TLDR
- Amazon unveiled its next-generation Proteus warehouse robot, capable of understanding natural language commands from workers.
- The new Proteus can handle loads up to 400kg and is set for European deployment in the first half of 2027.
- Amazon is committing €10 billion ($11.6 billion) to modernize fulfillment operations across Europe.
- The announcement comes as Amazon has cut 30,000 corporate workers since October, citing AI investment priorities.
- Amazon says robotics investment has driven employment up, not down, with the company struggling to find skilled workers.
Amazon’s latest move in warehouse automation puts AI directly in the hands — or rather, the ears — of its warehouse workers.
At its “Delivering the Future” event in Dartford, UK, the company showed off the next generation of its Proteus autonomous mobile robot.
The new version takes plain-language commands from workers, no programming required. “You tell it what needs to be done. It figures out the priority, the route, the timing,” said Scott Dresser, VP of Amazon Robotics.
AMAZON EXPANDS ROBOTICS, FAST DELIVERY AND WORKER TRAINING$AMZN unveiled a next-gen Proteus robot that can move items across fulfillment sites and take plain-text instructions from employees.
Europe deployment is planned for H1 2027.
Amazon is investing €10B+ to modernize… pic.twitter.com/D8hEZ6Ljb5
— Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) June 4, 2026
Amazon (AMZN) stock was trading up around 0.39% in after-hours on Friday.
The original Proteus has been running in 25 US fulfillment centers since 2022, moving carts weighing up to 400kg. The new version is currently being piloted in Amazon’s labs, with European rollout planned for the first half of 2027.
The Dartford facility, LCY3, is Amazon’s busiest warehouse in Europe at over 216,000 square meters. It ships 4 million units per week and already runs 1,660 Hercules Drive robots per floor, each capable of lifting 567kg. The warehouse has 32 kilometers of conveyor belts and uses a SICK scanner to measure packages, read labels, and sort them into delivery lanes — all in milliseconds, without the package ever stopping.
Amazon also introduced Vulcan, its first robot with a sense of touch, and STARK, a robotic tote handling system.
€10 Billion European Commitment
Alongside the robotics news, Amazon confirmed a €10 billion ($11.6 billion) investment to modernize fulfillment operations across Europe over the next few years. The company says the investment will create thousands of jobs.
The announcement comes at an awkward time for the company’s messaging. Amazon has cut around 30,000 corporate employees since October — 14,000 in one round and a further 16,000 in January. CEO Andy Jassy has said directly that AI will shrink Amazon’s corporate workforce over the coming years.
“We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today,” Jassy wrote in a memo to staff.
The Jobs Question
Amazon executives pushed back on the idea that robots replace workers. UK Country Manager John Boumphrey told CNBC: “Our experience of robots is that it’s actually driven up employment rather than the reverse.”
He added that Amazon is struggling to find people with the right technical skills — robotic technicians, mechatronic engineers — and has created over 6,000 apprenticeships in the UK to close that gap.
Chief technologist Tye Brady echoed that: “Since we’ve invested in robotics, we’ve created hundreds of thousands of jobs.”
Not everyone agrees. A 2024 Citi report forecast AI robots will reach 1.3 billion by 2035 and over 4 billion by 2050. Rob Garlick, Citi Global Insights’ former head of innovation, said humanoid robots already have a quicker payback period than human workers, and that business leaders will move to cut costs when the math makes sense.
The UK’s Office for National Statistics reported last week that over one million 16-to-24-year-olds are currently not in education, employment, or training. Boumphrey called it a “national crisis,” pointing to social and behavioral shifts as a factor alongside automation pressures.
Amazon says the new Proteus will be deployed in Europe in the first half of 2027.
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