Amazon makes ‘fundamental leap forward in robotics’ with device having sense of touch

Vulcan device capable of grabbing three-quarters of items in warehouses' fuels fears of mass job losses

Amazon said it has made a fundamental leap forward in robotics" after developing a robot with a sense of touch that will be capable of grabbing about three-quarters of the items in its vast warehouses.

Vulcan - which launches at the US firm's Delivering the Future" event in Dortmund, Germany, on Wednesday and is to be deployed around the world in the next few years - is designed to help humans sort items for storage and then prepare them for delivery as the latest in a suite of robots which have an ever-growing role in the online retailer's extensive operation.