How many robots does Amazon have?

The figure has context and consequence. The context: Amazon estimates 75% of its global deliveries are now robot-assisted at some point, with machines like Proteus moving carts among people without safety cages. The consequence: at a million units, managing the fleet became an AI problem, and the company launched DeepFleet, a generative model trained on its own warehouse data that makes robot routes 10% faster.

It all started with a purchase that looked expensive in 2012: $775 million for Kiva Systems, the walking-shelves startup. We tell the whole story in the day Amazon bought the robots; thirteen years later, that bet is the planet's largest private robot fleet and the pattern all of logistics tries to copy.