Vulcan: How Amazon’s robot locates and retrieves products using vision and touch

Amazon has introduced a new warehouse robot, Vulcan, designed to locate and retrieve products by using both vision and touch—mimicking the way humans navigate cluttered environments. CEO Andy Jassy described it as “the first robot that combines sight and touch”, allowing it to “feel its way through cluttered spaces the way humans do.”

“Vulcan is helping make work safer by handling ergonomically challenging tasks, while creating opportunities for our teammates to grow their skills in robotics maintenance,” Jassy shared in a post on X.

Vulcan features a robotic arm equipped with a camera and a suction cup. The system identifies the desired item using the camera, determines the best spot to grip it, and then carefully removes it from a shelf—while ensuring no other products are mistakenly taken. This helps avoid what Amazon calls the risk of “co-extracting non-target items”.


Amazon said in a blog post that “with the ability to pick and stow approximately 75% of all various types of items we store at our fulfilment centres, and at speeds comparable to that our front-line employees, Vulcan represents a step change in how automation and AI can assist our employees in their everyday tasks.”

The robot is also equipped to recognise when it cannot handle a particular item and can call on a human worker for assistance.

Creation of new jobs

These robots now contribute to fulfilling about 75% of customer orders and have led to the creation of hundreds of new job roles, according to Amazon. These include positions such as robotic floor monitors and on-site reliability maintenance engineers.

The company also claimed that it promotes training initiatives such as its 'Career Choice' programme, aimed at helping employees transition into robotics and other high-tech careers.

Aaron Parness, Amazon’s director of applied science, emphasised the importance of human-machine collaboration: “I don’t believe in 100% automation. If we had to get Vulcan to do 100% of the stows and picks, it would never happen. You would wait your entire life. Amazon understands this.”

“Vulcan works alongside our employees, and the combination is better than either on their own,” Parness added.

The long-term aim is for Vulcan to take over all stowing tasks in the highest shelving rows—areas that are challenging for human workers to reach—thus reducing the risk of injury and improving overall workplace safety.