Amazon Proteus
Amazon Proteus is an autonomous mobile robot that Amazon unveiled in June 2022 as its first fully autonomous warehouse robot, designed to move wheeled carts safely among workers instead of in fenced areas.
What happened and why it matters
Proteus marked Amazon's shift from caged robots to machines that share floor space with people, the model most new warehouse AMRs now follow. Announced on June 22, 2022, it slides under GoCarts, the wheeled carts used to move packages, lifts them, and carries them through outbound areas of fulfillment and sort centers. Earlier Kiva-style drive units worked only in restricted zones, while Proteus uses its own perception and navigation and stops when a person steps into the green light it projects ahead. For 3PLs evaluating AMRs, the key questions are the same: safety around people, fit with existing carts and racks, and payback period.
Related events
Sources
- A decade after acquiring Kiva, Amazon unveils its first AMR (Automated Warehouse) automatedwarehouseonline.com
- Amazon launches autonomous Proteus robot (TechInformed) techinformed.com