FedEx is testing robotic technology to load boxes into trailers and trucks in collaboration with Dexterity AI.

At a joint event Tuesday, Unlock the Dock, the companies unveiled the two-armed DexR mobile robot that is able to pick up and pack boxes simultaneously. The robot is connected to a powered conveyor and can navigate autonomously to the back of the trailer, feeding boxes straight from a sortation system.

“We have been looking for a solution that helps alleviate the challenges of truck loading,” said Rebecca Yeung, FedEx corporate vice-president of operations, science and advanced technologies, in an online statement. 

AI-powered technology enables DexR to address some of the complex operations of loading trucks, handling boxes of different sizes and weights.

For example, after receiving each box, the AI software takes 500 milliseconds or less to assess billions of wall-building possibilities to pack trailers with tight, stable walls. Built-in force control also provides DexR with a sense of touch to gently stack the boxes together.

By integrating its own trajectory and motion planning, the Dexterity AI platform helps the DexR’s two arms move quickly inside trailers without colliding with each other or the truck walls, Dexterity adds.

The testing was launched to improve the technology with machine learning.