Amazon uses robot bookshelves and 8 miles of conveyor belts to speed orders to your door

The Amazon package on your doorstep was assembled with just one minute of human labor, CNN Money explains with an equally speedy — and fascinating — video. Amazon warehouses (or "fulfillment centers") are equipped with robot bookshelves that move themselves around the building, taking items to employees instead of requiring humans to fetch the components of each order.

Once every piece of an order is assembled, robots dictate what size box it will go in and even how much tape should be used to seal the package. (Based on some recent deliveries of my own, I'm not personally convinced the machines have nailed the fine art of box selection just yet.) Over the course of the packaging process, every order navigates about eight miles of conveyor belts before finally being pushed down a chute for shipment.

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