Amazon Canada to Open Robotics-Backed Fulfillment Center

Amazon Canada is set to open a robotics-backed fulfillment center just outside of London, Ontario later this year.

According to the retailer, the new site will open in October and will leverage collaborative robots (cobots) to work alongside human workers to pick and pack orders.

The center, known as YXU1, reportedly expects to ship as many as 750,000 items a day.

The news comes just a week after Amazon U.S. announced the opening of its robotics fulfillment center in Detroit, Michigan, as the e-commerce major ramps up its plans to accelerate uptake of industrial automation technologies across operations.

The 823,000-square-foot Detroit facility is equipped with advanced robotics technologies to assist with order fulfillment tasks. 

Amazon’s plans to boost automation technologies at its facilities has seen a rise over the past year, with the retailer introducing its first fully autonomous warehouse robot, Proteus, last June. The design joined robotic handling systems Cardinal and Sparrow and robotic arm Robin, to name a few.

Now, Amazon estimates there are 750,000 mobile warehouse robots in operation across its facilities, with a focus on assisting with “physically demanding and repetitive tasks.”

The company has stressed, however, that its robots are always intended as an assistant to, rather than a replacement for, human workers, saying the new facilities create jobs for locals as well as providing robotic assistants. 

“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,” according to a company statement. “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.”