Amazon just made talking to a warehouse robot as simple as talking to a coworker. The company’s next-generation Proteus robot, unveiled at its ‘Delivering the Future’ event in London on June 4, can now receive task instructions through natural language instead of specialized software.
In English: instead of programming the robot through a technical interface, a warehouse employee can just tell it what to do. Think less “enter command sequence” and more “hey, move that cart to station 12 by noon.”
From code to conversation
The original Proteus debuted in 2022 as Amazon’s first fully autonomous mobile robot designed to share floor space with human workers. It handles heavy lifting, specifically hauling large carts through fulfillment centers.
Previous versions required employees to use dedicated software to route and direct the machines. The AI-powered upgrade strips that friction away. Workers can now assign the robot tasks using plain conversational phrases about what needs to go where and when. The robot navigates shared spaces alongside people, using built-in safety systems like lights and sounds to signal its presence and intentions.
