Amazon, inside the Innovation Lab in Vercelli between robots and AI: “This is how machines take us into the future”

We were in Amazon’s Innovation Lab in Vercelli, where robotics, mechatronics and artificial intelligence anticipate the future of both customers and workers of the company founded by Jeff Bezos. “We only have three structures like this in the world where – explains the director of Amazon Global Robotics, Stefano La Rovere – our engineers develop ideas and technologies that go from prototypes to the heart of our business all over the world”. Walking through the large spaces of the center of Vercelli, we encounter – in a world premiere – a technology called URL, Universal Robotic Labeller, which aims to automate and streamline the labeling of products shipped by Amazon. “With this system we not only make it easier to affix labels but – explains La Rovere – we can make them smaller, avoiding unnecessary waste of paper and cardboard”. And packaging is actually the protagonist of most of Amazon’s innovations. Continuing our tour we come across a packaging automation machine that says goodbye to cardboard packages to create recyclable paper packages cut to size for a specific product. Or, again, the Flat Sorter Robotic Induct, a system of mechanical arms capable of organizing Amazon’s famous black boxes (the Totes) and making them ready for shipping thanks to robotics and artificial intelligence. “We must dispel the myth of machines that will steal jobs from human beings, indeed – concludes La Rovere – we must begin to understand how much they can improve our well-being in production places”.

By Andrea Lattanzi