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Amazon has officially surpassed a fleet of 1 million robots, an arsenal<\/a> of mechanical arms, Roomba-like floor loaders, and hulking pallet sorting machines.<\/p>\n Each robot is a node in an intricate web allowing the corporation to speed up delivery times and lower overhead. But for the over 1.5 million full- and part-time workers relying on Amazon wages to pay their bills, the company\u2019s bot army represents rising competition \u2014 not just metaphorically, but physically.<\/p>\n As George Mason University professor of business Brad Greenwood told Ars Technica<\/a> in a recent interview, Amazon\u2019s warehouse robots aren\u2019t just helping Amazon cut costs on labor, but are literally boxing humans out of workspaces in the company\u2019s facilities.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the last 100 years, most of the automation that we\u2019ve seen usually happens away from workers,\u201d Greenwood explained. \u201cYou\u2019re taking that high-risk task away from the worker, and you\u2019re doing so in a way that is not physically proximate.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet the growth of Amazon\u2019s robot fleet \u201creally changes that dynamic for two reasons: one is that it is physically proximate, and two, the robot has the ability to dictate the pace of work,\u201d Greenwood continued.<\/p>\n That shifting terrain is great for Amazon\u2019s bottom line. The robots help decrease friction across the company\u2019s vast logistics empire, increasing speed and strengthening the company\u2019s bottom line. And by allowing robots to \u201cdictate the pace\u201d of work, as Greenwood put it, Amazon is also loosening its need for human labor, disempowering workers<\/a> both on an individual basis and in any potential collective bargaining arrangements.<\/p>\n Beyond the shop floor, Amazon\u2019s robots also serve as a near-constant<\/a> source<\/a> of buzzy PR, as exciting achievements in automation overshadow the more mundane but widespread reality of workplace injuries. It\u2019s especially convenient for Amazon, as conditions in the company\u2019s facilities appear to become more dangerous<\/a> as more robots roll out to the floor (and that\u2019s to say nothing of the impact of AI-mediated human resources<\/a>).<\/p>\n As director of strategic research at the trade union coalition Strategic Organizing Center, Joan Moriarty, told Ars: \u201cAmazon likes to talk about its latest robots because it doesn\u2019t want to talk about the tens of thousands of Amazon workers who are injured every year due to Amazon\u2019s obsession with maximizing speed and minimizing costs.\u201d<\/p>\n