Dexterity partners with FedEx to debut trailer loading robots

-

Dexterity AI announced a collaboration with FedEx Corp to leverage AI-powered robotic technology to load boxes into trucks and trailers. Dexterity’s propriety mobile robot design, called DexR, navigates autonomously to the back of trailers and uses its two robotic arms to load boxes from a powered conveyor system into the truck. 

Truck loading is one of the most challenging and labor-intensive tasks in parcel hubs. Manual loading of trailers is taxing, and previous technology approaches have not been able to handle the complex decision-making required to stack the wide range of shipments, like those encountered in the FedEx network. At FedEx, robotic systems need to be able to handle packages that vary in size, shape, weight, and packaging material. 

“Our culture of innovation is driven by a desire to help our team members and customers succeed,” Rebecca Yeung, corporate vice president of Operations Science and Advanced Technologies for FedEx, said. “Based on feedback from our operations team, we have been looking for a solution that helps alleviate the challenges of truck loading. Collaborating with Dexterity AI to combine the latest in AI and robotics supports our operations team while meeting growing customer demand.”

When designing this system, Dexterity focused on the complexity of truck unloading and gave its mobile robots a suite of intelligence ranging from the ability to see, touch, think, and move quickly to pace trailers with stable, dense walls of randomized boxes. DexR’s unique two-arm design also enables the robot to pick and pack boxes simultaneously, improving throughput. 

Dexterity’s AI platform uses a broad set of intelligence so it can be used to handle all of the complexities of truck loading required by FedEx’s operations. Some of the platform’s characteristics include generative wall planning, a sense of touch, machine learning-based pack improvement, and integrated motion planning. 

“FedEx shares our belief that innovation should solve the most difficult tasks in operations,” Samir Menon, founder and CEO of Dexterity AI, said. “Our collaboration is driven by a vision of AI-powered robotics that is adaptable to our customer’s most pressing needs.” 

The testing of the truck-loading technology is ongoing by FedEx, with a goal to refine the technology and deploy it commercially in the future. 

In August, Dexterity unveiled the 3.0 release of its Palletizing and Depalletizing software (PDP), which is aimed at unlocking pallet operations in the warehouse. With a slate of new features aimed at improving throughput, reducing installation and integration time and cost, and increasing flexibility of performance, PDP 3.0 makes pallet loading and unloading effortless for third-party logistics providers, retailers, apparel manufacturers, and other material handlers.

The post Dexterity partners with FedEx to debut trailer loading robots appeared first on The Robot Report.



from The Robot Report - Robotics News, Analysis & Research https://ift.tt/G0IEY6h
via artificialconference

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Valiant TMS and Realtime Robotics partner to cut programming, cycle times

-
Image
Valiant TMS is integrating robot motion optimization as a service. Source: Realtime Robotics Realtime Robotics today announced that Valiant TMS will integrate its Optimization-as-a-Service offering with customers’ manufacturing operations. The companies said the combination of Realtime’s proprietary software and engineering expertise with Valiant TMS’s manufacturing industry experience will improve the efficiency and productivity of automated operations. With Optimization-as-a-Service, companies can identify and eliminate production bottlenecks, significantly reducing cycle time and programming time, said Realtime Robotics. “Manufacturers are always looking for ways to improve their production processes, but few have the time or resources to spend on such a lengthy, involved task,” said Peter Howard, CEO of Realtime Robotics, in a release . “We’re thrilled that our optimization solution has struck a chord with so many, automating the task of generating and testing potential layou...
Read more

Ocado wins UK patent lawsuit over Autostore

-
Image
On the left, Autostore’s ASRS, and on the right, Ocado’s ASRS. | Source: Autostore, Ocado Yesterday, the UK High Court ruled that Autostore’s patents, which have been the subject of a patent infringement case against Ocado , were invalid, and that Ocado did not infringe upon them. Both Autostore and Ocado operate automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS) that operate on similar principles. Autostore filed the lawsuit in October 2020, when it asserted that Ocado infringed upon six of its patents. The European Patent Office invalidated two of these patents before judgment was made on the case, and two other patents were withdrawn by Autostore before the hearing started.  Judge Hacon invalidated the remaining two patents because AutoStore had disclosed its technology publically in a business deal with the Central Bank of Russia before the company filed its patents. Halcon ruled that even if the patents were valid, the Ocado Smart Platform (OSP) did not infringe on the...
Read more

Update on AgTech automation at CNHI

-
Image
The Robot Report Podcast · Update on AgTech automation at CNHI The Robot Report Podcast · 2023 year in review: GenAI, humanoids dominate robotics industry   In Episode 138 of The Robot Report Podcast, co-hosts Mike Oitzman and Eugene Demaitre catch up with Marc Kermisch, global chief digital and information officer at CNH Industrial, or CNHI. Kermisch takes us through the latest developments at CNHI in agriculture autonomy and digitization, explaining how robots and data can help farmers and growers improve yields and efficiency. We also recap the latest robotics news and walk through an update from robotics and automation companies that attended this month’s 2024 CES show. News of the week Locus Robotics layoffs The mobile robot maker last week confirmed that it had a “small, targeted RIF,” or reduction in force. North American robot orders dropped last year, according to the Association for Advancing Automation ( A3 ). Warehouse construction also declined by 2...
Read more