• An Amazon robotics boss said the retail giant is at least 10 years away from fully automating the picking and packing process in its warehouses. 
• Scott Anderson said the technology is "very limited" at this point. 
• Amazon wants to make its supply chain more efficient and has acquired two robotics companies within the past seven years. 
• In April, it said it would be cutting its Prime two-day shipping policy into a one-day shipping offering. It is expected to beef up its supply chain capabilities to support this. 
• Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.

Amazon is at least a decade away from fully automating its warehouses. 

Scott Anderson, director of Amazon robotics fulfillment, told a group of reporters during a visit to Amazon's Baltimore warehouse on Tuesday that the company is 10 years away from replacing certain human jobs.

He was referring specifically to the picking process, which would require robots to select a single product from a bin without picking up or damaging other items.

"In the current form, the technology is very limited. The technology is very far from the fully automated workstation that we would need," Anderson said, according to Reuters.

Anderson used an analogy to further illustrate his point. "Just imagine if you want bananas. I want my bananas to be firm, others like their bananas to be ripe. How do you get a robot to choose that?" he said.

According to a recent report by TechCrunch, Amazon now has more than 100,000 robots in operation. According to Amazon, none of these robots are currently used in warehouses that handle fresh food because of the need for human intelligence.

Amazon has acquired two robotics companies within the past seven years. Most recently, Canvas Technologies, a robotics startup that makes a cart, which is designed to autonomously transport inventory around the warehouse.

In 2012, it bought another robotics company, Kiva Systems, for $775 million. Kiva's low rise robots are designed to automate the picking and packing process, speed up efficiency, and cut costs.

Read more: Amazon says it's cutting its Prime 2-day shipping guarantee to just one day

Anderson's comments come just one week after Amazon announced that is working on cutting its guaranteed two-day shipping for Prime members down to one day. 

Analysts are expecting Amazon to beef up its supply chain and fulfillment capabilities to support this. In a recent earnings call, Amazon said it will absorb $800 million in additional expenses next quarter because of this new initiative.  

Despite the expedited shipping, Anderson said the timing for when a product is ordered by a customer to when it is shipped out will not be cut down from the current four-hour goal. 

A spokesperson for Amazon did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

SEE ALSO: A social shopping app hugely popular with teens is sitting on a treasure trove of data that could help brands decide what will be cool next

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• I joined a virtual reality world that showed me what work is like after robots take over in 2050. 
• After reporting doom-and-gloom stories about how automation will lead to lay offs and low pay, I found this humorous virtual reality of work surprisingly pleasant.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Since joining Business Insider a month ago, I've written a lot about how robots are changing work.

Automation could wipe out 1.3 million bank jobs in the next 10 years. New technologies are partly to blame for declining wage growth. Companies are investing in retraining programs to prepare employees for when robots take their jobs. 

Instead of studying what could possibly happen when robots take over, I decided to flip the script and let robots tell me themselves. In other words, I played the virtual reality game "Job Simulator," where robots in the year 2050 try to guess what work was like when humans were in charge.

Read more: Robots could wipe out 1.3 million Wall Street jobs in the next 10 years

Robots taught me how to do three jobs: be a chef, work a cash register, and perform mundane office tasks. While I've held one of those roles, I can say with certainty that robots of 2050 did not have a great understanding of the nuances of human labor. My first stint at virtual reality also included a lot of technical problems that Business Insider gaming reporter Kevin Webb patiently tried to sort through.

Here's what happened when I tried to learn what working would be like after complete automation.

SEE ALSO: Robots could wipe out 1.3 million Wall Street jobs in the next 10 years

After looking around to gather HDMI cables, charged VR wands, headphones, and other miscellaneous tech, I finally got set up to play "Job Simulator" using Playstation VR.

When I first entered the game, I was greeted by a robot that told me I had 4 options for jobs I wanted to try out: a cook, a convenience store clerk, a car repairman, and a typical desk worker.

I mostly sit at desks all day, so I opted for what I felt I knew best: office worker. Seemed easy enough.

• The mere presence of googly eyes can convince people to donate more, according to a 2012 paper. 
• The study found that supermarket donation bins that were accompanied by small googly eyes received 48% more in donations than bins without eye images. 
• In general, eye images can convince people to be better behaved — something that could be helpful for companies automating jobs traditionally done by humans. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A simple pair of googly eyes can convince people to donate more money. 

Supermarket donation bins that were accompanied by small googly eyes received 48% more in donations than bins without eye images, according to a 2012 paper published in Ethology: International Journal of Behavioral Biology.

Researchers behind the paper, which was resurfaced on Twitter this week by Maxim Leyzerovich, only added small pair of googly eyes to donation boxes. Yet, over the course of 11 weeks, bins with googly eyes received £183.86 — about $240 — more in donations than bins without eyes. The study was conducted in a busy supermarket in northeast England. 

"It is sufficient to provide cues (eye images) which we have evolved to be sensitive to because over evolutionary time they tended to be associated with social consequences, even if, in the current environment, they are artificial and thus the perceived visibility of actions is illusory," researchers Kate L. Powell, Gilbert Roberts, and Daniel Nettle concluded. 

The paper built on several studies that revealed people are more likely to behave in a prosocial manner when in the presence of eye-like images. 

One 2005 study found that people are more generous with money in an economic game when there were eye-like shapes present. A 2006 study found that people contributed more to an honor system-style honesty box to pay for coffee when a poster showing eyes was present instead of a poster featuring flowers. The same study found that people were more likely to clean up their litter when the eye poster was hanging nearby. 

Research into the impact of eye imagery is increasingly important in the world of business, as companies automate tasks traditionally preformed by people. 

For example, when Giant Food Stores debuted a six-foot, three-inch robot named "Marty," the grocery chain added googly eyes. 

"Instead of just being a 6'3" robot, we actually made it look a bit more like a human. So, you see the googly eyes," Nick Bertram, president of Giant, said earlier this year. "And yes, they do kind of swing around."

The eyes helped make the robot appealing to customers. And, whether Giant intended it or not, the roaming robots may also help convince shoppers to behave better, thanks to its massive googly eyes. 

SEE ALSO: A googly-eyed robot is coming to 172 grocery stores across America

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• Amazon is replacing some workers at its fulfillment centers. 
• The machines are automating one of Amazon's most common job roles held by people: Packing orders.
• The rollout could cut more than 1,300 jobs across 55 fulfillment centers.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Amazon is rolling out machines to automate a job held by thousands of its workers: boxing up customer orders.

The company started adding technology to a handful of warehouses in recent years, which scans goods coming down a conveyor belt and envelopes them seconds later in boxes custom-built for each item, two people who worked on the project told Reuters.

Amazon has considered installing two machines at dozens more warehouses, removing at least 24 roles at each one, these people said. These facilities typically employ more than 2,000 people.

That would amount to more than 1,300 cuts across 55 U.S. fulfillment centers for standard-sized inventory. Amazon would expect to recover the costs in under two years, at $1 million per machine plus operational expenses, sources said.

The plan, previously unreported, shows how Amazon is pushing to reduce labor and boost profits as automation of the most common warehouse task – picking up an item – is still beyond its reach. The changes are not finalized because vetting technology before a major deployment can take a long time.

Amazon is famous for its drive to automate as many parts of its business as possible, whether pricing goods or transporting items in its warehouses. But the company is in a precarious position as it considers replacing jobs that have won it subsidies and public goodwill.

"We are piloting this new technology with the goal of increasing safety, speeding up delivery times and adding efficiency across our network," an Amazon spokeswoman said in a statement. "We expect the efficiency savings will be re-invested in new services for customers, where new jobs will continue to be created."

