Amazon's Robot-Oriented 'Project Janus' Replacing Warehouse Space
In the midst of shrinking its massive warehouse footprint, Amazon is converting a chunk of a 500K SF distribution center to a robotics wing run by its cloud computing division.
Amazon Web Services has filed a permit to retrofit 108K SF, or 20%, of its facility at 3818 Logistics Way in Antioch, Tennessee, outside Nashville, for "Project Janus," the Nashville Business Journal reports.
The name Janus is for Amazon's artificial intelligence software, which is used to retrain robotic arms to adjust to new package sizes during the sorting process, according to NBJ.
After years of breakneck growth — its footprint has grown from 97M SF in 2016 to more than 450M SF by the end of this year, according to tracking firm MWPVL — Amazon reversed course this year and started shrinking its warehouse and distribution footprint. It plans to shutter or cancel 66 properties this year, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month.
