Humanoid robots are increasingly being tested in warehousing and logistics facilities around the world, most notably by retail titan Amazon, but will they be a common sight in the future?
Ash Sharma is the managing director of Interact Analysis and lead for the Robotics and Warehouse Automation Division. He brings 20 years of experience to the table in sectors ranging from industrial automation and smart manufacturing to drones, robotics, and medical technology.
Last October’s announcement by online retail behemoth Amazon that it is testing Agility Robotics’ humanoid robot, Digit, in its warehouses caused a stir in the global media, sparking numerous news articles and debate about the ethics of using robots to replace human workers. But does Amazon’s announcement point to a rapid adoption of bipedal robots in the near future?
The concept of humanoid robots is not new. In fact they date back at least as far as Ancient Greece, with the mechanical Servant of Philon1, a humanoid automaton that could pour and mix wine and water. However, there has been a sharp rise in recent years in the number of companies developing and trialing humanoid robots, particularly within the warehouse sector. Digit, which can grasp and lift objects, is going to start by moving empty tote boxes as part of Amazon’s efforts to automate its warehouse operations. Similarly, Figure and Boston Dynamicsare prototyping humanoid robots for use in distribution centers. Tesla’s Optimus Robot also looks promising for warehouse applications, as it can self-calibrate its arms and legs and has the capability to sort objects fully autonomously. Additionally, the commercial launch of Apollo by tech startup Apptronik is expected to take place in late 2024, and videos have already shown it walking, case picking, palletizing, and unloading trailers.
Yet, in spite of the current chatter around the technology and the flurry of pilots and prototypes, change is unlikely to happen overnight. Most pilot projects take months or even years to reach completion, and rollouts tend to happen in incremental stages. Furthermore, our feeling is that, although we are already starting to see humanoid robots appear in warehouses, some obstacles still exist, particularly in regard to acceptance of humanoid robots by their human co-workers.
Are bipedal robots inevitable?
Warehouse automation solutions in general have been in place for decades, carrying out many physically demanding, menial jobs. For example, automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) are already widely used alongside human workers to deliver much faster rates of order picking and to increase throughput. Furthermore, over the past five years, there has been a steady rise in the development and adoption of mobile automation solutions for the warehouse, such as automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs).
This surge in demand has been in part fueled by the ongoing labor and skills shortages blighting the industry. Research by Interact Analysis shows scarcity of labor remains the biggest driver of demand for mobile robots and the impact of shortages is becoming more acute. As a result of this and other drivers for mobile automation (such as increasing labor costs, e-commerce growth, and the shift to flexible manufacturing), Interact Analysis forecasts shipments of mobile robots will continue growing at an annual rate of approximately 50% until 2027.2 (See Figure 1.)
Similar to AMRs and AS/RS, humanoid robots may simply be another evolutionary stage in the development of technology for the industry. Because of their ability to move and interact with their environment in a similar way to an actual person, humanoid robots have the potential to meet some very specific needs of the modern warehouse while also offering a very different value proposition to traditional robots. Warehousing involves repetitive and physically demanding menial work that often has seasonal peaks in demand. This work often involves interacting with a variety of different products that lack standardization and a uniform shape and size. While traditional robots are very good at doing the same repetitive work over and over again, humanoid robots can be more adaptable (in a similar way to humans) and therefore can be applied to multiple different tasks throughout a warehouse.
Early applications for bipedal robots are likely to include trailer unloading, which is simple, physically demanding, and repetitive, but difficult to complete using traditional robots. While they tend to operate at a slower pace than traditional robots, humanoid robots also offer the potential to be introduced to the workforce during peak periods without requiring substantial operational changes to warehouse workflows or alterations to the layout of the warehouse. In this way, humanoid robots offer greater flexibility than other materials handling solutions, as they can be dropped into existing supply chains alongside human workers. Humanoid robots are able to take on jobs that are unappealing and take a toll on the human body (such as trailer loading/unloading), freeing up employees for more complex, less physically demanding, and more interesting tasks. Additionally, unlike traditional robots, humanoid robots possess a level of mobility and dexterity that allows them to take on multiple different tasks across facilities, workflows, and applications, and to handle the variety of objects found in a typical warehouse.