Amazon last month downplayed its automation efforts to press visiting its Baltimore fulfillment center, saying a fully robotic future was far off. Its employee base has grown to become one of the largest in the United States, as the company opened new warehouses and raised wages to attract staff in a tight labor market.

A key to its goal of a leaner workforce is attrition, one of the sources said. Rather than lay off workers, the person said, the world's largest online retailer will one day refrain from refilling packing roles. Those have high turnover because boxing multiple orders per minute over 10 hours is taxing work. At the same time, employees that stay with the company can be trained to take up more technical roles.

The new machines, known as the CartonWrap from Italian firm CMC Srl, pack much faster than humans. They crank out 600 to 700 boxes per hour, or four to five times the rate of a human packer, the sources said. The machines require one person to load customer orders, another to stock cardboard and glue and a technician to fix jams on occasion.

CMC declined to comment.

Though Amazon has announced it intends to speed up shipping across its Prime loyalty program, this latest round of automation is not focused on speed. "It's truly about efficiency and savings," one of the people said.

Including other machines known as the "SmartPac," which the company rolled out recently to mail items in patented envelopes, Amazon's technology suite will be able to automate a majority of its human packers. Five rows of workers at a facility can turn into two, supplemented by two CMC machines and one SmartPac, the person said.

The company describes this as an effort to "re-purpose" workers, the person said.

It could not be learned where roles might disappear first and what incentives, if any, are tied to those specific jobs.

But the hiring deals that Amazon has with governments are often generous. For the 1,500 jobs Amazon announced last year in Alabama, for instance, the state promised the company $48.7 million over 10 years, its department of commerce said.

Amazon is not alone in testing CMC's packing technology. JD.com Inc and Shutterfly Inc have used the machines as well, the companies said, as has Walmart Inc, according to a person familiar with its pilot.

Walmart started 3.5 years ago and has since installed the machines in several U.S. locations, the person said. The company declined to comment.

Interest in boxing technology sheds light on how the e-commerce behemoths are approaching one of the major problems in the logistics industry today: finding a robotic hand that can grasp diverse items without breaking them.

Amazon employs countless workers at each fulfillment center who do variations of this same task. Some stow inventory, while others pick customer orders and still others grab those orders, placing them in the right size box and taping them up.

Many venture-backed companies and university researchers are racing to automate this work. While advances in artificial intelligence are improving machines' accuracy, there is still no guarantee that robotic hands can prevent a marmalade jar from slipping and breaking, or switch seamlessly from picking up an eraser to grabbing a vacuum cleaner.

Amazon has tested different vendors' technology that it may one day use for picking, including from Soft Robotics, a Boston-area startup that drew inspiration from octopus tentacles to make grippers more versatile, one person familiar with Amazon's experimentation said. Soft Robotics declined to comment on its work with Amazon but said it has handled a wide and ever-changing variety of products for multiple large retailers.

Believing that grasping technology is not ready for prime time, Amazon is automating around that problem when packing customer orders. Humans still place items on a conveyor, but machines then build boxes around them and take care of the sealing and labeling. This saves money not just by reducing labor but by reducing wasted packing materials as well.

These machines are not without flaws. CMC can only produce so many per year. They need a technician on site who can fix problems as they arise, a requirement Amazon would rather do without, the two sources said. The super-hot glue closing the boxes can pile up and halt a machine.

Still other types of automation, like the robotic grocery assembly system of Ocado Group PLC, are the focus of much industry interest.

But the boxing machines are already proving helpful to Amazon. The company has installed them in busy warehouses that are driving distance from Seattle, Frankfurt, Milan, Amsterdam, Manchester and elsewhere, the people said.

The machines have the potential to automate far more than 24 jobs per facility, one of the sources said. The company is also setting up nearly two dozen more U.S. fulfillment centers for small and non-specialty inventory, according to logistics consultancy MWPVL International, which could be ripe for the machines.

This is just a harbinger of automation to come.

"A 'lights out' warehouse is ultimately the goal," one of the people said.

(Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; additional reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington and Josh Horwitz in Shanghai; editing by Greg Mitchell and Edward Tobin)

SEE ALSO: Amazon warehouse employees speak out about the 'brutal' reality of working during the holidays, when 60-hour weeks are mandatory and ambulance calls are common

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• A new video from the University of Zurich shows an autonomous drone ducking and dodging a soccer ball being thrown at it in real time.
• The video is part of an experiment researching the effects of latency in perception on a robot's ability to navigate unfamiliar environments.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. 

Drones have been capable of avoiding stationary obstacles for years, but researchers at the University of Zurich are working to make them even better at dodging moving objects.

As part of an experiment, the researchers recently published a video that shows an autonomous drone ducking and dodging a soccer ball being thrown at it in multiple scenarios. 

The experiment was part of a project by Davide Scaramuzza's Robotics and Perception Group at the University of Zurich, which recently published a paper that studies the effects that latency in perception can have on how quickly robots are able to navigate through an unfamiliar environment.

To validate their analysis, the researchers equipped a drone with "event cameras" that would enable it to detect and dodge objects thrown in its path, according to their white paper. The project was first reported by IEEE Spectrum, the online magazine for IEEE, a professional organization focused on engineering and applied sciences.

In the video, the drone can be seen dodging a soccer ball thrown from various angles. In one shot, it subtly tilts to the side to avoid the ball in real time, while another experiment later in the video shows it zipping upward so that the ball can pass underneath it. The experiment used event cameras, which are special types of sensors that are very sensitive to motion and can respond to changes in a scene within microseconds, IEEE Spectrum reported.

With drones now being used for everything from agriculture to package delivery, the ability to detect and avoid moving obstacles in real time is sure to be crucial. Check out the video below:  

SEE ALSO: 3 things we learned from Facebook's AI chief about the future of artificial intelligence

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• Ford partnered with Agility Robotics to create a two-legged delivery robot called Digit.
• This headless, two-legged robot can unfold itself from the back of an autonomous car and deliver a package straight to your door.
• According to Ford, Digit can carry up to 40 pounds, navigate stairs, and go around unexpected obstacles.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Following is a transcript of the video.

Michelle Yan: This is Ford's 2-legged delivery robot. It's called Digit. Ford is working with Agility Robotics to create autonomous deliveries. Once a self-driving car arrives at its destination, Digit will unfold itself from the back of the car. Then, it'll grab the correct package from the vehicle and walk straight to your door to drop off the package. Digit was designed to look like a human and walk like one, too.

Jonathan Hurst: Our goal with Digit is to have a robot as a mobility platform that can be in human spaces, go where people go, and work with people. And there are so many applications where that's going to be a useful and important task. One of the big ones is package delivery. A robot vehicle that can drive on all our roads is going to be able to do that. But how do you get it from the vehicle to the doorstep? And that's where our robot comes in. That's what Digit can do.  

Michelle Yan: It can carry packages that weigh up to 40 pounds, go up and down stairs, walk naturally through uneven terrain, and can even keep its balance if it bumps into something. How is it able to do all that? LiDAR sensors and a few stereo cameras, which is what many self-driving cars also use. The self-driving vehicle can wirelessly deliver information to Digit. This exchange of information can help Digit use the best pathway to the front door and overcome unexpected obstacles.

Jim McBride: We'd envision the AV to arrive at the site with all the information you'd need to know about starting a mission. We'd have the prior maps and the AV would be able to aid the robot when it got out of the vehicle, in knowing where it was and where it needs to go. And additionally, the AV is full of sensors and computers that can help the robot, which is a little bit thriftier around those components. Should it run into any difficulties in package delivery, we can either solve the problem on the car or we can relay that information to the cloud for further assistance.

Michelle Yan: This also helps keep Digit super lightweight and allow for a long run time. Ford claims Digit can operate most of the day. No word yet on when Ford expects to send Digit out on its own or where it will first launch. So, would you answer the door if this rang your doorbell?

