Amazon.com Inc. has clipped the wings of its newest warehouse robot, Blue Jay, only months after its high-profile unveiling.

The decision, first reported by Business Insider, marks a sudden pivot for an ambitious technology once touted as a core component of the company’s same-day delivery future.

Blue Jay was an overhead, multi-armed robotic system designed to streamline the chaotic environment of fulfillment centers when it was introduced in October. Unlike its predecessors, which focused on single tasks, Blue Jay was engineered to pick, sort, and consolidate items at a single workstation.

The project was notable for its aggressive development cycle. While established Amazon robots like Robin and Sparrow took nearly four years to reach the floor, Blue Jay was developed in just over a year, a speed Amazon attributed to breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI).

At its debut, Amazon Robotics Chief Technologist Tye Brady described the system to make warehouse work “safer, smarter, and more rewarding.” During its pilot phase at a South Carolina fulfillment center, the robot was positioned as an “extra set of hands” to assist human workers with reaching and lifting.

However, the honeymoon period was short-lived.

By January, the company began quietly winding down operations. Among other headaches, the project was bedeviled by high costs, a complex overhead track system that presented significant engineering challenges, and a strategic mismatch. The system was reportedly not optimized for the smaller, more flexible same-day delivery hubs Amazon is now prioritizing, such as micro-fulfillment centers located within Whole Foods stores.

Following the abrupt shutdown, Amazon reframed Blue Jay’s role. While the initial launch materials did not label the system as experimental, Amazon spokesperson Terrence Clark told TechCrunch that Blue Jay was always intended as a prototype.

“We’re actually accelerating the use of the underlying technology developed for Blue Jay,” Clark said, noting that nearly all the technical components would be integrated into other robotic “manipulation programs” across the network.

One such successor is Flex Cell, a new floor-mounted robot that will reportedly inherit elements of Blue Jay’s design. Most employees previously assigned to the Blue Jay team have been reassigned to these new initiatives.

The shelving of Blue Jay serves as a reminder that even for a company with more than one million robots in operation, not every innovation reaches the finish line. Since acquiring Kiva Systems in 2012, Amazon has been the industry bellwether for warehouse automation.

While Blue Jay has been grounded, Amazon continues to move forward with other advanced systems like Vulcan, a two-armed robot capable of “feeling” objects through tactile sensors. For now, the “core technology” of Blue Jay survives only as DNA for the next generation of Amazon’s automated workforce.