Amazon.com (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos plans to significantly increase the number of autonomous mobile robots used to fulfill customer orders. During Amazon’s annual shareholders meeting this week, Bezos told investors that he plans to roll out 10,000 of them by the end of fiscal year 2014. The Seatlle-based company currently uses about 1,000 robot workers that scoot around warehouse floors and pick up individual items from shelves before transporting them to workers who pack and ship.
The robots are made by robot-coordinated order fulfillment company Kiva Systems, a firm Bezos acquired for $775 million in cash two years ago.
The robot rollout, which won’t change the number of actual people employed, was the only bit of news at Amazon’s meeting, held for the second year at the Seattle Repertory Theatre.
Shares in the $143 billion market cap company rose 2.40 percent on Friday to close at $312.24. They’re now up almost 20% on a year-over-year basis.
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