Amazon claims to have created a novel warehouse robot, dubbed Vulcan, capable of tactilely sensing certain items it interacts with.

The bimanual Vulcan robot, designed to navigate the storage compartments within Amazon's warehouses and handle goods, employs force sensors to detect contact with objects. One of its arms is dedicated to rearranging items within a compartment, while the second arm, fitted with a camera and suction cup, is used for grasping items.

According to Amazon, Vulcan was trained using physical data, incorporating force and touch feedback to handle approximately 75% of Amazon's inventory and possesses the capacity for autonomous enhancement over time. This robotic system has been implemented in Spokane, Washington, and Hamburg, Germany, where it has successfully processed half a million orders up to the present.

Vulcan represents the newest incorporation into Amazon's extensive network of warehouse robots, a contingent numbering in the hundreds of thousands, strategically deployed to process customer requests throughout its worldwide storage infrastructure. Despite accusations from detractors claiming that Amazon's investments in robotics aim to displace human employees, Amazon contends otherwise, asserting that robots such as Vulcan primarily serve to enhance safety within its warehouses.