06
INSIDE THE AMAZON FULLFILLMENT CENTER
A Speculative HCI Design Workbook for Workers at Amazon FC
Year Summer 2022
Location Amazon Fullfillment Centers (United States)
Advisor EunJeong Cheon, Ph.D.
Team Ziyan Zhou, Yiwei He, Jun Yue Ching, Linjing Rao
Category Research Assistant // Submission to ACM CHI Conference & DIS 2023
Location Amazon Fullfillment Centers (United States)
Advisor EunJeong Cheon, Ph.D.
Team Ziyan Zhou, Yiwei He, Jun Yue Ching, Linjing Rao
Category Research Assistant // Submission to ACM CHI Conference & DIS 2023
It is common to find the most advanced technology being manipulated as a tool to increase productivity. Those
who benefit from them may also become prone to its side effects, which may lead to an excessive exertion
beyond natural human productivity. Workers in the Amazon Fulfillment Center are constantly monitored,
manipulated, and supervised by the technology that was designed as an essential tool to their work. These newest technologies are almost always designed to ensure the best productivity to benefit the corporate
giants that adopt them. However, it often hinders the legitimate needs of its immediate user, and instead
becomes a surveillance tool for the administration.
The two technocentric resilience design based on an ethnographic research with Amazon FC workers features wearable technology that concerns worker’s safety and emotional wellbeing. One proposal is a Safety Goggle designed with alert features for incoming objects as a response to the high injury rate in Amazon FC. The other design is an scanning interface that discovers/create hide out spots for workers wanting to take
unsupervised breaks. A python program was written individually to assist research data processing and an interactive website was built as part of the survey that collects feedbacks from current Amazon FC workers.
The two technocentric resilience design based on an ethnographic research with Amazon FC workers features wearable technology that concerns worker’s safety and emotional wellbeing. One proposal is a Safety Goggle designed with alert features for incoming objects as a response to the high injury rate in Amazon FC. The other design is an scanning interface that discovers/create hide out spots for workers wanting to take
unsupervised breaks. A python program was written individually to assist research data processing and an interactive website was built as part of the survey that collects feedbacks from current Amazon FC workers.