Amazon shuts down Blue Jay warehouse robot project after less than a year

Last October, Amazon announced Blue Jay, a new robotic arm system that was supposed to act as "an extra set of hands" for its warehouse workers. This week, Amazon decided Blue Jay is no longer needed.

The news was reported first by Business Insider and then corroborated by TechCrunch. Blue Jay was meant to be a multi-arm helper system for same-day delivery facilities, and it was being tested in South Carolina at the time of its announcement last fall. After six months, though, Amazon is winding down project Blue Jay and moving its core tech and employees to other projects.

While this was not made explicitly clear when Blue Jay was first announced, an Amazon spokesperson told TechCrunch that it was always meant as a prototype.

“We’re always experimenting with new ways to improve the customer experience and make work safer, more efficient, and more engaging for our employees,” the spokesperson told TechCrunch. “In this case, we’re actually accelerating the use of the underlying technology developed for Blue Jay, and nearly all of the technologies are being carried over and will continue to support employees across our network.”

Blue Jay was not the only warehouse robotics initiative Amazon has under its belt, and it won't be the last. But for whatever reason, this one just didn't work out as planned.