Amazon has shut down tests of Scout, a cooler-sized home delivery robot, amid slower sales growth. Workers on the three-year-old project, said to total 400, will be offered new jobs inside Amazon.
“We are ending our field tests and reorienting the program,” a spokeswoman said. “We are working with employees during this transition, matching them to open roles that best fit their experience and skills.”
She added, “During our Scout limited field test, we worked to create a unique delivery experience but learned through feedback that there were aspects of the program that weren’t meeting customers’ needs.”
Amazon has also recently discontinued Glow, a video calling device for children. Also, Amazon has frozen hiring for corporate retail teams and is ending Amazon Care, a startup in telehealth.
In separate robot news, Boston Dynamics and five other robotics companies signed a letter opposing weaponization of general purpose robots. “For this technology to be broadly accepted throughout society, the public needs to know they can trust it,” the letter reads. “And that means we need policy that prohibits bad actors from misuing it.”
The other five companies signing the letter were Agility Robotics, ANYbotics, Clearpath Robotics, Open Robotics and Unitree Robotics.
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