Amazon is trialling humanoid robots in its US warehouses, in the latest sign of the tech giant automating more of its operations.

In a statement, Amazon said the move was about “freeing up employees to better serve our customers”.

A new robot called Digit is being tested, which has arms and legs and can move, grasp, and handle items like a human.

According to one union, Amazon has been treating its workers like robots for years.

The automation of Amazon’s fulfillment centers has already led to hundreds of job losses, said Stuart Richards, an organiser with GMB union.

In its announcement, Amazon said its robotics systems had created “hundreds of thousands of new jobs” within its operations.

There are 700 new job categories within the company that didn’t exist before, including skilled roles.

The tech giant has more than 750,000 robots working “collaboratively” with its human staff, often performing “highly repetitive tasks”.

Tye Brady, Amazon Robotics’ chief technologist, told reporters at a media briefing in Seattle that people are “irreplaceable”, denying that the company would have fully automated warehouses in the future.

The thought of that ever becoming a reality does not even cross my mind.

In the fulfilment process, people are so important; their ability to think at a higher level, their ability to diagnose problems.