In October, Amazon proudly announced a new warehouse robot made up of multiple robotic arms called Blue Jay, which alongside an AI system would “reduce repetitive tasks, improve safety, and boost productivity — while speeding up delivery.”
“Visually, Blue Jay operates like a juggler who never drops a ball — only here, the ‘balls’ are tens of thousands of items moving at high speed,” the company rhapsodized at the time. “It’s also like a conductor leading an orchestra, with every motion in harmony.”
Now the whole thing has turned into an embarrassing debacle. As inside sources told Business Insider, the tech giant quietly pulled its Blue Jay robot just months after its announcement, undermining its claims of taking advantage of recent advancements in AI tech.
Spokesperson Terrence Clark told BI that the core tech of the multi-arm robot will be repurposed elsewhere. It remains unclear why exactly Amazon chose to mothball the robot.
“We’re always experimenting with new ways to improve the customer experience and make work safer, more efficient, and more engaging for our employees,” Clark said. “In this case, we’re actually accelerating the use of the underlying technology developed for Blue Jay, and nearly all of the technologies are being carried over and will continue to support employees across our network,” the spokesperson told TechCrunch in a separate statement.
Clark also said that Blue Jay was a prototype, although Amazon’s October press release didn’t mention anything about that.
The failed experiment highlights how difficult it is to carry over recent advancements in AI into the real world. Reality is far messier and more unpredictable than a digital environment, requiring algorithms to continually adjust.
Amazon’s response also underlines the company’s commitment to eventually automating its warehouses with robots. As the New York Times reported the day before the company showed off its Blue Jay robot, Amazon is secretly looking to eventually replace more than 600,000 jobs with robots.
There’s been immense buzz over the past few years about human-free “dark factories” — entirely automated facilities that don’t require lighting, heating, or air conditioning, that are starting to crop up in China.
Companies are also betting big on humanoid robots, which could eventually take over many tasks currently being fulfilled by humans.
But as the latest developments go to show, the tech needed to fulfill human jobs still needs plenty of work. Meanwhile, the pressure on companies to deliver on their lofty promises, especially when it comes to AI, continues to grow.
Amazon has committed to spending $200 billion to build out AI infrastructure this year alone, a lofty sum that had investors rattled earlier this month.
However, whether its failed robot will matter much in the long run is unlikely. Just earlier today, news emerged that Amazon had surpassed Walmart as the world’s largest company, measured by sales, a momentous occasion highlighting the e-commerce behemoth’s continuing dominance. Shares, however, remained steady following the news, suggesting a lingering wariness among investors.
More on Amazon: Secret Plans Reveal Amazon Plot to Replace 600,000 Workers With Robot Army
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