An Amazon robotics fulfillment center is a warehouse where robots bring the shelves to the people, instead of people walking the aisles. Amazon now runs more than one million robots across its network, coordinated by its own AI model, and its newest sites use ten times more robots than older designs. This guide explains what an Amazon robotics fulfillment center (AR FC) is, how it works, which robots Amazon uses, what “AR floor” and “ARS” mean, and what it all means for online sellers.
Quick answer
An Amazon robotics fulfillment center is an Amazon warehouse where small mobile robots (drive units) carry shelving units, called pods, to workstations. Employees stow and pick items at those stations while the robots move inventory across the robotic floor, the “AR floor”. “AR” stands for Amazon Robotics, and an “ARS” site is an Amazon Robotics Sortable fulfillment center for items small enough to be handled in totes and on conveyors.
What is an Amazon robotics fulfillment center?
A fulfillment center (FC) is where Amazon stores products and ships customer orders. In a traditional FC, employees walk long aisles to pick items from fixed shelves. In an Amazon Robotics fulfillment center, the inventory comes to them: thousands of drive units slide under mobile shelving pods and carry them across a fenced robotic floor to stations where employees stow new items or pick items for orders. This is called goods-to-person picking.
The technology started with Kiva Systems, which Amazon acquired in 2012 and turned into Amazon Robotics. Since then Amazon has added robotic arms, autonomous mobile robots, containerised storage and AI that coordinates the whole fleet. In July 2025 Amazon deployed its one millionth robot, at a fulfillment center in Japan.
How an Amazon robotics fulfillment center works
- Receive: inbound trucks are unloaded and items are scanned into the system.
- Stow: employees at stow stations place items into any free bin of a pod. The system records where each item is, so similar products don’t need to be stored together (chaotic storage).
- Move: when an order arrives, drive units bring the pod holding the right item to a pick station; the system chooses the pod that makes the trip shortest.
- Pick: the employee picks the highlighted item and places it in a tote, which travels by conveyor to packing.
- Pack: items are packed, increasingly by automated packaging machines that make a box or mailer to size.
- Label and sort: parcels are scanned, weighed, labelled and sorted by destination, often by robotic arms.
- Ship: parcels leave for sort centers and delivery stations, or go straight to carriers.
The same core processes exist in any warehouse. Read our guide to the 10 core warehouse processes.
AR floor, ARS and other Amazon terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| FC | Fulfillment center: where Amazon stores inventory and ships orders |
| AR | Amazon Robotics: the robotics division and the robotic systems in a site |
| AR floor | The fenced area where drive units move inventory pods; people work at stations around it |
| ARS (AR sortable) | A robotics fulfillment center for “sortable” items that fit in totes and on conveyors |
| Non-sortable FC | A site for large or heavy items, such as furniture or appliances, handled on pallets |
| Pod | A mobile shelving unit with many fabric or plastic bins, carried by a drive unit |
| Drive unit | The flat robot (originally Kiva) that lifts and carries pods |
| Sort center / delivery station | Downstream sites that sort parcels by region and prepare them for last-mile delivery |
Amazon warehouse robots: the main types
| Robot or system | What it does |
|---|---|
| Drive units (Hercules, Titan) | Carry inventory pods across the AR floor. Hercules also moves the tote towers in Sequoia; Titan lifts heavier loads |
| Proteus | Amazon’s first fully autonomous mobile robot, moving carts of packages around people |
| Sequoia | A containerised inventory system, launched in 2023, that combines mobile robots, gantries, robotic arms and ergonomic workstations; Amazon says it stores inventory up to 75% faster and processes orders up to 25% faster |
| Sparrow | A robotic arm that recognises and picks individual products |
| Digit | A two-legged humanoid robot made by Agility Robotics, tested by Amazon since 2023 to pick up and move empty totes (tote recycling) |
| Robin and Cardinal | Robotic arms that sort, lift and stack packages |
| Vulcan | Unveiled in May 2025, Amazon’s first robot with a sense of touch, which stows and picks items in pods; first used in Spokane (US) and Hamburg (Germany) |
| Blue Jay | Introduced in October 2025, a multi-arm system that picks, stows and consolidates in one cell; tested in South Carolina |
| DeepFleet | A generative AI foundation model that routes Amazon’s robot fleet, cutting travel time by about 10% |
| Project Eluna | An agentic AI tool that helps managers spot bottlenecks and plan staffing |
Sequoia and Hercules: how the tote towers work
Sequoia replaces fixed shelving with towers of standard totes. Hercules drive units carry the towers to a station, where a gantry and robotic arms present each tote at waist height. The employee sees the item on a screen, scans it, places it in a tote for packing and confirms it, and the next tote cycles in. Because items arrive at a comfortable height, employees no longer need ladders or have to kneel and reach, which Amazon says reduces strain and injury risk.
Digit: testing a humanoid robot
Amazon has also tested Digit, a bipedal robot from Agility Robotics. Its first job is tote recycling: picking up empty totes once all items have been picked from them and moving them to where they are needed, a repetitive task that robots can take over from people.
