Amazon Patent for Worker Cages in robot areas a bad idea

Nobody ever said that working at Amazon was a relaxed experience. The e-commerce giant is well known for its workplace culture of work, but placing warehouse employees in cages seems a little extreme, even for Amazon.

But a patent, granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office to Amazon in 2016, would make this dystopian cell a reality. The patent shows a cage built for a man working in robotic work areas, a small workstation at the top of a robot cart like the one already used in Amazon warehouses to move shelves. The patent was highlighted in a study conducted by two researchers in artificial intelligence (IA), Kate Crawford, distinguished research professor at New York University and director of the Share Foundation research laboratory Vladan Joler. In their analysis, Crawford and Joler noted "an extraordinary illustration of the alienation of workers, a critical moment in the relationship between humans and machines".

When the study was reported by the media, including The Seattle Times, there was a (predictable) return on social media. Amazon's vice president of operations, Dave Clark, even insisted on Twitter, explaining that even "bad" ideas are subject to patents and that the company does not intend to set up cages.

Sometimes even bad ideas are patented. This has never been used and we have no plans to use it. We have developed a much better solution, namely a small vest that associates can wear, so that all nearby robotic training units stop moving.

– Dave Clark (@davehclark) September 8, 2018

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Amazon spokeswoman Lindsay Campbell added that speculation about the company's controversial use of the patent was "wrong".

It's easy to see why consumers would be skeptical. Amazon has been criticized for working conditions for years, the pressure stress of C-Continued grueling conditions in Chinese factories manufacturing Echo devices and in US warehouses in the Amazon. In 2015, a presentation on the hard charging environment at Amazon Web Services (AWS) also looked at how engineers and managers had to work long hours, including weekends, and be available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Amazon workers have also been striking, including in Europe this summer, around Amazon Prime Day.