Amazon Worker Gets Trapped By Robotic Shelves, Captures Ordeal On TikTok

While humanoid robots have been created before, the most functional robots are already hiding in plain sight. They're the purpose-built machines that are designed to do one thing.

It's this category of robots that we're talking about today.

Amazon's massive fulfillment centers feature robotic shelves, which move to adapt to shipping needs. This has the effect of creating labyrinths of moving shelves.

We can't verify his story, but according to TikToker @robotman77, he was trapped in an Amazon warehouse "for like 15 minutes" as the shelves moved in on him, giving him no way to exit.

If you had any doubt that these shelves are shifty, in this still you can see one of them sliding across the corridor to seal off any exit.

The camera work gets more and more frantic as the TikToker moves this way and that, trying to find a way out of the maze. It's incredibly disorienting to watch, so one can only imagine what it was like to actually experience.

All's well that ends well, and the TikToker was eventually able to find a way out of the robotic maze. But the experience will probably haunt him, and everyone who watches the video, for some time to come.

The darkened setting, autonomous and possibly evil robots and sense of isolation really make the experience feel horrifying. You could almost turn it into a found footage movie.

I'm not really sure what's being discussed here, but we can confirm that Amazon does utilize robotic shelves. Are they hackable? Do they fly out of control at extreme speeds? Is Russia involved? These are the deep questions pondered by TikTok commenters.

If you're watching this in a dark room, it might be a good idea to turn the lights on. Otherwise, you're going to be looking over your shoulder constantly, wondering if your bookshelf is finally going to make an attempt on your life.

Our future will likely be full of robots, but they won't be the humanoid automaton type. They'll come in benign forms, oftentimes looking no different from inanimate objects. Then, they'll make their move.

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