KORTHOS / ECOSYSTEM / PRODUCT

Vulcan

About

About Vulcan

Vulcan is Amazon's robotic system for picking items from and stowing them into fabric-covered inventory pods. Force-feedback sensors let the tooling detect contact and regulate pressure while working inside crowded compartments. The stow configuration uses a narrow blade to rearrange existing items and paddles with conveyors to place a new item; the pick configuration combines a camera with suction to identify and extract a target.

Amazon says Vulcan can handle about 75 percent of the item types held in its fulfilment centres at speeds comparable with front-line employees. The system asks for human assistance when it cannot safely complete a move. Initial work in Spokane and Hamburg concentrates on the highest and lowest pod rows, reducing ladder use and awkward reaching. Its models were trained on physical interactions that include touch and force data, not simulation alone.

Capabilities

Source-backed capabilities

  • Workflows: Item handling, bin picking, stowing, retrieval, grasp planning and warehouse manipulation.
  • Operating environments: Fulfillment centers, storage-bin workflows, robotic picking cells and high-throughput warehouse operations.
  • Target markets: Amazon operations teams and robotics groups working on item-level fulfillment automation.
  • Deployment model: Internal robotic manipulation system deployed in Amazon fulfillment workflows.
  • Tactile interaction sensing

    Production use - Amazon reports Vulcan using tactile sensing to pick and stow inventory in hard-to-reach fulfillment-center storage locations.

    Source
  • Object manipulation

    Production use - Amazon reports Vulcan using tactile sensing to pick and stow inventory in hard-to-reach fulfillment-center storage locations.

    Source
  • Warehouse picking and stowing

    Production use - Amazon reports Vulcan using tactile sensing to pick and stow inventory in hard-to-reach fulfillment-center storage locations.

    Source

Deployments

  • Operating Use

    At least 2 operational sites - 2026-06-04 - United States; Germany - Vulcan had progressed from its Spokane origin to more complex picking work at Amazon’s Hamburg fulfillment facility.

    Source
  • Operating Use

    6 Vulcan Stow systems - 2025-05-09 - United States - Amazon completed a pilot involving six Vulcan Stow systems at a fulfillment center in Spokane, Washington.

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Research

  • Vulcan Pick: A robotic system for picking targeted objects from fabric pods

    Research Publication - Live-warehouse research on tactile, vision-guided targeted picking from cluttered fabric pods.

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  • Stow: Robotic packing of items into fabric pods

    Research Publication - Deployed Vulcan Stow research covering compliant manipulation and fulfillment-center performance.

    Source

Resources

Media library

Official Amazon engineering overview and exact operational media for the Vulcan touch-enabled picking and stowing robot.

Timeline

  • Amazon introduces next-generation Proteus and expands Vulcan and STARK in Europe

    2026-06-04 - Product Launch - The new Proteus can receive conversational task prompts and determine task priority, route and timing while moving loads beyond its earlier dock-area scope. Vulcan and the STARK tote-handling system are part of a planned robotics expansion across European fulfillment sites; STARK is scheduled for 15 sites by 2027. The robotics programme sits within more than €10 billion of planned European fulfillment-center investment, while Proteus deployment in Europe is targeted for the first half of 2027.

    Source
  • Amazon Robotics introduces Vulcan for tactile pick-and-stow work

    2025-05-07 - Product Launch - A Spokane pilot used six Vulcan Stow systems, with another 30 planned for beta deployment before expansion to Germany. Vulcan Pick combines suction, a depth camera and force sensing; Vulcan Stow uses a force-sensing gripper, conveyor belts and an extensible blade. Amazon says the system can handle about 75% of the item types in its fulfillment centers at speeds comparable with its employees.

    Source

Context

Market context

Fixed warehouse robotic manipulation system deployed within Amazon fulfillment centers.

  • Target environment: Fulfillment centers, storage-bin workflows, robotic picking cells and high-throughput warehouse operations.
  • Workflow context: Item handling, bin picking, stowing, retrieval, grasp planning and warehouse manipulation.
  • Customer context: Amazon operations teams and robotics groups working on item-level fulfillment automation.
  • Deployment model: Internal robotic manipulation system deployed in Amazon fulfillment workflows.
  • Commercial maturity: Mature internal deployment signal within Amazon's robotics stack.
  • Adoption constraints: Adoption depends on item variability, safety, reliability, throughput and integration with fulfillment systems.
  • Market position: Amazon's clearest move from warehouse transport robotics into autonomous item handling at scale.
  • Adjacent products: Sparrow, Proteus, Amazon Robotics, Covariant-style picking systems

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