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Amazon to build robotic fulfillment center in Virginia

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Amazon has decided to build a robotic fulfillment center in Henrico County, in the state of Virgina, in the US, a decision that was welcomed by the local governor, Ralph Northam. 

The new facility – to be located on 119 acres of ancillary land at Richmond Raceway in Henrico County – will hire more than 1,000 new employees.

Amazon will construct a multi-story, 650,000-square-foot facility with innovative robotics technology, adding over 1,000 new jobs to Amazon’s existing workforce of more than 27,000 full- and part-time employees in the Commonwealth. [Read more…] about Amazon to build robotic fulfillment center in Virginia

Mercedes’ autonomous truck developer Torc Robotics selects Amazon as preferred cloud provider for self-driving truck fleet

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Autonomous truck developer Torc Robotics, part of automotive giant Daimler Mercedes-Benz, has selected Amazon Web Services as its preferred cloud provider to handle the scale and speed needed for data transfer, storage, and compute capacity as the company prepares to launch its fleet of next-generation self-driving test trucks in New Mexico and Virginia.

Torc says that, with the growth in test fleet size, number of routes, and sensor capability, there is an increase in data ingestion and analysis needs by engineering teams in the US and in Germany.

Torc is an independent subsidiary of Daimler Truck, responsible for commercializing a Level 4 autonomous system that will be offered to trucking customers. As defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), under Level 4 autonomy, a vehicle is capable of performing all driving functions under specified operating conditions. [Read more…] about Mercedes’ autonomous truck developer Torc Robotics selects Amazon as preferred cloud provider for self-driving truck fleet

Walmart considers buying TikTok in bid to tackle Amazon’s advertising dominance

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Walmart is considering buying TikTok, the Chinese-owned app and social media platform. 

While it may not seem to make sense at first, the idea is part of Walmart’s restructuring as a more digital-oriented enterprise.

Walmart is by far the America’s largest retail chain, with more stores selling more stuff than anyone else – revenue for 2017 was more than $500 billion. The second largest, Costco, generated $130 billion in the same year, while Amazon’s were almost $120 billion. [Read more…] about Walmart considers buying TikTok in bid to tackle Amazon’s advertising dominance

US gives Amazon permission to make drone deliveries

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The US Federal Aviation Administration has given Amazon permission to make drone deliveries, certifying the company as an “air carrier” – basically like an airline company.

The world’s largest online retailer has been trying to get permits to operate its Amazon Prime Air drones for several years, making test deliveries by drones while it waits.

One sticking point was that the FAA had originally wanted drone operators to maintain human vision on the drone while in the air. [Read more…] about US gives Amazon permission to make drone deliveries

Walmart’s doubling of online sales to boost warehouse robotics sector

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Walmart has reported that its e-commerce sales have almost doubled as a result of the coronavirus lockdown forcing everyone to lock themselves up at home as often as possible and shopping online.

The company reported a staggering 97 percent increase in online sales for its second quarter, total revenue of almost $138 billion, which is an increase of $7.4 billion overall across internet and in-store sales.

Additionally, Walmart’s marketplace has also seen a doubling in the number of sellers included, to more than 50,000. [Read more…] about Walmart’s doubling of online sales to boost warehouse robotics sector

Amazon expands delivery robot trials to more US states

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Amazon, the world’s biggest online retailer, is expanding its delivery robot trials to more US states.

The company had initially field tested its delivery robot in Snohomish County, in Washington state, as reported by Robotics and Automation News in January this year.

The deliveries in Washington were made using a robot called “Scout”, which look like they’re a modified version of Starship Technologies’ machine, and were being offered as part of Amazon’s Prime subscription service, which includes free deliveries on most orders. [Read more…] about Amazon expands delivery robot trials to more US states

Tech giants and driverless cars: Racing against the automakers

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Modern tech conglomerate Amazon – whose interests range from online shopping, through computing devices such as the Kindle and Amazon Echo, to cloud computing and even space exploration – is in advanced talks to acquire self-driving startup Zoox, according to a report on the Financial Times website. 

It’s not the first time Amazon has shown interest in the automotive sector. The company was the lead investor in Aurora Innovation’s $530 million funding round last year.

Aurora is seen as a rival to Waymo, the driverless car company set up by Google, another tech giant. [Read more…] about Tech giants and driverless cars: Racing against the automakers

Smart building automation and the future of property development in cities

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As cities continue to grow and evolve, with more people than ever wanting to live and work from within them, so to do the tactics used to house and control this city growth, without being detrimental to the quality of life or the environment.

Here are some of the ways that buildings are modernising and evolving in 2020 and beyond into the new decade, followed by some general information on the property companies involved in these sorts of developments, and then a deeper dive on home automation from a consumer level.

  • Smarter build techniques – Perhaps one of the immediately noticeable differences in modern property developments is that they have new materials, strategies and techniques, allowing them to be as efficient, sleek and affordable as possible, with technology interweaved for the future.
  • Automation in the “smart building” – The smart building is one that, again, is interweaved with overall technology from the beginning, that can be remotely controlled and accessed, perhaps even in tandem with multiple different apartment clusters or even buildings of the same type.

This is incredible for energy efficiency, like heating, lighting, and more can all be controlled by a remote operator, as and when required. [Read more…] about Smart building automation and the future of property development in cities

BP to migrate all its data to Amazon Web Services

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Energy major BP is to to go “all-in” on Amazon Web Services and migrate its data to the online retail and cloud computing giant.

BP is closing its European mega data centers and migrating all data and 900 key applications currently hosted there to AWS, as part of a company-wide program to accelerate the digitization of its infrastructure and operations.

The two European mega data centers, the largest that BP operates globally, host data from across all BP’s businesses. [Read more…] about BP to migrate all its data to Amazon Web Services

Amazon Robotics building $40 million research and development center in Massachusetts

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Amazon is building a new Amazon Robotics innovation hub in Westborough, Massachusetts, creating 200 tech and advanced manufacturing jobs in the process.

Opening in 2021, the company plans to invest more than $40 million in the new site to allow Amazon Robotics to continue to grow its engineering, manufacturing, support and test teams in the state.

The new 350,000 square feet facility, developed by Atlantic Management of Framingham, Massachusetts, will feature corporate offices, research and development labs, and manufacturing space and will be in addition to Amazon Robotics’ current site in North Reading – together serving as the company’s “epicenter of robotics innovation”. [Read more…] about Amazon Robotics building $40 million research and development center in Massachusetts

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