Amazon plans to invest more than A$750m ($537.6m) in a new robotics-enabled fulfilment centre in Brisbane, Queensland, which is expected to handle more than 125 million packages annually.

The centre is scheduled for completion in 2028 and will span 150,000m².

The facility will be designed to store up to 15 million smaller products available on Amazon.com.au, including everyday pantry goods, beauty items, electronics and toys.

Once operational, the centre will have the capacity to process more than 125 million packages each year, including goods from small and medium-sized businesses in Queensland that sell through Amazon to customers across Australia.

The development is expected to generate more than 1,000 local jobs when the site becomes fully operational.

During the construction and installation phase, the project is also projected to create an additional 2,000 roles.

Robotic systems will operate alongside employees at the facility, taking on heavy lifting and repetitive work.

Amazon Australia's operations director Wayne Angus said: “People are at the heart of our operations, and by combining innovative robotics technology with skilled local talent in this state-of-the-art site, we’re building a workplace where people and technology work hand in hand to deliver for our customers.”

One of the systems used in Amazon’s fulfilment network is Hercules, which moves through warehouses collecting shelves of products and transporting them to employees at ergonomic workstations.

Each shelf handled by Hercules can weigh up to 500kg, reducing the need for employees to lift heavy items or walk long distances across the facility.

Another robotic system, Sparrow, assists workers in assembling customer orders by selecting individual items from containers and placing them into designated totes.

The system uses computer vision and AI to identify the correct product before transferring it into the tote.

Amazon is also deploying Vulcan, which the company describes as its first robot equipped with a sense of touch.