Package Deal: Kawasaki and Dexterity’s AI Robot Partnership

Kawasaki and Dexterity debut “The Mech,” an AI-driven robot with dual arms that mimics human logic to stack, move, and protect packages in warehouses.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Dexterity have partnered to make the world’s first intelligent robotic arm geared towards warehousing applications. The Mech is a two-armed robot designed to think through package placement- ultimately speeding up and improving the safety of box handling and stacking operations. It represents a collaboration involving Kawasaki’s robotic arm technology and Dexterity’s AI platform.

Advantages and Challenges in Automated Package Handling

It is easy to take for granted the thought process of stacking boxes, because humans perform these tasks on a regular basis. The human brain assesses the weight and size of the box and its squishiness (propensity to collapse), and then locates a space to stack the box so that it does not fall. When unpacking, it must also assess which box to move when to prevent the stack from collapsing.

Package handling in and out of trucks is a major challenge. Image used courtesy of Kawasaki Robotics

Human workers do not always perform this task correctly. Boxes get damaged when the load shifts in a truck, or too much weight is placed on top of a box. Some packages are chosen in the wrong order for unpacking, causing the stack to collapse. Damaged packages and injured workers are the result of these miscalculations. Furthermore, repeatedly moving boxes leads to numerous ergonomic and skeletal-muscular injuries each year.

Package handling is ripe for automation. The biggest hurdle to overcome is teaching a robot to think like a human, performing these steps for assessing packages and stacking or unstacking them safely.

The Mech

The Mech is possibly the world’s first smart arm robot for moving packages. While there are plenty of robots that can be commanded to move a particular item with human control, or lots of identical items, fully automated, there has yet to be a robot quite like the Mech. It is capable of sizing up packages and unloading or loading them much like a human worker. In fact, one human worker can pilot ten Mechs, drastically increasing the package handling throughput in any facility.

The Mech: Two AI-controlled robotic arms on a mobile base. Image used courtesy of Dexterity

Advanced package handling is made possible through the use of Dexterity’s Physical AI software. This software runs on an onboard supercomputer and uses the input from 16 cameras. Machine vision and touch sensors assess each package for optimal placement. Also, the software can be updated easily, meaning it is easy to teach the robot new tricks.

The two arms allow for a full eight degrees of freedom, meaning packages can be manipulated in the tight spaces. Furthermore, the arms are mounted on a mobile base so that the robot can move as needed or adjust its stance for heavier packages. In terms of lifting capability, the Mech can lift up to 65 lbs with each arm (130 lbs total) and reach up to eight feet in the air.

Looking Forward

Robotic package handling is only expected to grow over the next few years. An aging workforce and the rise in online ordering have led to a shortage of staff at warehouses who can sort and move packages. Adding a robotic package handler capable of not only performing the heavy lifting but also performing the placement using AI will save the backs of the warehouse workers and damage fewer packages.

Featured image used courtesy of Kawasaki Robotics