![\"Amazon's](\"https:\/\/wp-assets.futurism.com\/2018\/09\/Amazons-cage-300x158.jpg\")
<\/div>RAT IN A CAGE.<\/h2>
In 2016, Amazon patented<\/a> a system that would place warehouse workers<\/a> in metal cages. A robotic trolley would ferry those cages around so that the workers could repair broken machinery or retrieve dropped objects.<\/p> Researchers describe Amazon’s cage system in a study of the Amazon Echo<\/a> published online on Friday.<\/p> Here’s a bit of good news: the patent application shows the purpose of the system isn’t to confine <\/em>workers, but to keep them safe.<\/p> “Traversing an active workspace of automated mobile drive units poses safety concerns for the human operators who traverse the active workspace,” according to the patent application.<\/p> It’s like cage diving with sharks, if the sharks were actually industrial robots.<\/p> This isn’t Amazon’s first scheme that paints an unsettling picture<\/a> for factory workers of the future. The company also holds patents for wristbands that track workers’ movements<\/a>, self-destructing drones<\/a>, and warehouses in the sky<\/a>.<\/p> However, a handful of patents does not a dystopian future make. Countless of them never move beyond the idea stage, and Amazon itself says it has no plans to bring its caged worker system to fruition.<\/p> “Sometimes even bad ideas get submitted for patents. This was never used and we have no plans for usage,” Dave Clark, Amazon’s Senior Vice President of Operations, tweeted on Friday<\/a>. “We developed a far better solution which is a small vest associates can wear that cause all robotic drive units in their proximity to stop moving.” A vest instead of a cage? We’ll take it.<\/p> READ MORE: <\/strong>Amazon Has Patented a System That Would Put Workers in a Cage, on Top of a Robot<\/a> [Seattle Times<\/em>]<\/p> More on Amazon patents: Can You Guess Which of These Amazon Schemes Are Real and Which Are Fake?<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p> The post An Amazon Patent Would Use Cages to Keep Employees “Safe”<\/a> appeared first on Futurism<\/a>.<\/p> Originally posted here: RAT IN A CAGE. In 2016, Amazon patented \u00a0a system that would place warehouse workers in metal cages Continue reading DON’T FEED THE HUMANS.<\/h2>
SO VERY AMAZON.<\/h2>
An Amazon Patent Would Use Cages to Keep Employees “Safe”<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"