Latest news with #AmbiStack
Mint
5 days ago
- Business
- Mint
The Holy Grail of automation: Now a robot can unload a truck
The robots are coming for the last human warehouse jobs. Loading and unloading a truck is backbreaking, mind-numbing work that retailers and parcel carriers have tried to solve for years. Workers may not stay long in these jobs. Summers and winters are particularly grueling for anyone stuck in a metal trailer, slinging heavy boxes. Injuries are common. Automating this process has long been the holy grail of warehouse logistics. When loaded, packages must be fitted together to fill the available space and be sorted by weight—with the heaviest items on the bottom—so they don't topple or break. Unloading them is challenging, too, because the unloader must move in and out of a trailer, ferrying packages of different sizes and weights. On a typical warehouse floor today, every task might be heavily automated—except for workers loading and unloading the trucks. People who have worked these jobs say they have to stand for extended periods, hefting boxes as heavy as 70 pounds. New advances in robotics are changing that. Improved sensors and algorithms, advancements in AI and faster image-processing technology are making these robots proficient players in tasks that are like a game of 3-D Tetris. Engineers at Ambi Robotics designed a videogame to train its robotic stacking system, AmbiStack. It simulated challenging situations, including heavy parcels and boxes with strange dimensions, said Jeff Mahler, Ambi Robotics co-founder and chief technology officer. Another company, Boston Dynamics, has designed a robot called Stretch, named for its flexible arm that can reach the top corners of a trailer. With a vacuum gripper covered in suction cups, it can lift boxes weighing up to 50 pounds. DHL now has a total of seven Stretch robots in supply-chain facilities in three states and has trained nearly 100 associates to operate them. In Columbus, Ohio, one Stretch robot that DHL staff named 'Johnny 5" unloads around 580 cases an hour, almost twice the rate of a human unloader. DHL in May signed an agreement with Boston Dynamics for 1,000 more robots. United Parcel Service is also increasing automation at its facilities, including for loading and unloading trailers—a move that will help the company cut costs, UPS executives said in April. FedEx has been testing and refining the truck-loading process in one of its facilities with robotics company Dexterity since 2023. Walmart also has introduced robots that can unload a truck. DHL wanted a robot that had the flexibility to handle different products, that could move in and out of a trailer and that didn't require a large capital investment, said Sally Miller, global chief information officer of DHL Supply Chain. 'These are hard jobs to fill, especially unloading a trailer in the warmer months," she said. Stretch the Robot still has some difficulty picking up thin packages, and the robot can't unload bags yet. Boston Dynamics declined to say how much each robot costs but estimates that there is a two-year return on investment on the robots. Megan Diveley, a warehouse worker at a logistics company in Virginia who has been loading trucks for around three years, said she got nasty bruises on her legs when she first started. 'It got better after I got stronger, but I am always peppered with bruises," said the 44-year-old. Diveley said she fears losing her job and feels that worry even without the specter of robots. Lower volume, facility consolidation and cost-cutting at logistics companies are all factors that can result in layoffs. Her advice for the humans still doing the job: stay hydrated and wear steel-toed shoes.
Business Wire
15-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Ambi Robotics Sells Out AmbiStack for 2025 as Fortune 500 Customer Demand Accelerates
BERKELEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ambi Robotics, the leader in AI-powered robotic sorting and stacking solutions for warehouse operations, today announced that its latest product, AmbiStack, is sold out for 2025 following strong market demand from FORTUNE 500 shipping and logistics customers. Since being introduced to the market in January, AmbiStack has received significant interest from leading logistics companies who are ready to embrace next-generation AI technologies that drive increased throughput and multiply productivity across operations. Initial customer deployments of the robotic systems begin mid-year, with 2025 inventory fully reserved. Ambi Robotics is ramping up its production capacity to support significant growth and strategic deployments, and its manufacturing capabilities will be scaled to fulfill demand from customers waitlisted into 2026. 'Developed directly in response to customer feedback, AmbiStack fills a real gap in the market,' said Jim Liefer, CEO of Ambi Robotics. 'Retail and logistics giants needed a smarter, scalable way to handle stacking inbound and outbound packages with speed and accuracy as volumes keep rising, and they needed it a long time ago. Selling out our first full year of product just months after launch shows how urgent the demand truly is.' AmbiStack is an AI-powered robotic stacking solution designed to optimize material handling operations. The solution's multipick capability allows it to pick and place multiple items simultaneously, exceeding manual palletizing rates. Its modular design enables sorting and stacking to multiple pallets with a single machine, reducing the need for constant pallet removal and enabling round-the-clock operations. Pre-trained in simulation, AmbiStack is ready to deploy from day one, adapting seamlessly to different facility layouts. It uses a breakthrough in simulation to reality (Sim2Real) reinforcement learning to stack random boxes with high density. AmbiStack continuously improves its performance post-deployment by leveraging data collected in real-world operations. This data-driven feedback loop is central to the solution's long-term value. To reinforce its commitment to customer data security, Ambi Robotics received its first Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 Type II audit report, which had no exceptions - an added validation of the standards the company continues to maintain. 