7 days ago
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.
