When Amazon announced, in June, that it was buying Whole Foods, for $13.7 billion, speculation arose about what, exactly, the world’s biggest online retailer planned to do with the high-end supermarket chain. Amazon had taken steps to enter the business of selling fresh food, but it was far from the company’s areas of expertise. Some noted that Amazon was, and continues to be, one of the most aggressive investors in robotics and artificial-intelligence technology. Five years ago, Amazon purchased Kiva, a company that produces mobile robots that would make it easier to automate Amazon’s distribution centers, potentially saving the […]
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