Imagine this: a whisper-quiet Rivian EV Amazon delivery truck pulls up to your front door, and before the driver even has a chance to step out, the back of the van briskly rolls up and out jumps a robot carrying a package to your doorstep.
It sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but that reality may be closer than we think, according to a new report from The Information, which says Amazon is already running tests.
Instead of humanoid robots taking the Amazon delivery crew’s jobs, the humanoid robots would work in tandem with the human drivers. The robots would sit silently in the back, and when it’s time for package delivery, they’d find the box, open the door, and carefully make their way to your home.
Amazon is reportedly running test drives and deliveries in a specially created ‘Humanoid Park’, which we assume would help recreate some of the obstacles the humanoid robot might encounter, like cars, people, dogs, small wild animals, lawn sprinklers, porch lamps, porch swings… you get the idea.
The Information also reports that Amazon might be using large language models (LLMs) to help the humanoid robots deal with what is likely to be a hard-to-predict environment. Houses are not all cookie-cutter, after all. The doors, steps, lawns, and even distances to the front doors are all different. It’s unlikely Amazon can program these robots to anticipate every unexpected obstacle, but LLMs can train them to handle a much wider variety without knowing in advance the specifics of each one.
There’s no mention of the robots talking to Amazon customers, but with Amazon’s investment in Anthropic’s Claude AI, a chatty Amazon humanoid delivery bot seems possible.
Choose your bot
As for which robots Amazon might be using, it’s already been testing Agility Robotics’ Digit in a factory setting. I think it’s unlikely, though, that Amazon uses that robot to complete home deliveries. Its odd appearance, which includes bird-like or backwards legs, might be somewhat off-putting for the average Amazon customer.
There’s a larger issue with this kind of robot. I saw Digit in action at CES 2025 and, while impressive, it was painfully slow at most tasks. If you’ve ever seen your Amazon delivery person hop out of the truck, jump into the back, dash out with your package, and run to your front steps before capturing a photo for proof of delivery and then racing off to the next house, you know that an Amazon humanoid delivery robot better be fast.
There are other humanoid robot options out there from companies like Boston Dynamics and its all-electric Atlas. It’s got speed and cartwheeling skills (see above), but there’s no timeline for commercial adoption. Unitree G1 can do karate, but it’s likely too small to carry larger Amazon packages.
According to the Information Report, there’s a sense that the hardware may be the easy part, as, once they have the training in place, they can easily transfer it from one version of the Amazon delivery robot to another, ostensibly better one, all while improving that delivery algorithm.
I’ve asked Amazon for comment and will update this story if and when the company responds.
Amazon does have some robot delivery experience. It’s been using drones (essentially flying robots) to deliver packages since 2022. Those mostly fly smaller packages and then carefully lower them to your backyard before flying off. It’s not a service that Amazon offers everywhere.
None of this means Amazon’s humanoid robots will be delivering packages anytime soon. Testing and development could take years, but if you add in the possibility of future driverless Rivian EVs, the combination of a self-driving car in the front and a ready-to-deliver robot in the back is a potentially cost-efficient combination for Amazon. How delivery personnel and customers might feel about it is another matter.
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lance.ulanoff@futurenet.com (Lance Ulanoff)
