Amazon is getting closer to deploying the closest thing to a human in its fulfillment centers as it unveiled a robot that can “feel.” Its latest robotics breakthrough, though, isn’t part of a plot to replace the long-serving workers on Amazon’s factory floors.

Vulcan, a robot with tactile senses, is a step toward automating more of picking and stowing work done by humans inside Amazon’s fulfillment centers.

Amazon has unveiled a robot capable not only of seeing but also of feeling the world around it. Known as Vulcan, this new robot introduces a sense of touch into the company's sprawling fulfilment centres allowing it to handle items with a finesse that conventional machines previously lacked.