Go behind the curtain, see how Amazon's giant robots fulfill orders

Credit: Justin Sullivan

Credit: Justin Sullivan

The BBC is taking viewers where only employees of the online retail giant are allowed to go.

The British television network has been permitted to show what high-tech devices help get shoppers their packages quickly and correctly from Amazon.

Amazon has been rolling out a fleet of robots that do an intricate dance around the warehouses to get millions of items to its customers daily.

Amazon robots

When you buy your goods from Amazon, here's what goes on behind the scenes. Meet the online giant's robot army.

Posted by BBC Business News on Thursday, August 18, 2016

But the system is actually nothing new.

Amazon has been using the robots, originally developed by Kiva Systems, in the U.S. since 2014, Retuers reported.

The company installed the system before 2014's holiday season to help push more of its stock out the door and into the hands of anxious Christmas shoppers.

It came to be after a shipping nightmare in late 2013. That's when too many packages from Amazon flooded UPS, causing world-wide shipping delays. Amazon ended up having to issue shipping refunds and $20 gift cards in compensation to upset customers, Reuters reported.

The robots proved to be a success, holding at least 50 percent more products than the traditional sorting system, and shortening time for same-day delivery.

So how does it work?

Instead of workers having to walk down long lines of shelving looking for something, the robots bring the items to the works who pick out what they need and put the product in bins, the BBC reported.

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