'As our robotic solutions continue to scale within warehouses, so does the amount of robot data for training foundation models,' said Jeff Mahler, CTO of Ambi Robotics. 'Achieving SOC 2 Type II compliance is a critical step in ensuring secure data management and reinforcing trust with enterprise customers, especially as cybersecurity threats continue to evolve.' Ambi Robotics follows strict protocols for data access, handling and retention to safeguard customer information. The company conducts regular security audits and testing, including third-party penetration tests, to uphold the highest standards of protection. All customer data is encrypted at rest and in transit, and the AmbiOS operating system is hosted across multiple geographically distributed data centers with built-in redundancies. Ambi Robotics supports customer Single Sign-On (SSO) for secure login and uses data for remote support and continuous system improvement, including AI retraining. Ambi Robotics is well-positioned to accelerate the adoption of intelligent automation across the supply chain. As the company expands deployments and scales production, it remains focused on delivering reliable, secure and high-performance AI-powered robotic systems that meet the evolving needs of the world's largest retailers and logistics providers. About Ambi Robotics: Ambi Robotics is an artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics company developing advanced solutions that scale ecommerce operations to meet demand while empowering humans to handle more. The company's industry-leading AI operating system, AmbiOS, leverages proprietary simulation-to-reality (Sim2Real) technology and the latest AI foundation models to provide reliable high-speed robotic systems. At Ambi Robotics, the world's top roboticists, AI researchers, and leading business professionals work together to build cost-effective high-volume supply chain technologies. Founded in 2018, the company is located in Berkeley, Calif. For more information, please visit
Fox News
30-01-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Warehouse robot uses AI to play real-life Tetris to handle more than ever before
In a groundbreaking development for warehouse automation, Ambi Robotics just launched AmbiStack, a multipurpose robotic system that promises to transform the way items are stacked onto pallets and into containers. This innovative solution tackles a fundamental challenge in logistics: maximizing space utilization and reducing shipping costs. AmbiStack operates like a real-world 3D Tetris game, expertly arranging items to optimize space in containers and pallets. By minimizing wasted space, warehouses can significantly reduce shipping costs and improve overall efficiency. "Logistics companies are under continuous pressure to deliver items faster and for lower cost, which puts a lot of strain on operations to maintain reliability while rapidly adapting for the future," Jim Liefer, CEO of Ambi Robotics, also tells CyberGuy. "AmbiStack can be rapidly configured to automate the repetitive motions involved in a huge variety of stacking and palletizing applications, driving greater accuracy and efficiency, while future-proofing warehouse operations." The rapid development and deployment of AmbiStack was made possible by PRIME-1, Ambi Robotics' new artificial intelligence foundation model for warehouse robots. This advanced AI enables AmbiStack to begin working efficiently from day one in production environments. Ken Goldberg, co-founder and chief scientist at Ambi Robotics, tells CyberGuy, "The engineering team at Ambi Robotics used 4 years of proprietary warehouse data to train a state-of-the-art generative model for 3D warehouse operations; their experiments with real production systems confirm that PRIME-1 significantly outperforms their previous systems." Cost reduction and efficiency: AmbiStack addresses the pressing need for automated solutions that cut labor costs, reduce manual inefficiencies and tackle accuracy challenges. Ergonomic improvements: The system alleviates the physical strain on workers by handling heavy lifting tasks. Adaptive intelligence: Trained using Sim2Real reinforcement learning, AmbiStack can make real-time decisions, adapting to various scenarios and delivering a faster return on investment. Tackling complex tasks: Stacking presents more challenges than sorting, making AmbiStack a significant advancement in robotic capabilities. AmbiStack utilizes advanced vision systems and AI models trained on extensive data from parcel sorting experiences. The robot learns in a virtual environment, earning higher scores for better stacking performance with random items. Jeff Mahler, co-founder and CTO of Ambi Robotics, tells CyberGuy, "AmbiStack represents an evolution of our AI-powered robotics, building on our technology in physical AI to add stacking as a fundamental new robot skill in AmbiOS. We've started the AI flywheel for stacking with Sim2Real reinforcement learning and performance will only improve as robots collect data from production environments. We are committed to advancing this capability to provide reliable systems that deliver a strong ROI for our customers." The potential market for AmbiStack is vast, as efficient packing and stacking are crucial in logistics. By optimizing container usage, AmbiStack ensures that companies aren't "shipping air," leading to substantial cost savings in transportation. AmbiStack is designed to complement human workers, not replace them. It allows employees to focus on decision-making and strategic tasks while reducing physical strain and repetitive motions. By combining advanced AI with practical robotics, AmbiStack is addressing a long-standing challenge in logistics. As the industry continues to evolve, solutions like AmbiStack will play a crucial role in shaping the future of warehouse operations and supply chain efficiency. Do you believe these technologies will ultimately complement human workers or gradually replace them entirely in logistics and warehouse operations? Let us know by writing us at For more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Follow Kurt on his social channels: Answers to the most asked CyberGuy questions: New from Kurt: Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
