Speaking of human-machine workplace tandems, Brandon Bailey of AP reports of Amazon’s deployment of a fleet of 15,000 robots in its warehouses, which is a great thing for laborers for now but not for long. Eventually, and not too far in the future, one will be employed more and the other less. The opening:

“TRACY, California (AP) — A year ago, Amazon.com workers like 34-year-old Rejinaldo Rosales hiked miles of aisles each shift to ‘pick’ each item a customer ordered and prepare it for shipping.

Now the e-commerce giant boasts that it has boosted efficiency — and given workers’ legs a break — by deploying more than 15,000 wheeled robots to crisscross the floors of its biggest warehouses and deliver stacks of toys, books and other products to employees.

‘We pick two to three times faster than we used to,’ Rosales said during a short break from sorting merchandise into bins at Amazon’s massive distribution center in Tracy, California, about 60 miles east of San Francisco. ‘It’s made the job a lot easier.’

Amazon.com Inc., which faces its single biggest day of online shopping on Monday, has invested heavily this year in upgrading and expanding its distribution network, adding new technology, opening more shipping centers and hiring 80,000 seasonal workers to meet the coming onslaught of holiday orders. Amazon says it processed orders for 36.8 million items on the Monday after Thanksgiving last year, and it’s expecting ‘Cyber Monday’ to be even busier this year.”