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• A new robot is being developed to efficiently pick raspberries. 
• The robot uses machine learning techniques to identify "supermarket ripe" raspberries via its cameras and sensors.
• The developers say it could pick more than 25,000 raspberries a day; humans pick around 15,000 a day. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Raspberry-picking robots are on the horizon. 

A new robot being developed by Fieldwork Robotics, a spin-out company from Plymouth University, could let farmers pick more than 25,000 raspberries a day.

The robot was devised by Dr. Martin Stoelen, a lecturer in robotics at Plymouth University. We first heard about the robot via The Guardian.

The robot uses machine learning techniques to identify "supermarket ripe" raspberries by using its cameras and sensors. Once it has identified a good raspberry to pick, the grippers (which could be loosely compared to barbecue tongs) home in on the fruit and pull it off before placing it into a nearby basket. The technology has cost nearly $900,000 to develop.

According to Andrew Johnson, a spokesperson for Frontier IP — a company that specializes in commercializing university intellectual property which is backing Fieldwork — this process could see a robot picking one raspberry every 10 seconds for 20 hours day.

Once the robot is fully kitted out with its four arms (it currently has just one), this would enable it to pick more than 25,000 raspberries a day, well over the 15,000 average that a human could rack up in an eight-hour shift, for example.

The new technology could potentially give farmers a way around labor shortage issues and the rising cost to hire human pickers.

The first trial of the technology was recently held in West Sussex at a farm owned by Fieldwork's industry partner, UK soft-fruit grower Hall Hunter, which supplies Marks & Spencer, Tesco, and Waitrose.

Johnson said Fieldwork plans to do more trials in the fall and use the data from these to refine and improve the technology. The hope is to begin manufacturing commercial machines in 2020. 

It's not just raspberries that could see the picking process completely reformed. Stoelen started out with this fruit because it's less robust than other types, and he wanted to try a complex process first. But work on tomato and cauliflower picking is already underway.

SEE ALSO: Huawei's CEO said he would 'be the first to protest' if China banned Apple

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• This is an excerpt from a story delivered exclusively to Business Insider Intelligence IoT Briefing subscribers.
• To receive the full story plus other insights each morning, click here.

iRobot unveiled its latest generation of in-home robots designed to be more efficient than previous models. The Roomba s9 vacuum robot and the Braava Jet m6 mopping robot start at $999 and $499 respectively and are designed to work in tandem using iRobot's proprietary Imprint Link communication technology.

Units like this could serve as the basis or inspiration for automated services that could move beyond the consumer space and offer organizations the opportunity to enhance efficiency through automation.

Here's what it means: The new Roomba and Braava robots offer owners enhanced tools that more effectively complete cleaning and maintenance tasks, and require less human interference. 

The next-generation vacuum and mop robots have improved features that allow them to cover a wider area. Unlike prior circular versions of the Roomba, the s9 has one straight edge. Paired with a 3D sensor, the device can now better clean harder-to-reach areas of the home, such as corners. The Braava Jet m6 now includes the same smart mapping technology as the Roomba, which enables it to learn a house's layout and cover multiple rooms at a time.

By working together, the new Roomba and Braava robots are more efficient and cut down on the amount of human management. Thanks to new on-board technology, the robots can communicate when they are done with their tasks, automatically signaling the other to begin its routine.

By operating one at a time, the robots eliminate the risk of accidentally running into each other. This is a brand new capability for the Braava: The previous generation required a human to place the robot and start its routine.

The bigger picture: Because robots with communication abilities like those debuted by iRobot require little oversight, they could be deployed at a larger scale and have a greater impact on business operations. For example, automated cleaning robots could be used by cleaning services to augment the work of their employees.

A home cleaning company could deploy a fleet of automated vacuums and mops in clients' homes, freeing cleaners to focus on harder-to-automate tasks like dusting fragile objects. This could allow cleaning companies to complete jobs more efficiently, and ultimately lead to reduced labor costs, as employees would be able to complete more jobs than they would have working independently.

As robots continue to become more advanced, they will become more prevalent in everyday life — the personal service robotics industry is expected to be worth $35 billion by 2022 at a CAGR of over 38% from 2018.

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• Amazon unveiled a new package-sorting system on Wednesday, powered by robots called Pegasus drives.
• The robots have cut down on missorted packages by 50%, Amazon said. 
• Amazon also unveiled a new family of robots that it has named Xanthus.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Amazon said on Wednesday that it has developed a new package-sorting system that depends on hundreds of robots.

The system involves compact robots called Pegasus drives that pick up individual packages and carry them to various chutes associated with specific destinations. 

The Pegasus drives are orange squat modular machines standing two feet high and three feet wide.

Individually, they don't look like anything remarkable. But when hundreds are working together in a warehouse, it's a mesmerizing sight, as illustrated in this video shared by Dave Clark, Amazon's senior vice president of operations.

Amazon said the new Pegasus system has helped cut down on missorted items by 50%.

The company revealed the system at its Re:Mars conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday. It showed video of what one Amazon worker referred to as the "robot highway," where 800 Pegasus machines are furiously sorting and moving packages.

Amazon also said it's developing a new family of modular robots called Xanthus that have the flexibility to move single packages or pallets of packages with special attachments. 

Here's an image of the new Xanthus. 

SEE ALSO: Amazon just fired the latest shot against Walmart in the free-shipping wars

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• Boston Dynamics' Spot robotic dog is launching in a matter of months, the company said at Amazon's robotics conference.
• The robotic pup achieved viral fame for its lifelike movements after the company published a series of videos showing the machine undertaking mundane everyday tasks, like opening a door or loading a dishwasher, with realistic precision.
• The company has not revealed additional details such as how much the robot will cost or how it's intended to be used.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. 

Boston Dynamics' lifelike robotic dog has been in the spotlight ever since it appeared on video in 2015, but now the four-legged machine might finally be available for purchase in a matter of months.

The company appeared at Amazon's re:Mars conference to show off it's technology, and CEO Marc Raibert told The Verge that its Spot robot should be available within months.

Boston Dynamics did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for additional details about the robot's launch.

Boston Dynamics makes two dog-themed robots: the Spot Classic and its smaller successor, the SpotMini. The Verge's report doesn't specify whether Raibert was referring to the Mini model or the older version, but Quartz reported that SpotMini is expected to go on sale later this year, and TechCrunch previously said the Mini version was on track to be released in July.

Boston Dynamics' robotic pup is currently undergoing proof-of-concept testing in various environments, according to The Verge. 

The company hasn't divulged and additional details, such as how much its robotic canine will cost. But Boston Dynamics previously said during a TechCrunch conference that only 100 bots will be available to purchase at launch, and that the prototype being tested in May was roughly 10 times less expensive to build than its predecessor, Gizmodo reported.

It's also unclear exactly how Boston Dynamics will pitch its Spot robot when selling it. The larger Spot Classic model is designed for both indoor and outdoor operation and uses LIDAR to sense tough terrain. It can carry a 23 kilogram payload, equating to roughly 50 pounds, which could make it useful for work on construction sites and other scenarios that require navigating potentially dangerous terrain.

Situations such as these appear to be exactly what Boston Dynamics has in mind for Spot so far. Raibert said the company has a few paying customers so far, including a Japanese construction firm, and added that Boston Dynamics is looking into other ways in which its machines can be used in hostile work environments, according to The Verge.  

The smaller SpotMini can be used within a home or office, according to Boston Dynamics, and can pick up and handle objects, unlike its older sibling. It's also the quietest robot Boston Dynamics has built, the company says.

