‘It be fun going out on them floors, but if you walk too fast you might get smacked’: Amazon Worker Highlights Risks of Robot-Assisted Warehouse Floors
An Amazon warehouse worker recently took to TikTok to share his concerns about the potential dangers of working alongside autonomous robots in Amazon’s facilities. ET (@et_dressed_human) posted a video showing one of the robot-guided shelves navigating the warehouse floor, warning viewers, “A crazy thing about Amazon is all these robots will squish you if you go on that floor.”
Standing on an elevated platform, ET explains that this vantage point keeps him out of the robots’ paths. However, he cautions that if a worker were to step onto the floor without a specific “tech vest,” the robots, moving quickly through narrow aisles, could be hazardous. As he points out, “If I got on that floor, [the robots] go fcking fast and … in between that crevice you’ll get fcking squished.”
The video shows rows of shelves moving throughout the warehouse. “Look, there’s one coming. That one’s kinda going slow because it’s trying to turn,” he says, watching as a shelf glides closer. “It’s going to this guy’s station,” he adds, pointing to another section of the warehouse.
According to ET, workers can safely navigate the robot-populated floors by wearing the Robotic Tech Vest (RTV), which contains sensors that the robots recognize, treating the workers as obstacles to avoid. PC Mag has reported that these vests improve safety and efficiency in Amazon’s warehouses, although some injuries have still occurred in these automated environments.
The integration of robots has led to some incidents in the past. For instance, in 2018, a robot accidentally punctured a can of bear repellent, hospitalizing 24 workers. Amazon later assured that employees were discharged within 24 hours, and the company emphasized that safety is its top priority, stating, “A full investigation is already underway.”
TikTok viewers familiar with Amazon’s robot-assisted floors shared their own experiences in the comments. One noted, “They go even quicker farther out in the pod farm. If I recall from training, those lil Roombas weigh about 300 pounds.” Another user recounted, “I’ve seen 2 collide right in front of my station & it almost tipped over. Scariest shift ever.”
One commenter summed it up by echoing ET’s caution: “As a former AFM, it be fun going out on them floors, but if you walk too fast you might get smacked.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Amazon and ET for additional comments on the video.
