London Design Festival

Amazon's vision of an automated future

The London Design Festival is a vibrant collection of design exhibitions and events of any kind all over the city. One of the exhibitions stimulated me particularly: The collection of Amazon's latest registered patents presented by the Institute of Patent Infringement in the basement of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

The installation at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (Hinger, 2018)

Presented in an inspiring, igloo-like installation were explanations and drawings of future techniques patented by Amazon Technologies Inc. In the center, some 'hacked' Ideas were presented and visitors were encouraged to change the patents to show their own vision of the future (The Institute of Patent Infringement, 2018).

The exhibition triggered one question: Why does Amazon register all these futuristic ideas as patents? Obviously, it is their belief that the future will make their developments necessary. Or maybe they are even powerful enough to shape the future this way?

On the Amazon website I found a statement about their research projects:

We fundamentally belief that scientific innovation is essential to being the most customer-centric company in the world. (Amazon .com, Inc. or its affiliates, 1996-2018)

All the patents presented fitted this statement, they were focussed on improving logistics processes with automation technologies. I would summarise them within three major topics: Home delivery efficiency, in-store efficiency and warehousing and labour efficiency. They ranged from drone delivery of products stored on a train with an included drone repair shop in order to grant fast delivery up to RFID tags embedded into worker´s gloves in order to monitor their movement.

Here are some examples of the drawings presented in the exhibition:

Sketches of Patent Ideas

(Amazon Industries, Inc accessed via Institute of Patent Infringement, no date)

Although these developments are intended to provide superior customer service, the Institute of Patent Infringement (no date) challenges the supposed value and wants to point out the critical sides. What impacts on humans would it have, if these technologies were realised?

On the one hand employees would be negatively affected as the technologies replace current professions like warehousing architects or store planners, on the other hand warehouse workers would be pressurised because all their movements could be tracked.

The Institute questions if the technologies can be used to provide a better future for all of us by being used in a beneficial way. Therefore, they stated an open call to everyone to further develop the Amazon patents in order to imagine ways how to use the future technologies in a beneficial way (Institute of Patent Infringement, no date).

Until I saw this exhibition I underestimated Amazon's power and it opened my mind as to how important the design of future processes can be and how it will affect everyone's lives.

Reference List:

Amazon .com, Inc. or its affiliates (1996-2018) Research. Available at: https://www.aboutamazon.com/research (Accessed: 4 October 2018)

Institute of Patent Infringement (no date) An Open Call for Patent Violation. Available at: https://institute-of-patent-infringement.org/ (Accessed: 4 October 2018)

The Institute of Patent Infringement. (2018) [Exhibition]. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 15 September 2018 - Sunday 23 September 2018.