Given these potential benefits, will humanoid robots see the same sort of growth rate as AMRs and other robotics solutions? That depends on how well they are able to overcome the barriers to adoption. The largest barrier is the high cost of humanoid robots, which means businesses will currently have to wait a long time to achieve a return on their investment. However, another significant barrier is the “uncanny valley” effect, or the feeling of unease or revulsion people feel when they encounter a human-like robot, and the personification of role replacement humanoid robots represent.
Is our unease surmountable?
At the time of Amazon’s announcement, concerns were raised about humanoid robots displacing human workers.3 Similar concerns have been raised in the past about other robotic technology, such as AMRs. But anecdotal evidence indicates people like working alongside AMRs, where the robot carries out menial, physically demanding work, while they act in a supervisory capacity.
However, the very reasons humanoid robots are capable of working so well alongside human workers are also one of the biggest stumbling blocks for their rapid and widespread adoption: their ability to move and function similarly to a human. From the automaton in ETA Hoffman’s nihilistic 1815 short story “The Sandman” to movies and TV shows such as Terminator, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Blade Runner, and Westworld, humanoid robots have been depicted as problematic and, in some cases, apocalyptically so. Coupled with this, humanoid robots appear to cause greater resentment than other forms of autonomous mobile robots because they are role replacement personified. After all, few humans want to be outpaced, outlifted, and outperformed by a robot that looks like a person.
Responding to concerns about job losses, Amazon has emphasized the “hundreds of thousands of new jobs” that have been created as a result of its use of robotic systems, including “700 categories of new job types in skilled roles,” with robots being used to replace the most “menial, mundane, and repetitive” tasks.
Ultimately, companies are unlikely to be deterred from deploying humanoid robots by their appearance. Although Digit walks on two legs and is capable of lifting and moving objects with its arms, we are far from a dystopic future in which sentient robots blend seamlessly into the human population. The bipedal robot has been designed specifically for warehouse automation where the focus is on increasing throughput and filling labor gaps, rather than the complexities of human thought and movement. Indeed, Amazon describes Digit as “a mobile manipulator solution,” and Tye Brady, chief technologist at Amazon Robotics, told reporters in Seattle that people are “irreplaceable” to the company because of their “ability to think at a higher level, the ability to diagnose problems.”
Promising but still some way off
At Interact Analysis, we have charted the steep rise in demand for warehouse automation technology. Many facilities are still operating manually, but companies worldwide plan to increase investment in automation over the coming years. Skills and labor shortages are showing no signs of stopping within the materials handling industry, and mobile robots are being utilized already in a range of different settings. They often provide a solution to repetitive, physically demanding, uncomfortable, and dangerous jobs.
In addition to this, our research indicates the scalability and flexibility to use humanoid robots within existing warehouse operations alongside human workers could provide a unique answer to ongoing skills and labor gaps. There will always be inertia to change regardless of what the automation solution looks like, and it is too early to tell whether in the long-term bipedal robots will become widely used in warehouses. However, it is certainly a possibility. It will be dependent on the success of early pilots, whether ethical concerns can be overcome, and whether other robotics technology is found to be better suited to specific tasks. Amazon has always been a leader in its use of robotics, with the rest of the industry tending to follow (or fail!), so this pilot could be the catalyst for the wider rollout of humanoid robots in the future. Although competition to develop affordable and effective models is growing, the widespread use of humanoid robots in warehousing, if it happens, is clearly some way off.
New Jersey is home to the most congested freight bottleneck in the country for the seventh straight year, according to research from the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), released today.