Both robots have garnered much attention in recent years thanks to Boston Dynamics' videos. Now-famous footage introducing the Spot Classic shows how the mechanical pup stumbles when being kicked rather than falling over — similar to the way an actual animal would move in response. Spot Mini has accrued its own fame over the years after being filmed doing everything from autonomously navigating a lab facility to opening doors and loading a dishwasher.

In one video, an army of 10 SpotMini bots can be seen pulling a truck.

While construction work seems like an obvious use case for robots like Spot, Raibert also offered another, less-conventional idea: When speaking at Amazon's conference, he suggested the robot could be used as a sort of real-life video game in which players battle the bots against one another, according to Quartz.

Raibert has also said the machine is being beta tested at playgrounds in addition to construction sites, according to GeekWire editor Alan Boyle. 

SEE ALSO: Facebook has finally revealed what it's secretive robotics division is working on, and it could spark competition with rivals like Apple and Google

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• Amazon held a conference this month in Las Vegas dedicated to robots and AI.
• Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was there, inspecting the menagerie of droids on display.
• The show provided a valuable look at how advanced robots have become — and some of the shortcomings that need to be fixed before they become ubiquitous.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

From June 3 to 7, a couple thousand people landed in Las Vegas to get a peek at how Amazon uses robots and AI tech in its business and to mingle with some of the leading robotics and AI experts.

It was Amazon's first Machine learning, AI, Robotics, and Space conference, known as re:MARS. The conference was born out of an invite-only conference hosted by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos every year in Palm Springs.

The private party still takes place, and it's the conference that's yielded some iconic photos, like Bezos appearing in a giant exoskeleton a few years ago. This year he famously played beer pong with a robot.

But the public version of the conference, where Bezos also made an appearance, was every bit as eye-opening. It also included celebrities, keynote talks from experts, and lots and lots of robots.

Take a look.

SEE ALSO: Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. has vowed to use robotics and AI to significantly clean up the Earth in the next decade

The first realization that you've entered the world of Amazon MARS is at the hotel where this hotel robot was wandering around.

The second sign was the Blue Origin capsule in the lobby of the conference area, which was open for tours.

Blue Origin is a space exploration company founded by Bezos, but separate from Amazon. It has shown off its capsules before, such as the video that showed Mannequin Skywalker's ride aboard the Crew Capsule 2.0 as the space company gets ready to fly humans.

Amazon Re:MARs included an expo that was, naturally full of robots, too. A lot of universities were showing off their wares and many of them are working on robots that can work in warehouses, moving boxes. Here's the UNLV robotics research team showing off their warehouse robot.

UNLV was also showing off a robotic arm that can move boxes.

Robots moving boxes was a big topic at the show and it's harder than it looks. In order to lift and move things, a robot has to adjust its balance to accommodate the weight of the object it's lifting, for one thing.

For another thing, robots are still not reliably good at grasping different kinds of objects. They struggle with slippery items or with tiny things like paperclips, according to a keynote talk by Ken Goldberg, engineering professor, UC Berkeley and chief scientist, Ambidextrous Robotics.

Goldberg points out that Bill Gates named robot dexterity as one of the 10 breakthrough technologies he expects in 2019. 

But it points to why Amazon is still employing 300,000 people in its warehouses, a statistic shared on stage by Amazon Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon's global consumer operations. 

The star of the expo was a tactile touch device built by HaptX and Shadow Robot. When CEO Jeff Bezos roamed the conference floor, this is the demo he did.

A special pair of haptic gloves allows the wearer to control a separate robotic arm and hands. Jeff Bezos described the sensation of controlling the robotic hands as "weirdly natural."

The device also transmits human touch. Stroke the finger tip of the robot's hands and the human will feel that stroke in the haptic gloves.

Amazon's billionaire CEO was not the only celebrity in attendance. The show attracted other famous guests like basketball legend Magic Johnson ...

pic.twitter.com/NDB3bqiuKJ

Today I got to check something off my bucket list when I had the chance to meet and chat with Founder and CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos! Thank you for inviting me to the 1st annual Amazon re:Mars conference. I learned about a new drone, robotics, & all of the new Alexa features. pic.twitter.com/NDB3bqiuKJ

— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) June 6, 2019

and Adam Savage. Savage was speaking at the show, too, discussing his new book. He often attends the invite only conference in Palm Springs as well.

Adam Savage: Every Tool's A Hammer #reMARS#amazon@ServicesLoudpic.twitter.com/SPNRaY30gt

— Elio Capelati Jr (@eliocapelati) June 6, 2019

And the show was filled with oddly unsettling things like this robotic leg laying on a treadmill.

It's an open source robotic leg, a project showed off by a professor at the University of Michigan and a director from the Center for Bionic Medicine.

Then there was this creepy spider-looking robot.

Some robots were not so much terrifying as they were just plain annoying.

This one, for example, functions as sort of mobile iPad and it insisted on following me around. It can access Alexa, make video calls and do other such stuff.

This transport robot can carry objects around (but was empty and just roaming around a contained area).

Amazon's robots, in particular, were everywhere. Amazon uses 200,000 robots in its warehouses, execs at the show said.

Amazon's robots don't have arms and legs. They are used to transport products from shelves to the areas where items will be packed and shipped.

Amazon got into warehouse robots when it bought a company called Kiva back in 2012. But it is inventing new robots all the time. New models can carry heavier boxes and the tops can be outfitted for different functions.

Amazon's newest crop of warehouse robots will soon work with the autonomous driving technology it gained from its recent acquisition of Canvas Technology.

These new robots will eventually be able to roam an entire warehouse campus, even outside, instead of being confined to the strict robotics boundary used in warehouses today, Amazon execs say.

Amazon was showing off its "Scout" robot, too, which Amazon envisions as rolling around neighborhoods delivering packages.

Here's the promo video Amazon showed for Scout. Notice that Scout doesn't try to maneuver over front steps.

Using robots in warehouses lets Amazon stack inventory shelving closer together and higher, packing more inventory into every warehouse. Human workers wear these vests that help the robots to "see" them and stay safely out of a human's way.

But the show stopper was the new Amazon drone revealed at the show. It will eventually deliver packages by air, as part of Amazon's Prime Air program.

Here's another view of the drone as it looks from above. Amazon execs said they hope to start delivering packages with the drones soon but wouldn't say where or when.

Amazon's drone will be self-flying thanks to an array of sensors. These sensors can detect wires, people, pets, objects and know not to land if the landing zone isn't clear and safe, execs say.

Amazon's cloud — Amazon Web Services — underpins all of its internal AI and much of its robotics systems. Amazon trains people to use its machine learning/AI tools for free.

It's a program called DeepRacer where people learn the tools by training a fully autonomous 1/18th scale race car to drive around a track. Amazon then throws DeepRacer competitions. Leagues have sprouted up, complete with prizes.

The league and races were in action at re:MARS. Some cars were definitely trained better than others, driving laps around the track without going off course much.

Other robots on display were ones that are in production today like the Cruzr by Ubtech Robots. It's used in hotels to take food and beverage but it can't deliver them itself as its hands can't reliably grasp objects.

Another unresolved problem: many people who see the robot think it's funny to try and shake its hands, which tends to break the droid's hands, a Ubtech rep said.

Canadian smart glasses company North was there showing off its custom-built glasses called Focals. These are Alexa-enabled and they project holographic images that only the wearer can see. They cost $600 or $800 if you want them with prescription lenses.

The Rivian electric truck was on full display too.

Amazon earlier this year led a $700 million investment into the electric truck and SUV startup, Rivian.

Rivian is integrated with Alexa, which can do everything from manage the temperature to change the shading of the moon roof. The truck will be in production in 2020 and is scheduled to be available by 2021, a rep said.

Inside, it features "vegan" leather upholstery (aka pleather) ...

and has little touches like a flashlight embedded in the door...

