Amazon Introduces New Technology: Sparrow

Last week, Amazon introduced Sparrow, a robotic arm that could one day assist warehouse workers with tedious tasks while improving safety in the workplace. 

According to Amazon’s website, “Sparrow is Amazon’s new intelligent robotic system that streamlines the fulfillment process by moving individual products before they get packaged—a major technological advancement to support our employees.”

Amazon explained that last year its “employees around the world picked, stowed, or packed approximately 5 billion packages—or over 13 million packages per day.” Amazon accredits its ability to “work smarter, not hard” to robotics technology. 

While the addition of robots in warehouses raises concerns about replacing human jobs, Amazon claims that the development of robotics and technology is an investment in its employees. “The design and deployment of robotics and technology across our operations have created over 700 new categories of jobs that now exist within the company—all because of the technology we’ve introduced into our operations. These new types of roles, which employ tens of thousands of people across Amazon, help tangibly demonstrate the positive impact technology and robotics can have for our employees and for our workplace.”