Inside Amazon’s most advanced fulfillment center
Amazon’s next-generation site in Shreveport, Louisiana, opened in 2024, shows where its fulfillment network is heading. The five-storey building of more than 3 million square feet uses ten times more robots than previous designs and eight robot types, including Sequoia, Sparrow, Robin, Cardinal, Proteus, Hercules, Titan and automated packaging. Robots and AI are used in every main process area, with people focusing on tasks that need judgement, problem solving and maintenance. Amazon says the design cuts processing times by up to 25%.
Where are Amazon robotics fulfillment centers?
Amazon does not publish a full list of its robotics sites, but most large fulfillment centers opened in recent years, in the US and in Europe, are robotic. Facilities are named with a code, usually an airport code plus a number. Examples of robotic sites mentioned by Amazon include Shreveport (Louisiana), Spokane (Washington) and Hamburg in Germany, where Vulcan was first deployed. In Poland, Amazon is opening a robotic fulfillment center in Dobromierz, its 12th in the country, as part of more than €5 billion of planned investment in 2026–2028.
Working in an Amazon robotics fulfillment center
Many readers ask how jobs differ between robotic and traditional sites. In both, entry-level fulfillment associates receive, stow, pick, pack and ship. The difference is how the work is organised:
- In a robotics (AR) site, associates mostly work at fixed stations while robots bring the inventory to them. The robotic floor is closed to people, except trained staff who handle problems such as dropped items.
- In a traditional site, associates walk or drive through aisles to pick and stow.
- New roles appear around the robots: robotics technicians, maintenance and reliability engineers, and people who monitor and fix exceptions. Amazon runs upskilling programmes, such as mechatronics and robotics apprenticeships, to fill them.
Job titles, shifts and pay vary by site and country, so check the specific job posting.
Which KPIs matter in an Amazon fulfillment center?
- Units per hour for stowing and picking.
- Dock-to-stock time: how fast received items become available to sell.
- Order accuracy and the share of orders shipped on time for the promised delivery date.
- Cost per unit shipped, which automation is designed to reduce.
See the warehouse KPIs table in our warehouse processes guide and the perfect order glossary entry.
What Amazon’s robotics means for online sellers
- Delivery expectations keep rising. Robots let Amazon promise same-day and next-day delivery at scale, and shoppers expect the same from every shop.
- Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is one option, not the only one. FBA gives access to this network for Amazon orders, but has storage limits, fees and less control over branding. Many brands combine FBA with an independent fulfilment partner for their own shop and other marketplaces.
- Automation is spreading to 3PLs. Goods-to-person systems, autonomous mobile robots and AI routing are now used by independent fulfilment providers and in smaller urban sites. See micro-fulfilment.
- Competing with Amazon is about speed and service. Read who Amazon’s main competitors are and what “order shipped” really means.
Frequently asked questions
What is an Amazon robotics fulfillment center?
It is an Amazon warehouse where mobile robots called drive units carry shelving pods to workstations, so employees stow and pick items without walking the aisles. Robotic arms, automated packaging and AI coordinate the rest of the process.
What does AR mean at Amazon?
AR stands for Amazon Robotics. An “AR site” is a robotics fulfillment center, and the “AR floor” is the fenced area where drive units move inventory pods.
What is an Amazon ARS facility?
ARS means Amazon Robotics Sortable: a robotics fulfillment center for sortable items, meaning products small enough to be handled in totes and on conveyors. Large items go to non-sortable fulfillment centers.
How many robots does Amazon have?
Amazon deployed its one millionth robot in July 2025, at a fulfillment center in Japan, and coordinates its fleet with an AI model called DeepFleet.
What robots does Amazon use in its warehouses?
Drive units such as Hercules and Titan, the autonomous mobile robot Proteus, the Sequoia inventory system, robotic arms such as Sparrow, Robin and Cardinal, the touch-sensing Vulcan, the multi-arm Blue Jay system and, in testing, the humanoid robot Digit.
Where are Amazon robotics fulfillment centers located?
Amazon does not publish a full list, but most large fulfillment centers built in recent years in the US and Europe are robotic, including Shreveport in Louisiana, Spokane in Washington and Hamburg in Germany.
What is the difference between a robotics warehouse associate and a fulfillment associate at Amazon?
Both stow, pick, pack and ship. In a robotics site, associates usually work at stations while robots bring the inventory to them; in a traditional site they walk the aisles. Exact job titles and tasks vary by site.
Sources
Figures are taken from the sources below and were checked in October 2026. Market estimates from research firms are labelled as estimates in the text.
- CNBC – Amazon deploys its 1 millionth robot (July 2025) – robot count and DeepFleet
- TechCrunch – Amazon deploys its one millionth robot, releases generative AI model
- About Amazon – Introducing Blue Jay and Project Eluna
- About Amazon – Amazon introduces Sequoia and Digit (October 2023)
- CNBC – Meet Vulcan, Amazon’s first robot with a sense of touch (May 2025)
- Supply Chain 24/7 – Amazon opens its most advanced fulfillment center in Shreveport
- TechCrunch – Amazon’s new warehouses will employ 10x as many robots
- Amazon – Building Poland: €5 billion+ investment – Dobromierz
- AllAboutLean – The inner workings of Amazon fulfillment centers – drive units and pods