... and a compartment for skis or golf-clubs. Electric plugs and a bike rack sensor in the back that will alert you if someone tries to steel your bike AND take a picture of the would-be thief.

It doesn't have an engine so the engine compartment is a trunk. The first models are expected to cost between $69,000 - $80,000, depending on the battery size and options.

If electric trucks aren't your thing, here's an Alexa-enabled electric bike by Cybic.

Amazon also showed off many Alexa smart home products, too, like its Amazon smart plug.

Plug this electric tea kettle into the Amazon smart plug and then you can turn it on and off by voice command.

The Amazon Alexa smart home team also invented their own $60 Amazon Basics Alexa microwave. You can tell Alexa to defrost something, say two pounds of chicken, or reheat your coffee.

There's also the Alexa Roomba robot vacuum. This one, the i7, has a docking station robot that also empties itself automatically. It costs about $1,100.

Or the Alexa iRobot Braava Mop, which will wash the floor. You can use Alexa to tell it to clean up a spill in the dining room.

Alexa is powering everything these days from a Schlage smart door lock ...

to a Moen Alexa-enabled shower, which you can turn on with voice command.

Intel is also working on a smart mirror, which can look at your face, decipher your mood and have Alexa play you appropriate music.

The evening party was Amazon-robot themed as well. It took place at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway NASCAR track. Some of the most famous Battlebots fought in the re:MARS Challenge, broadcast live on Twitch.

Here's the replay.

And one of the biggest demos at the show took place at the party, too: a huge and unwieldy exoskeleton called the Furrion Exo-Bionics Mech.

It's 15-feet tall and 8,000 pounds and looks like the Tarantula robot in the 1990's steampunk film Wild, Wild West. The Mech's pilot walked it over a concrete barrier. Had he missed and fallen, he could have been seriously hurt. Take a look:

All in all, its clear that robots are coming, but they really aren't quite ready to infiltrate our lives just yet.

Artificial intelligence really isn't that smart yet. People are still working on how to train machines and how to make AI technology easier for the average programmer to use. 

Today's robots still can't do things like climb stairs very well, balance when picking up heavy objects or grasp tiny or odd shaped items.

But some of the smartest people in the world are working on making self-learning robots and other machines. It is all definitely coming and Amazon is already using this tech in its warehouse and delivery operations.

• A video of a "Bosstown Dynamics"robot, a parody of the robotics company Boston Dynamics, fighting back after being bullied went viral over the weekend. 
• The video is a lighthearted parody by a well-known studio that posts its videos on YouTube. 
• The video is funny, but it also opens up the conversation on what happens when artificial intelligence becomes sentient.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A video went up over the weekend on the Corridor YouTube channel showing a robot that fights back after suffering through some rather mean — and even violent — tests by a "Bosstown Dynamic" team, which parodies the robotics company Boston Dynamics. 

Check it out for yourself:

As of June 17, the video has racked up 4.5 million views.

The "Bosstown Dynamics" robot is shoved, beaten down with a folding chair, has boxes thrown at its head, gets hit by a hockey stick, and even shot by the fake testers. You can't help but feel for the robot, a mass of gears and machinery that makes endearing mechanical noises and moves in an eerily human way.

Then the robot seemingly has enough and starts to retaliate. At one point, the robot even holds its testers hostage with the very gun that was used to shoot it. When the robot fights back, you might not know whether to cheer and laugh for it, or feel slightly terrified that robots could deviate from their programming, become sentient, and fight back.

Corridor's video is a lighthearted parody that's not designed to induce any particular feeling toward robots. In a tweet, Corridor Digital said the video is a tribute to Boston Dynamics and the work it does. Boston Dynamics did not respond to Corridor's tweet and hasn't replied to Business Insider's question about what it thinks of the video. 

For reference, here's a real video from the Boston Dynamics YouTube channel showing the company's Atlas robot taking a leisurely jog:

Corridor Digital, the studio behind the Corridor YouTube channel, is known for making stunt parodies, often using computer-generated imagery (CGI). It's the studio behind the live-action video of the "Grand Theft Auto" video game (34 million views) and "The World's Longest Lightsaber" video (54 million views), in which the Corridor team wields such a long — fake — lightsaber that they accidentally destroy an aircraft — again, fake — in the sky. 

SEE ALSO: Boston Dynamics says its creepily lifelike robot dog is finally going on sale later this year

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Watch Boston Dynamics' dog-like robot do party tricks

• The "queen of shitty robots," Simone Giertz, decided she wanted an electric pickup truck — and what better way to do that than to cut up a Tesla Model 3.
• "I really want a Tesla pickup, but they haven't released one yet," she said. "Rumors have it that they're going to announce one this summer, but then it's going to be like years before you can actually have one and I don't have time to wait for that."
• Giertz uploaded two videos to her YouTube channel with 1.6 million subscribers. One documents the process of building the "Truckla," and another is a fake commercial.
• Giertz recruited a team of car modifiers for her Tesla pickup project, who decided to chop off everything from the B-pillar and create a new truck bed and a roof rack.
• "I love Truckla so much. She's my absolute dream car," said Giertz. "Also, tweet at me Elon. I'll give you a ride in Truckla."
• Visit INSIDER's homepage for more stories.

Simone Giertz grew her 1.6 million strong following building terrible inventions for the r/shittyrobots subreddit, which earned her the name "the queen of bad robots."

After mastering machines that can perform tasks like washing hair and chopping up vegetables— sort of — Giertz decided to try something even more ambitious.

In her latest series of videos, Giertz attempted what she thought would be the "smartest or the stupidest thing I'm ever going to do"— building an electric pickup truck out of a Tesla Model 3.

"I really want a Tesla pickup, but they haven't released one yet," she said. "Rumors have it that they're going to announce one this summer, but then it's going to be like years before you can actually have one and I don't have time to wait for that."

Giertz concluded that building her own Tesla pickup was the "only sane option," and challenged Elon Musk, Tesla's founder, to making the world's first functional Tesla pickup truck.

"I know people call me the queen of shitty robots, and that my track record isn't terribly impressive so far, but I have an angle grinder and a welder, and I'm not afraid to use them."

Read more: 'Shoulda seen it coming': Elon Musk seems pretty relaxed that a couple filmed a porno in a Tesla on Autopilot

Giertz's mission was delayed for a while, partly because she was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2018. In February, she posted on Instagram her "favorite photo."

"You see that iceberg in the back? That's Antarctica. And that pink thing on the left? That is my brain tumor," she wrote in the caption. "Yes, I got some slides of the tumor and sent one to Antarctica. Take a hint, Brian."

"I don't have to be brain-tumor-girl," Giertz told the BBC. "I can be the girl who sent her brain tumor to Antarctica."

Giertz recruited a team of car modifiers for her Tesla pickup project like Richard Benoit, who runs a YouTube channel called "Rich Rebuilds," where he "primarily disassembled Teslas," and mechanic Marcos Ramirez. She also enlisted the help of Laura Kampf, a fellow YouTuber and maker.

The team decided to chop off everything from the B-pillar. Giertz even keyed the word "Truckla" onto the trunk so she wouldn't get too attached. 

"It really feels like we're preparing the car for surgery," Giertz said before the big cut when the team disassembled everything and marked where the incisions would be made.

Then they replaced the rear with a truck bed and a roof rack.

"One of the things about the Model 3 is that it can't see that much out of the rear view window, it has a lot of blind spots," said Giertz when she was sitting in her creation. "With this, I can f------ see everything. I think I can even look into the future in this mirror."

As well as building the Truckla, Giertz had a fake commercial made with director Jacquelyn Marker.

"So in the beginning of this project I was like I can't tell if this is going to be the smartest or the most stupid thing I'm ever going to do, and I'm still not sure," Giertz said at the end of her video. "But what I am sure about is that I love Truckla so much. She's my absolute dream car."

