Amazon workers get high-tech belts to keep them safe among warehouse robots

An Amazon fulfillment center employee is seen above, working with a robot. (Amazon)

Amazon workers are now wearing safety belts to prevent accidents involving the robots that prowl the tech giant's cavernous warehouses.

The Robotic Tech Vest, which was rolled out over the course of the last year to over 25 locations, appears to be an electric utility belt attached to a pair of suspenders, reports TechCrunch, but it has built-in sensors that alert robots of a human's presence.

The belts are designed to work in coordinated fashion with the robots' obstacle detection systems, according to TechCrunch.

'BIG BROTHER': AI PIONEER FEARS CHINA'S USE OF TECHNOLOGY FOR SURVEILLANCE AND CONTROL

According to Amazon, the company's robots, which number over 100,000, are designed to assist humans with the transportation of packages and the movement of large pallets of inventory, among other tasks. Although there are widespread fears that robots will displace human workers, Amazon has added more than 300,000 full-time jobs globally since robots were introduced to its warehouses in 2012.

A source familiar with Amazon's robotic systems told Fox News that the new vest allows the robots to detect human workers from further away and update its travel plan to steer clear of them without the need for the Amazon worker to explicitly mark out those zones.

"Robots increase efficiency and safety at fulfillment centers. They make it possible to store 40 percent more inventory, which in turn makes it easier to fulfill Amazon Prime and other orders on time since it’s less likely an item will run out," the company said in a blog post.

A robot is seen at an Amazon warehouse in the image above. (Amazon)

The company said the new high-tech belt are an improvement upon several existing safety systems.

SAN FRANCISCO COULD BAN FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY, BECOMING FIRST US CITY TO DO SO

In December, two dozen Amazon factory workers were hospitalized after being sprayed with bear repellant in an incident involving a robot.