- Amazon recently announced that it is going to set up a $40 million 350,000 square-foot robotics innovation hub in Westborough, Massachusetts
Amazon announced recently that it is going to build a $40 million robotics innovation hub in Westborough, Massachusetts. The 350,000 square-foot facility is expected to bring 200 technology and advanced manufacturing jobs after it opens in 2021.
The facility is going to have corporate offices and a research and development lab. Plus it will have a robotics manufacturing space where some of the most sophisticated machines will be manufactured. Amazon said that the robotics hub is in addition to the existing Amazon Robotics facility in North Reading, Massachusetts. Amazon Robotics chief technologist Tye Brady pointed out that the hub will enable the company to continue building on its robotics research.
“This will be a world-class facility, where our teams can design, build, program and ship our robots — all under the same roof. This expansion will allow us to continue to innovate quickly and improve delivery speed for customers around the world,” said Brady in a statement.
One of the biggest reasons why Massachusetts became a robotics hub for Amazon is due to the $775 million acquisition of North Reading-based Kiva Systems in 2012. Kiva was renamed to Amazon Robotics after the acquisition.
So far, Amazon deployed over 200,000 robots in more than 50 fulfillment centers worldwide. Since originally expanding into Massachusetts in 2011, Amazon invested more than $3 billion and created more than 4,000 jobs in the state, according to TechCrunch.
