Robotics vendor Boston Dynamics is rolling more units of its four-legged Spot and container-unloading Stretch robots into logistics yards, announcing today that CEVA Logistics is adopting those models for a transload facility in Los Angeles.
The move follows a deal last month by Waltham, Massachusetts-based Boston Dynamics to provide those same robots for the German e-tailer Otto Group.
Third-party logistics provider (3PL) CEVA plans to use the robots at its 135,000-square-foot site located site within miles of both the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles. That facility caters to automotive, consumer retail, and technology companies and was constructed with efficiency and velocity in mind. According to CEVA, the new transload site is the only transload facility in North America to offer a cross-belt sortation device, enabling 10,000 parcels to be sorted every hour based on preselected variables such as size, color, or preferred carrier.
CEVA plans to use the Stretch robots to unload hundreds of boxes per hour, operating continuously to improve efficiency and prevent safety concerns associated with using manual labor for the same process. The company expects to process a total of 26,000 floor-loaded containers during the facility’s first year in operation and to double its capacity within three years. And it will use the dog-like Spot robot for security, patrolling the site.
“Stretch is designed to safely and rapidly unload containers, which can be a difficult task to perform manually based on the height and weight of boxes, as well as the often-high temperatures found inside containers,” Kevin Blankespoor, senior vice president and general manager of warehouse robotics, Boston Dynamics, said in a release. “Stretch can reach boxes up to 50 pounds in weight, its vision system enables it to adapt to different stacking configurations, and it does not require any pre-programming. The robots are ready to go to work as soon as they arrive.”
Distribution centers have deployed thousands of robots in recent years for logistics tasks as they struggle with booming e-commerce demands and labor shortages. But most of those models are for goods-to-person fulfillment work, as handling boxes inside trailers is a tougher technology challenge. But Boston Dynamics and other companies—like Pickle, Mujin, and Dexterity—have recently started selling solutions.