She added that it's completely driveable but they are going to continue working on Truckla as there are still many tasks to complete, such as waterproofing, bedlining, and finishing the interior.

She's also looking for more collaborators to come on board for the rest of the project, and so encouraged anyone in the California area who wants to get involved to email the team.

"Thanks again to everybody who helped make this happen," she said. "Also, tweet at me Elon. I'll give you a ride in Truckla."

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 'Blue's Clues' is making a comeback with a new look and new host. Here's what the original host, Steve Burns, did after he quit the show.

• NASA's next $1 billion mission to space will send a nuclear-powered helicopter to explore the skies of Saturn's moon Titan.
• This "Dragonfly" drone will investigate the icy moon, sampling and measuring the compositions of Titan's surface.
• That survey will help scientists look for signs of life on the distant moon.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

NASA has announced humanity's next big feat of space exploration.

In 15 years, the space agency said, scientists may land a nuclear-powered helicopter on the surface of Saturn's icy moon Titan. The dronelike rotorcraft, nicknamed "Dragonfly," would skim and scan the moon's surface while seeking out signs of past — or present — microbial alien life.

According to NASA, Dragonfly is slated to launch around 2026 and arrive at Titan in 2034. It was one of a dozen $850 million mission concepts that research teams pitched to the space agency in 2017.

"This cutting-edge mission would have been unthinkable even just a few years ago," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a release about Dragonfly's planned trip to Titan. "Visiting this mysterious ocean world could revolutionize what we know about life in the universe."

Why go to Titan?

Titan is one of many ocean worlds in our solar system, including Enceladus, Pluto, Europa, and Ganymede, that could be suitable for life.

It's Saturn's largest moon, and the second-largest moon in the solar system. Scientists also refer to it as a "proto-Earth" because of its size and composition.

Titan's surface has lakes of liquid hydrocarbon, such as methane (the key ingredient in natural gas), as well as clouds of ethane and smog rich with carbon-containing molecules. Titan's atmosphere mostly consists of nitrogen, like Earth's, but is four times as thick as the one ensconcing our planet. So while no human could breathe there, the thick air is helpful for flying robotic choppers.

In addition, a colossal ocean of liquid water may exist below Titan's roughly 60-mile-thick crust of ice.

All of this makes Titan a prime candidate in the ongoing search for signs of extraterrestrial life.

"Titan is the only other place in the solar system known to have an Earth-like cycle of liquids flowing across its surface,"Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, tweeted on Thursday. "Dragonfly will explore the processes that shape this extraordinary environment filled with organic compounds — the building blocks to life as we know it."

A $1 billion plutonium-powered drone

Titan is a frigid world where surface temperatures hover around minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 179 degrees Celsius). Sunlight is much dimmer on Saturn — about 1% as strong as it is on Earth — so solar panels wouldn't suffice to power a spacecraft there.

To power Dragonfly and keep its circuits and motors from freezing on Titan, the team behind the mission will get a power supply called a radioisotope thermoelectric generator, or RTG.

In short, the device converts heat energy into electricity. The beating heart of an RTG is a radioactive substance called plutonium-238 (Pu-238), which, until only recently, was made as a byproduct of Cold War nuclear-weapons production. As Pu-238 decays, the material simmers with warmth. In an RTG, that warmth passes through a shell of thermoelectric materials that can turn a fraction of that heat into voltage.

On a spacecraft, an RTG gives off lasting warmth that helps safeguard fragile electronics. Using an RTG for power instead of solar panels also reduces the total weight of a robot for deep-space missions. Plus, it takes half of any amount of Pu-238 about 87 years to decay into a more stable material, which means a space mission relying on the substance can last for decades. 

NASA plans to provide $850 million to design, test, and build Dragonfly. Additionally, the agency will provide an RTG for the spacecraft and will also fund its launch on a powerful (and as yet unnamed) rocket.

If Dragonfly arrives on Titan safely after its eight-year journey, it will use maps created by NASA's Cassini mission to "leapfrog" around the distant world in flights lasting as long as 5 miles (8 kilometers). In total, the spacecraft may fly more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) during its first mission.

NASA expects that adventure to last for about two years and eight months — though other plutonium-powered spacecraft, such as the Voyager probes, have lasted for decades.

SEE ALSO: The 15 most incredible plutonium-powered space missions of all time

DON'T MISS: NASA's deep-space nuclear-power crisis may soon end, thanks to a clever new robot in Tennessee

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's what NASA saw when it landed on Saturn's largest moon

• Robots will displace 20 million manufacturing jobs worldwide, according to a new report from Oxford Economics. 
• The manufacturing industry is most vulnerable to automation, according to Oxford Economics. China will have 14 million industrial robots working in manufacturing by 2030. 
• The Trump administration has been slow to recognize automation's impact on the manufacturing industry.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

By 2030, robots will displace 20 million manufacturing jobs worldwide.

The 20 million number — which represents 8.5% of the global manufacturing workforce — comes out of a new report from economic forecast company Oxford Economics (OE). It also found that on average, every newly installed robot displaces 1.6 manufacturing workers.

While other industries are beginning to experiment with automation, manufacturing jobs are most vulnerable in the immediate future. China leads the charge in automating jobs: By 2030, the country will have 14 million industrial robots in use. The rest of the world, meanwhile, will have just 6 million robots in use. 

Read more: Mark Zuckerberg just pulled a Jeff Bezos, and Libra could be Amazon Web Services

Robots are growing in numbers because they are cheaper than paying people. Technological advancements have pushed down the average unit price of robots by 11% between 2011 to 2016. The US has already lost 260,000 due to automation since the turn of the century, according to the report.

The report analyzed data from the International Federation of Robots, and focused on countries that account for more than 90% of industrial robot installations: EU nations, US, Japan, South Korea, China, and more. The IFR uses survey data from robot suppliers in 50 countries tracked from 1994 to 2014.

The bigger robotic picture

Researchers have been telling us about how automation is going to gobble up jobs for years: 

• The World Economic Forum predicted that half of companies would reduce their full-time workforce by 2022.
• PWC estimated roughly 7 million jobs in the UK would be displaced by 2037.
  
• McKinsey projected 800 million people worldwide would be out of a job by 2030.

OE's findings differ in that they target how the manufacturing sector specifically would suffer. Robots have 5 million American manufacturing jobs since 2000, accounting for a decline of nearly 30% of these jobs, Business Insider's Pedro Nicolaci da Costa reported.

The report also has implications for manufacturing policy, as President Trump promised to bring back these jobs during his campaign. Manufacturing activity fell in the US to a two-year low in June, in part due to the ongoing trade war with China. 

Still, the Trump administration has been slow to acknowledge AI's impact on the American workforce. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin once said he's "not worried at all" about robots' impact on employment. 

"The repercussions of robotization are interconnected and complex, but the growth in robotics is inevitable," the OE report says. "These challenges must be embraced and addressed." 

SEE ALSO: Robots could wipe out 1.3 million Wall Street jobs in the next 10 years

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Stewart Butterfield, co-founder of Slack and Flickr, says 2 beliefs have brought him the greatest success in life

• Robots could replace 20 million manufacturing jobs worldwide by 2030. In the US, robots are likely to take low-skill manufacturing jobs in Oregon, Louisiana, and Texas. 
• Workers in cities, or states with a large tourism sector, will likely not lose their jobs due to automation in the immediate future.
• These are the states most (and least) likely to lose their jobs to robots. 

State by state, the robots are coming to the US. 

Research company Oxford Economics analyzed which US states are most likely to replace manufacturing jobs with robots by 2030.

The states most vulnerable to job loss are those that have a large low-skilled manufacturing industry and those that don't presently have much automation, like Oregon and Louisiana. 

