues have sprouted up, complete with prizes.
The league and races were in action at re:MARS. Some cars were definitely trained better than others, driving laps around the track without going off course much.
Here's the replay.
It's 15-feet tall and 8,000 pounds and looks like the Tarantula robot in the 1990's steampunk film Wild, Wild West. The Mech's pilot walked it over a concrete barrier. Had he missed and fallen, he could have been seriously hurt. Take a look:
Artificial intelligence really isn't that smart yet. People are still working on how to train machines and how to make AI technology easier for the average programmer to use.
Today's robots still can't do things like climb stairs very well, balance when picking up heavy objects or grasp tiny or odd shaped items.
But some of the smartest people in the world are working on making self-learning robots and other machines. It is all definitely coming and Amazon is already using this tech in its warehouse and delivery operations.
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