Amazon Deploys New Social-Distancing Software at U.S. Warehouses
- Workers failing to keep safe distance will be circled in red
- Robotics engineer likens technology to highway speed checkers
Employees work inside the Amazon.com Inc. fulfillment center in Baltimore, Maryland.
Photographer: Melissa Lyttle/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Amazon.com Inc. is deploying software in its warehouses to automatically warn employees when they’re too close to colleagues, the latest effort by the retailer to adjust its facilities to life with the coronavirus.
The new software, called Distance Assistant, displays camera footage on a television monitor, with annotations noting which employees are following social distancing guidelines. Employees keeping a safe distance are circled in green, and those the software determines are within 6 feet of someone else are circled in red, offering workers immediate visual feedback.