ATRI’s annual list of the Top 100 Truck Bottlenecks aims to highlight the nation’s most congested highways and help local, state, and federal governments target funding to areas most in need of relief. The data show ways to reduce chokepoints, lower emissions, and drive economic growth, according to the researchers.
The 2025 Top Truck Bottleneck List measures the level of truck-involved congestion at more than 325 locations on the national highway system. The analysis is based on an extensive database of freight truck GPS data and uses several customized software applications and analysis methods, along with terabytes of data from trucking operations, to produce a congestion impact ranking for each location. The bottleneck locations detailed in the latest ATRI list represent the top 100 congested locations, although ATRI continuously monitors more than 325 freight-critical locations, the group said.
For the seventh straight year, the intersection of I-95 and State Route 4 near the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, New Jersey, is the top freight bottleneck in the country. The remaining top 10 bottlenecks include: Chicago, I-294 at I-290/I-88; Houston, I-45 at I-69/US 59; Atlanta, I-285 at I-85 (North); Nashville: I-24/I-40 at I-440 (East); Atlanta: I-75 at I-285 (North); Los Angeles, SR 60 at SR 57; Cincinnati, I-71 at I-75; Houston, I-10 at I-45; and Atlanta, I-20 at I-285 (West).
ATRI’s analysis, which utilized data from 2024, found that traffic conditions continue to deteriorate from recent years, partly due to work zones resulting from increased infrastructure investment. Average rush hour truck speeds were 34.2 miles per hour (MPH), down 3% from the previous year. Among the top 10 locations, average rush hour truck speeds were 29.7 MPH.
In addition to squandering time and money, these delays also waste fuel—with trucks burning an estimated 6.4 billion gallons of diesel fuel and producing more than 65 million metric tons of additional carbon emissions while stuck in traffic jams, according to ATRI.
On a positive note, ATRI said its analysis helps quantify the value of infrastructure investment, pointing to improvements at Chicago’s Jane Byrne Interchange as an example. Once the number one truck bottleneck in the country for three years in a row, the recently constructed interchange saw rush hour truck speeds improve by nearly 25% after construction was completed, according to the report.
“Delays inflicted on truckers by congestion are the equivalent of 436,000 drivers sitting idle for an entire year,” ATRI President and COO Rebecca Brewster said in a statement announcing the findings. “These metrics are getting worse, but the good news is that states do not need to accept the status quo. Illinois was once home to the top bottleneck in the country, but following a sustained effort to expand capacity, the Jane Byrne Interchange in Chicago no longer ranks in the top 10. This data gives policymakers a road map to reduce chokepoints, lower emissions, and drive economic growth.”
Know someone who is making a difference in the world of logistics? Then consider nominating that person as one of DC Velocity’s “Rainmakers”—professionals from all facets of the business whose achievements set them apart from the crowd. In the past, they have included practitioners, consultants, academics, vendors, and even military commanders.
To identify these achievers, DC Velocity’s editorial directors work with members of the magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board. The nomination process begins in January and concludes in April with a vote to determine which nominees will be invited to become Rainmakers.
It’s getting a little easier to find warehouse space in the U.S., as the frantic construction pace of recent years declined to pre-pandemic levels in the fourth quarter of 2024, in line with rising vacancies, according to a report from real estate firm Colliers.
Those trends played out as the gap between new building supply and tenants’ demand narrowed during 2024, the firm said in its “U.S. Industrial Market Outlook Report / Q4 2024.” By the numbers, developers delivered 400 million square feet for the year, 34% below the record 607 million square feet completed in 2023. And net absorption, a key measure of demand, declined by 27%, to 168 million square feet.
Consequently, the U.S. industrial vacancy rate rose by 126 basis points, to 6.8%, as construction activity normalized at year-end to pre-pandemic levels of below 300 million square feet. With supply and demand nearing equilibrium in 2025, the vacancy rate is expected to peak at around 7% before starting to fall again.
