Amazon Scraps Scout Home Delivery Robot Tests

Amazon is placing its rectangular, rolling robotic out to pasture. Scout, the chaperoned, 6-wheeled supply bot, which has been in testing since 2019, will now not be additional examined or developed, based on reviews from a number of retailers.

The robotic had been deployed for testing in cities in at the very least 4 states: California, Washington, Tennessee, and Georgia. And Scouts have been fulfilling orders there below the supervision of human “ambassadors.” However, these trial applications are actually no extra.

“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 spokesperson Alisa Carroll instructed Gizmodo in an e-mail. “As a result, we are ending our field tests and reorienting the program. We are working with employees during this transition, matching them to open roles that best fit their experience and skills.”

About 400 individuals have been employed engaged on the Scout challenge worldwide, based on a report from Bloomberg. Nearly all the employees will reportedly be moved to different groups, whereas a small “skeleton crew” will maintain contemplating attainable autonomous robots, Bloomberg wrote.

“We are continuing to explore the concept but scaling back a bit. We still have a team dedicated to Scout,” stated Carroll.

While they have been nonetheless roaming the streets, the boxy, battery-powered, brilliant blue robots carried small and medium-sized packages up individuals’s doorways in an inside compartment. The bot’s lid opened to permit clients to retrieve their purchases.

The finish of Scout testing is simply the most recent cutback in a string of belt-tightening maneuvers for Amazon, that appear to sign monetary stress. The retail big introduced a hiring freeze earlier this month. Then, on Wednesday, the corporate additionally scrapped Glow, discontinuing its clunky video portal for youths—an admittedly much less charismatic design than the Wall-E-esque Scouts.

And, though the concept of a supply robotic that also required an individual to stroll alongside it whereas cluttering metropolis sidewalks appeared vaguely dystopian, we at Gizmodo want the Scout bots a pleasing retirement. Wherever they’re now, we hope they have ample, clean flat surfaces to slowly rove round on.