Other research has found that a quarter of American jobs are at risk. Worldwide, 20 million jobs are slated to disappear as a result to automation in the next decade.

See more:Robots are rapidly on their way to taking 20 million manufacturing jobs, wiping out a chunk of the global workforce

Manufacturing states are at risk, tourism states are not. 

Among US states, the report found that Oregon is most likely to lose manufacturing jobs to automation. The state, home to major companies like Nike and Columbia Sportswear, has one of the most productive manufacturing industries in the country. Money made from manufacturing made up 20% of the state's GDP in 2017. 

Louisiana and Texas, other states with a lot of low-skill manufacturing jobs, are next in line for a robot revamp. States in the Midwest, too, will likely experience job losses due to the steel-making industries near the Rust Belt, Oxford Economics finds. 

New England, for its lesser dependence on the manufacturing industry, and states that rely on tourism to make money, like Florida, Hawaii, and Nevada, are less likely to lose jobs. 

The national trend lines point toward risk.

Across the country, workers in rural areas are most likely to lose their jobs to robots due to their reliance on low-skills manufacturing companies. Workers in cities, meanwhile, will likely keep their jobs since many of them are less likely to work in manufacturing, or have high-skills roles that are harder to automate. 

Aside from manufacturing jobs, the report predicts robots will come for industries like service and healthcare as well. Since automation tech in hospitals and hotels is still fairly new and expensive, displacement will take longer. 

Manufacturing jobs will be the first to go, the report finds, but robots are also coming for industries like service and healthcare. The cost of making robots for other industries remains high, and the tech is relatively new, therefore the transition will take longer. 

"The robotics revolution is rapidly accelerating," Oxford Economics CEO Adrian Cooper stated in the report. "Existing business models across many sectors will be seriously disrupted, and tens of millions of existing jobs will be lost."

While the report urges policy makers to protect workers from job loss, the Trump administration has been slow to acknowledge tech's impact on manufacturing. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin once said he's "not worried at all" about robots' impact on employment.

SEE ALSO: Robots could wipe out 1.3 million Wall Street jobs in the next 10 years

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian have a combined net worth of $189 million. Here's how they make and spend their money.

• There are many different cleaning robots that vacuum, mop, wipe down windows, and even scrub toilets.
• I tested four of Amazon's highest-rated cleaning robots to clean my entire apartment: the Eufy Robovac, the iRobot Braava Jet, the Hobot window robot, and the Altan Giddel toilet robot. 
• While some were impressive designs, they didn't meet my expectations or save me time. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. 

Following is a transcript of the video.

Narrator: Remember Rosie from "The Jetsons"?

"Rosie cooks. She cleans. Rosie is the ideal maid."

Narrator: These robots are the closest thing we have to Rosie. They vacuum, mop, wipe down windows, and even scrub toilets. I clean my apartment twice a week and could always use some help. I wanted to see if it was possible to have these robots clean my entire apartment, so I could get some of that time spent cleaning back.

This doesn't go very far. Oh no, oh no, oh no. I'm just unscrewing the top of my toilet to remove it. It's like a vacuum!

I went on Amazon to find four of the highest-rated cleaning robots.

I'll be testing out the Eufy Robovac 35c. It's Wi-Fi-enabled, and can handle hard floors and thin to medium carpets. It works with both Alexa and Google Assistant, is a competitor to Roomba, and retails for $300.

The iRobot Braava Jet 240 mopping robot. It mops and sweeps and retails for $170. The Hobot-268, a window-cleaning robot that can suction itself to glass and clean its way around windows. It retails for $375. And the Altan Giddel, a toilet-cleaning robot. It's the only one on the market and retails for $349.

Will they be easy to set up? Will they save me some time? And will they get the job done?

First, we tidied up, put away wires and shoes so they wouldn't get caught up in the robots. Then we made a bit of a mess with some crumbs and other debris to give the robots a little challenge. Let's bring on the robots. First up, the Eufy Robovac. Initially, it was a little tough to connect to Wi-Fi. The issue was it's not compatible with 5-gigahertz networks, but once we connected to the 2.4-gigahertz network, we were ready to roll.

I wanna say they go here. Ha, look at that! Oh! Eufy gave us some magnetic boundary strips, so we're going to just place them around the rug. Although not the sleekest design, for the most part they worked. You just have to make sure they're really secure to the ground. Oh no, oh no. If the included strips aren't enough, you can purchase more. If the strips aren't covering an area you want avoided, the robot will find a way around them. No, don't come on the rug! Oh! The robot uses two side brushes to push debris into its center suction area. This was mostly effective, and it tended to pick up anything it rolled over. These little brushes almost push the crumbs farther away, so it makes more work for the robot. It eventually does pick them up. This wasn't a problem for big, open areas, where the robot eventually made it to the spot the dirt or crumbs landed, but if it landed in a corner or under something, like a cabinet or fridge, the robot was unable to suck it up.

Are you confused? That's really gross. Overall, the Eufy was pretty effective. I don't think it could replace a full vacuum, but it would be great if I'm getting ready for company to come over and I just wanna run it in between my deep cleanings. After the vacuum, it was time to mop.

The Braava Jet was super easy to set up, however, once I had it going it did bump into corners and baseboards. Ooh, what is happening? I don't know what it's doing. This doesn't go very far. And it's thin width made it take a while to clean even small areas. I even tried to change the pattern that it navigated in, but it didn't seem to make a difference. It went back and forth a lot over the same areas, and seemed to keep cleaning areas it had already done. Unfortunately, it left my floor pretty soaked, but it did grab some dirt, so at least the cleaning pads seemed to work. Braava Jet is putting me to work now. I was a little disappointed because iRobot's Roombas have great reviews, and the Braava Jet just didn't really clean the way I thought it would, and wasn't as effective. Yeah, so you're done for today. Thank you, thank you for cleaning.

To the window. I don't even know how this is going to attach to the window. Are there stickies or, like, magnets? The Hobot window robot was super easy to set up, I just had to put on the cleaning pads, spray down the window, and it was set to go. It's like a vacuum! It's controlled with a remote, which you can use to control its movements or tell it to move autonomously. You only have so much slack to clean your windows, because this specific model has to be plugged in while in use. They do have a newer model, which is rechargeable and has a built-in tank and sprayer. The Hobot uses suction to adhere to the window, and I was surprised at how well it hung on. I kept waiting for it to fall off, and it never did. However, it took a really long time to work its way over the window, and didn't really seem to follow any of the directions I was trying to make it navigate. It kept going down, which made me wonder if gravity was just too strong for it. The robot did get some of the dirt off, but it did leave a lot of streak marks, which made the windows look just as bad as they were before I cleaned them with the Hobot. It's not something I would use again on my windows, and they would've looked a lot cleaner if I just did it myself. I think it's a neat concept, but it's not practical. Your first step is to remove the toilet seat by unscrewing the nuts. I'm just unscrewing the top of my toilet to remove it. It comes with a bracket you have to attach to your toilet, which is supposed to be a permanent install that you then slide the robot in and out of. The installation was supposed to be just three easy steps, but it took much longer. It wouldn't let me reattach my toilet seat, so I took a little trip to Home Depot and picked up various-size screws to try and make it fit. I'm at Home Depot trying to find the right size screws to fit my Giddel robot, the ones I have right now are too short and the robot doesn't come with any additional ones, so wish me luck. There's a lot to choose from. Well, thank goodness that I purchased those screws, because they came in handy when even my dad attempted to try it on two other toilets.

Narrator: Thanks for helping me put together my toilet robot.

Dad: It's no problem, Alex. It's what I live for. It takes a little finesse to install the hardware, to line it up properly.

Narrator: Should lock right in.

