Close Menu
Technology Mag

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest creative news from FooBar about art, design and business.

    What's Hot

    You can buy Tapo’s terrific robot vacuum for just $200 right now

    July 11, 2025

    Tornado Cash Made Crypto Anonymous. Now One of Its Creators Faces Trial

    July 11, 2025

    The smartphone-sized Boox Palma 2 is cheaper than ever for Prime Day

    July 11, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Subscribe
    Technology Mag
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    • Home
    • News
    • Business
    • Games
    • Gear
    • Reviews
    • Science
    • Security
    • Trending
    • Press Release
    Technology Mag
    Home » The Man Behind Amazon’s Robot Army Wants Everyone to Have an AI-Powered Helper
    Business

    The Man Behind Amazon’s Robot Army Wants Everyone to Have an AI-Powered Helper

    News RoomBy News RoomNovember 21, 20243 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp Email

    Unlike other robots, Proxie’s battery can be swapped out to avoid downtime charging. Cobot declined to say how much Proxie costs to buy or lease, but mobile robots often cost tens of thousands of dollars a piece.

    The robots work alongside humans, taking turns moving carts and navigating busy spaces without running into anyone. Porter says the idea is for the robots to level up as AI becomes more capable, allowing for more sophisticated manipulation and communication.

    Cobot has a version of Proxie that will respond to voice commands using a large language model to parse utterances, Porter says. When a worker says “Go to dock 3 and grab the cart by the door,” the robot will respond accordingly. The company is also tracking the development of algorithms that allow for more sophisticated forms of manipulation.

    Proxie might seem remarkably simple at a time when many companies are rushing to develop humanoid robots. But Porter says while Amazon is working with one startup, Agility Robotics, to test its humanoid robot, the technology is simply too expensive and raw to be deployed widely, he says. Some humanoids on the market cost tens of thousands of dollars while others cost many hundreds of thousands. But autonomous capabilities vary wildly, as does reliability, making them more costly to deploy.

    “At Amazon, we looked a lot at humanoids,” Porter says. “There are real problems to be solved with something more human capable, but jumping all the way to a humanoid is super complicated. The AI, it’s not really there yet.”

    Instead, Proxie could replace more and more menial tasks that human beings often don’t want to do. Erez Agmoni, a general partner at Interwoven Ventures who was involved with bringing the Cobot pilot to Maersk, says it has been very promising and has the potential to be expanded.

    “The main reason is their ability to utilize collaborative robots to support the teams without huge modifications to the warehouse or current equipment,” he says. “The team hated pushing the carts, which are very heavy, and they welcome the robots doing it.”

    Fady Saad, founder of Cybernetix, a Boston-based venture capital firm specializing in robotics, says Cobot is going after a big new category of labor involving moving goods around on trolleys that can be tackled using recent robotics advances. He adds that it is important Proxie can evolve into something more capable.

    “Porter is trying to build a platform that could evolve into a humanoid down the road,” Saad says. “I think that’s the right approach.”

    Porter is not the only robotics luminary to be pursuing something simpler than humanoids. Rodney Brooks, a pioneering researcher and cofounder of iRobot, is now the chief technology officer of Robust.AI, a company that makes collaborative mobile robots capable of helping human pickers inside factories and warehouses.

    “There’s a real need in factories and warehouses for moving things around, but thinking humanoids are going to do it anytime soon is just craziness,” Brooks says. “Wheels were invented for a good reason.”

    What sorts of menial tasks would you like a robot to help you do? Would it make a difference to you if the robot were humanoid or not? Write to me at [email protected] to let me know.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleAI landlord screening tool will stop scoring low-income tenants after discrimination suit
    Next Article DOJ says Google must sell Chrome to crack open its search monopoly

    Related Posts

    Tornado Cash Made Crypto Anonymous. Now One of Its Creators Faces Trial

    July 11, 2025

    A New Kind of AI Model Lets Data Owners Take Control

    July 11, 2025

    Linda Yaccarino Tried to Tame X. Now She’s Out as CEO

    July 10, 2025

    ‘People Are Going to Die’: A Malnutrition Crisis Looms in the Wake of USAID Cuts

    July 10, 2025

    Grok Is Spewing Antisemitic Garbage on X

    July 9, 2025

    OpenAI Poaches 4 High-Ranking Engineers From Tesla, xAI, and Meta

    July 9, 2025
    Our Picks

    Tornado Cash Made Crypto Anonymous. Now One of Its Creators Faces Trial

    July 11, 2025

    The smartphone-sized Boox Palma 2 is cheaper than ever for Prime Day

    July 11, 2025

    It’s the final day of Prime Day 2025, and the deals are still hot

    July 11, 2025

    Android May Soon Warn You About Fake Cell Towers

    July 11, 2025
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • Vimeo
    Don't Miss
    News

    The Verge’s favorite travel gear for 2025

    By News RoomJuly 11, 2025

    It’s summer travel season once again, and The Verge staffers are preparing to roam, whether…

    Prefer Walmart to Amazon? Check Out These Competing Prime Day Deals

    July 11, 2025

    Some of the stuff we actually bought during Prime Day

    July 11, 2025

    The ModRetro Chromatic Is a Game Boy Fit for Your Apocalypse Bunker

    July 11, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of use
    • Advertise
    • Contact
    © 2025 Technology Mag. All Rights Reserved.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.