Thanks to those market conditions, renters of warehouse space should begin to see some relief from the steep rent hikes they’re seen in recent years. According to Colliers, rent growth decelerated in 2024 after nine consecutive quarters of year-over-year increases surpassing 10%. Average warehouse and distribution rents rose by 5% to $10.12/SF triple net, and rents in some markets actually declined following a period of unprecedented growth when increases often exceeded 25% year-over-year. As the market adjusts, rents are projected to stabilize in 2025, rising between 2% and 5%, in line with historical averages.
In 2024, there were 125 new occupancies of 500,000 square feet or more, led by third-party logistics (3PL) providers, followed by manufacturing companies. Demand peaked in the fourth quarter at 53 million square feet, while the first quarter had the lowest activity at 28 million square feet — the lowest quarterly tally since 2012.
In its economic outlook for the future, Colliers said the U.S. economy remains strong by most measures; with low unemployment, consumer spending surpassing expectations, positive GDP growth, and signs of improvement in manufacturing. However businesses still face challenges including persistent inflation, the lowest hiring rate since 2010, and uncertainties surrounding tariffs, migration, and policies introduced by the new Trump Administration.
As U.S. businesses count down the days until the expiration of the Trump Administration’s monthlong pause of tariffs on Canada and Mexico, a report from Uber Freight says the tariffs will likely be avoided through an extended agreement, since the potential for damaging consequences would be so severe for all parties.
If the tariffs occurred, they could push U.S. inflation higher, adding $1,000 to $1,200 to the average person's cost of living. And relief from interest rates would likely not come to the rescue, since inflation is already above the Fed's target, delaying further rate cuts.
A potential impact of the tariffs in the long run might be to boost domestic freight by giving local manufacturers an edge. However, the magnitude and sudden implementation of these tariffs means we likely won't see such benefits for a while, and the immediate damage will be more significant in the meantime, Uber Freight said in its “2025 Q1 Market update & outlook.”
That market volatility comes even as tough times continue in the freight market. In the U.S. full truckload sector, the cost per loaded mile currently exceeds spot rates significantly, which will likely push rate increases.
However, in the first quarter of 2025, spot rates are now falling, as they usually do in February following the winter peak. According to Uber Freight, this situation arose after truck operating costs rose 2 cents/mile in 2023 despite a 9-cent diesel price decline, thanks to increases in insurance (+13%), truck and trailer costs (+9%), and driver wages (+8%). Costs then fell 2 cents/mile in 2024, resulting in stable costs over the past two years.
Fortunately, Uber Freight predicts that the freight cycle could soon begin to turn, as signs of a recovery are emerging despite weak current demand. A measure of manufacturing growth called the ISM PMI edged up to 50.9 in December, surpassing the expansion threshold for the first time in 26 months.
Accordingly, new orders and production increased while employment stabilized. That means the U.S. manufacturing economy appears to be expanding after a prolonged period of contraction, signaling a positive outlook for freight demand, Uber Freight said.
The surge comes as the U.S. imposed a new 10% tariff on Chinese goods as of February 4, while pausing a more aggressive 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada until March, Descartes said in its “February Global Shipping Report.”
So far, ports are handling the surge well, with overall port transit time delays not significantly lengthening at the top 10 U.S. ports, despite elevated volumes for a seventh consecutive month. But the future may look more cloudy; businesses with global supply chains are coping with heightened uncertainty as they eye the new U.S. tariffs on China, continuing trade policy tensions, and ongoing geopolitical instability in the Middle East, Descartes said.
“The impact of new and potential tariffs, coupled with a late Chinese Lunar New Year (January 29 – February 12), may have contributed to higher U.S. container imports in January,” Jackson Wood, Director, Industry Strategy at Descartes, said in a release. “These trade policy developments add significant uncertainty to global supply chains, increasing concerns about rising import costs and supply chain disruptions. As trade tensions escalate, businesses and consumers alike may face the risk of higher prices and prolonged market volatility.”