Lead image: A look an Amazon’s Vulcan warehouse robot. (photo courtesy of Amazon)

Amazon announced the introduction of a new warehouse robot, called Vulcan, at an event in Dortmund, Germany on May 7.

According to Amazon, Vulcan can pick and stow around 75% of the various items stored in its fulfillment centers, doing so at speeds comparable to front-line workers.

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Amazon aims for Vulcan to handle all stowing in its warehouse’s top bin rows. With its sense of touch — the ability to detect contact and force — the eCommerce and technology company says the robot opens up new ways to improve operations. It can adjust items within compartments to make room, sensing exactly when and how much force to apply and subsequently stopping before causing damage.

Vulcan uses an “end-of-arm tool” that looks like a ruler attached to a hair straightener, said Amazon, along with force feedback sensors that tell it how hard it’s pushing or gripping, allowing it to stay below the threshold where damage might occur.

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Amazon added that the goal of Vulcan was to enhance workplace safety, ergonomics and efficiency. At fulfillment centers in Spokane, WA, and Hamburg, Germany, Vulcan focuses on picking and stowing items in the upper rows of inventory pods. It also manages items stored above floor level, allowing employees to work in more comfortable positions.

“Working alongside Vulcan, we can pick and stow with greater ease,” one of Amazon’s Spokane, WA fulfillment center front-line employees said in the release. “It’s great to see how many of my co-workers have gained new job skills and taken on more technical roles, like I did, once they started working closer with the technology at our sites.”

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“Vulcan works alongside our employees, and the combination is better than either on their own,” Amazon Director of Applied Science Aaron Parness added.

For more information about Amazon’s Vulcan, click here.