Amazon is set to invest $40 million in a new state-of-the-art Amazon Robotics facility which will serve “as the company’s epicentre of robotics innovation”.
Amazon Robotics’ new “world-class” facility, set to be opened officially in 2021 in Westborough, Massachusetts, will span 350,000sq ft and create 200 technology and advanced manufacturing jobs.
“This will be a world-class facility, where our teams can design, build, program, and ship our robots, all under the same roof,” Amazon Robotics’ chief technologist Tye Brady said.
READ MORE: Behind the scenes at Amazon’s robotic fulfilment centre
“This expansion will allow us to continue to innovate quickly and improve delivery speed for customers around the world.”
This comes as its long-standing senior vice president Steve Kessel, who pioneered some of Amazon’s most technically impressive projects, confirmed his imminent departure.
Kessel is credited with driving the Amazon’s push into physical retail, pioneering its ambitious Amazon Go grocery store arm as well as the takeover of Whole Foods Market in 2017.
He was also understood to be an important part of developing Amazon’s Prime Now one-day delivery service, which it is currently spending billions on to offer to all of the US.
Head of Amazon’s huge logistic operations and Prime membership programme Dave Clark will inherit the units which currently report to Kessel.
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