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In a massive warehouse in Shanghai, dozens of humanoid robots are being trained to do simple, repetitive tasks. Controlled remotely, these robots work around 17 hours a day, folding T-shirts, making sandwiches, and opening and closing a door. The goal is to generate large amounts of data, use it to train machines, and eventually introduce humanoid robots into factories and warehouses.

Amazon bought the Kiva startup for $775mn in 2012. The founders realised that most of warehouse workers’ time was spent walking around to collect items. Its solution was stubby orange robots called Drive Units that navigated the warehouse using barcode stickers on the floor. It could also slide under shelves, lift them, and move them around the warehouse. By 2 017, Amazon had a fleet of 100 000 robots, and in 2026, it has over a million. In some of its advanced fulfilment centres, such as in Shreveport, Louisiana, there are thousands of robots performing a variety of tasks, such as the Hercules, for heavy lifting, or the Sparrow, which picks individual items.