Overview
- Amazon showcased the next‑generation Proteus at a Delivering the Future event in Dartford on Thursday, describing a robot that accepts plain‑language text or voice prompts and autonomously plans priorities, routes and timing.
- The company says the upgraded Proteus can navigate full warehouse floors rather than being confined to dock areas and is now in internal pilots with a planned European rollout in the first half of 2027.
- Proteus is part of a wider €10 billion investment that also scales STARK, a tote‑handling system set for 15 European sites by 2027, and Vulcan, Amazon’s touch‑sensing robot, alongside new fast‑delivery sites across Europe.
- Amazon said the program will create roles and expand its Career Choice training, including a stated plan for 25,000 European hires, while independent reporting of leaked internal documents has raised concerns that automation could reduce future hiring for manual warehouse jobs.
- The upgrade builds on Proteus versions already operating at about 25 U.S. sites that move heavy carts across dock areas and signals a broader company push to combine AI, robotics and higher capital spending to speed deliveries and reshape warehouse work.