Dad: It should. This is just not working.

Narrator: The problem is the bracket doesn't fit all toilet seats, and when we finally got it mounted on my toilet, the size made it impossible to reattach the seat. The Giddel didn't even really fit inside my toilet. It started with the rim, but just seemed to gently brush it. At times it looked like it was barely touching it at all, and as it rotated, it kept hitting the sides of the toilet. When it started inside the bowl, it didn't look like it was applying much pressure at all. It didn't really get rid of any hard-water stains inside it, and I couldn't really see much of a before-and-after difference. It would be great if they could include additional screw sizes, or ways to fit more toilet-seat types. I could see the installation causing a lot of problems for people who are expecting the seamless experience shown in the promotional video. This robot was a real struggle. I could've cleaned so many toilets in the time that it took me to get this one set up and going, and it didn't even clean the toilet.

Well, the robots took a really long time to get the job done and they didn't save me much time, 'cause I was constantly watching over them to make sure they weren't getting into trouble. I feel like I could've cleaned everything in less than half the amount of time the robots took, and I could've done a much better job. But I would use the Eufy to tidy up in between my cleanings.

The Eufy Robovac: 4 out of 5.

The iRobot Braava Jet: 2 1/2 out of 5.

Hobot window robot: 2 out of 5.

Altan Giddel toilet robot: 1 out of 5.

My overall rating for all the cleaning robots would be 2 1/2 out of 5. We're not quite in the future "The Jetsons" promised, and we do have a long way to go before Rosie the robot is cleaning our houses. So for this battle, woman definitely beats machine.

Director: Perfect, great, all right.

Join the conversation about this story »

• Amazon is working on a new version of the Echo that could launch by next year, according to Bloomberg.
• The device could be wider than the current model and may contain at least four tweeters, the report says, citing sources familiar with a prototype of the new Echo.
• Amazon is also reportedly ramping up work on its Alexa-enabled home robot.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. 

Amazon is preparing to launch an improved version of its Echo smart speaker by next year, according to a new report from Bloomberg. 

Details on the new speaker are scarce, but the report says that a prototype of the device indicates it will be wider than the current version and will include at least four tweeters. A tweeter is a small speaker designed to disperse high frequencies throughout a room, according to Lifewire.

It's unclear exactly when Amazon would launch the new speaker, but it revealed a slew of new Echo devices last September, including new versions of the Echo Dot, Echo Show, and the Echo Plus. Since the report says that Amazon could launch the speaker by next year, there's a chance we'll see the new device debut around the fall this year. Bloomberg also notes there's a chance Amazon doesn't move forward with the launch of the new speaker.

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Amazon declined to comment when reached by Business Insider.

Amazon is also reportedly experimenting with other new form factors for its Alexa assistant beyond the Echo and the other devices currently available. The company is continuing work on an Alexa-enabled home robot called "Vesta" internally, Bloomberg also reported. The report describes the robot as a waist-high device that can navigate its surroundings using computer vision cameras. The company could also be developing Alexa-enabled earbuds similar to Apple's AirPods, as a previous report from Bloomberg had also indicated. 

Amazon's Echo line has emerged as being the most popular smart speaker in the United States following the device's unexpected launch in 2014. Amazon accounted for 61.6% of the smart speaker market share as of January, according to a report from Voicebot.ai and Voicify. Google, meanwhile, accounted for 23.9%.  The company said it has sold more than 100 million Alexa devices when speaking to The Verge earlier this year, although it's unclear whether those are all in reference to Echo devices.

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• Amazon is rumored to be working on new gadgets such as a higher-quality Echo, a home robot, and Alexa-enabled earbuds among other products.
• Such gadgets could give Amazon's popular Alexa assistant a stronger presence both inside and outside the home.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

When it comes to gadgets, Amazon is best known for its line of Echo smart speakers, Kindle e-readers, and Fire TVs and tablets. But based on reports, it sounds like the online retail giant has a lot more in its pipeline. 

Amazon is reportedly planning to bring its popular Alexa assistant to a slew of new gadgets including home robots and earbuds. Such a move would give Amazon a way to expand its voice-enabled helper beyond the home, a market in which the company's Echo devices have already maintained a steady lead over rivals like Google. 

Here's a look at the gadgets Amazon is said to be working on. 

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A new Amazon Echo

Amazon is developing a new Echo that could be released by next year, according to Bloomberg. That wouldn't be too surprising considering Amazon has previously released new Echo products in the fall.

The report doesn't say much about the new Echo, other than that it's shaped like a cylinder just like the company's current speaker and that it's wider than the version Amazon sells today. That extra space is being used to fit additional components in the device, the report says.  

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A home robot that can respond to voice commands

Amazon has already established a strong presence in the home through the Echo, and now it's hoping to take that a step further with a domestic robot, as Bloomberg also reported.

The company is developing a household robot that has wheels for roaming about the home and navigates using computer vision, according to the report. Like the Echo, users would be able to interact with it using voice commands. The device is being called "Vesta" internally, and the company is said to have ramped up work on the project in recent months.

If Amazon does move forward with its "Vesta" bot, it's unclear when it will launch. The company planned to announced the robot this year, according to Bloomberg, but it's not ready for mass production just yet. 

A high-fidelity music streaming service

Amazon is reportedly working on a high-definition music service that would offer a better bit rate than CD quality, according to Music Business Worldwide. It's expected to launch before the end of 2019 and could cost $15 per month, the report said citing music industry sources.

That timing suggests there's a chance Amazon could debut the high-fidelity music service alongside the new Echo it's rumored to launch. If Amazon does launch a high-fidelity music streaming service at that price point, it would be cheaper than Tidal, which charges $20 per month for that sound quality. 

Wireless earbuds with Alexa built-in

Amazon could launch its own alternative to AirPods soon enough.

The company will reportedly release voice-activated earbuds powered by its popular Alexa virtual assistant as early as the second half of 2019, according to Bloomberg. In addition to using your voice to ask questions or summon the weather, you'll be able to execute certain tasks through gestures, says the report. Such actions reportedly include tapping to switch between music tracks or end phone calls.  Like AirPods, they are also expected to come in a case that serves as a charger. 

A wearable device that can detect your emotions

Wireless earbuds aren't the only wearable devices Amazon is said to be working on. The company is reportedly developing a wrist-worn gadget that could recognize human emotions, according to Bloomberg.

The voice-activated device has been described as a health and wellness gadget, and it can discern a user's emotional state by the sound of his or her voice, the report says. The product has been codenamed Dylan, and it's unclear how far along it is. It would work in conjunction with a smartphone app. 

The news regarding the product's development comes as rival Apple have been pushing more deeply into health. If Amazon does launch a wrist-worn health device, it would represent yet another area in which Amazon competes with the iPhone maker, along with voice-enabled assistants and music streaming. 

• Boston Dynamics is back with another bizarre video starring its animal-like robots.
• The latest video features 10 of the dog-like "SpotMini" robots pulling a truck across the company's parking lot.
• Unlike some of the sillier videos from Boston Dynamics, this one demonstrates the raw power of the company's robots.
• Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.

The doglike robots from Boston Dynamics are back with another video, but this time the video is less about virality and more focused on demonstrating the machines' raw power.

Behold, 10 robot dogs pulling a large truck:

Pretty intense, no? 

Don't get too worried — these little guys aren't coming to pull your house away anytime soon.

According to Boston Dynamics, the 10 "SpotMini" robot dogs were able to pull the Boston Dynamics truck "~1 degree uphill, truck in neutral." That's still quite a bit of pulling power from less than a dozen robot dogs, but they're still a few degrees removed from robot-apocalypse territory.

Admittedly, images like these don't help:

Check out the full video right here, courtesy of Boston Dynamics:

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