Amazon Uncovers Tech Vest to Save Workers

By: Ahmed Yasser

CAIRO, Jan. 19 (SEE)- Amazon Robotics Vest designed product was created to keep workers safe when they need to enter a space in order to fix a robotic system or retrieve fallen items. Built in sensors alert Amazon’s robotic systems to the wearer’s presence, and they slow down to avoid collision.

All of robotic systems employ multiple safety systems ranging from training materials, to physical barriers to entry to process controls to on board.

Amazon Robotics Vice President reported that notes tests with the vest have a huge success with “more than one million unique activations having been recorded with the systems it’s deployed thus far.

There have been a couple of incidents between robots and warehouse workers in the past. A robot malfunctioned in an Amazon warehouse in ''New Jersey'' back on December, tearing open a can of bear spray and injuring dozens of workers in the vicinity.

''TechCrunch'' reports that the online retail giant’s in house design firm had to come up with a solution in the form of a vest to protect workers from warehouse robots. The vest sends signals to nearby robots telling them to slow down in order to avoid a collision.

The vest allows Amazon to be more efficient when things go wrong while at the same time increasing the safety of workers. That's the theory it has yet to be seen how well it works in practice.