Gideon launches autonomous loading forklift

Gideon, the robotics and AI solutions company, has announced a pioneering new solution – Trey, an autonomous forklift for truck trailer loading and unloading operations.

Trey loads and unloads pallets entirely autonomously, saving more than 80% of a worker’s time. It operates safely, consistently, and reliably in dynamic environments, working side by side with people.

“We at Gideon believe that we can help exponentially grow humanity’s ability to move goods by automating the most complex material handling workflows,” said Matija Kopić, Gideon CEO and co-founder. “The world needs new ways of solving challenges. Our new way is to give superpowers to the millions of essential workers who keep our supply chains running. With the help of our customers, partners, and investors, we’ve built an AMR specifically for the task of loading and unloading truck trailers, augmenting human talent,” Matija Kopić said.

“The new solution from Gideon brings us an exciting potential for optimization, creating new efficiencies, and new ways to work,” Annant Patel, director at Koch Disruptive Technologies, an investment unit of Koch Industries, and Gideon Board Member. “As new technologies become available, the supply chain challenges act as a catalyst to spur companies to innovate – Gideon being one of them. We may face uncertainties, but innovators like Gideon prove that the future is here and now.”

Xavier Garijo, Member of the Board of Management for Contract Logistics at DB Schenker, also highlights the importance of innovation. DB Schenker, the global logistics leader, is one of the early Gideon customers and Series A investor.

“Here at DB Schenker, we draw on 150 years of logistic experience, and we’ve always focused on bringing innovation to deliver the efficiency and excellence expected by our clients. This is why we are excited to see new solutions from Gideon. Our projects so far are promising demonstrated, real-potential use cases that help us transform inbound and outbound logistic operations,” said Xavier Garijo, who is also a Gideon Board Member.

The new trailer (un)loading solution combines Gideon’s proprietary autonomy technology powered by AI and 3D vision, user-friendly software for smart workflow orchestration, and a robust, purpose-made chassis by Infinity Machine & Engineering Corp.

Trey helps companies relieve labour shortages, increase throughput, and raise process stability and efficiency. It significantly increases loading dock safety, reducing incidents and damages. Thanks to the flexibility and adaptability of Gideon’s technology, Trey is easy to use, deploy, and scale, with minimal impact on existing infrastructure, further improving the bottom line.

 

Autonomous Mobile Robots deployed in logistics centres in Japan

Musashi AI, a group company of Japanese Musashi Seimitsu Industry Co., Ltd., has successfully completed a POC for Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) at Suzuyo & Co. Ltd, a leading Japanese 3PL company, in partnership with Israeli 634AI, a Musashi Group affiliated company and the developer of MAESTRO, an industrial automation and mobility management software.

Suzuyo, a Japanese logistics conglomerate with an annual turnover of circa $ 1.2 Billion, successfully tested Musashi AI’s AMR powered by MAESTRO, a platform-agnostic control tower for logistics automation developed by Israeli company 634AI. The AMR autonomously moved pallets in the facility from one location to another smoothly and efficiently. The POC was performed in Suzuyo’s Shinshizuoka distribution centre in Shizuoka prefecture.

Following the successful POC, the companies are now engaged in scale-up discussions to deploy 634AI’s cutting edge MAESTRO navigation and fleet management software with MusashiAI’s AMRs across Suzuyo’s distribution centres in Japan.

634AI and MusashiAI have been partnering since mid-2019 to leverage the unique combination of Israeli cutting-edge AI and computer vision software technology with Japanese world-renowned hardware engineering and industrial expertise, to bring practical, state of the art solutions to the Japanese market. Musashi AI’s core business is AI visual inspection and 634AI’s core business is software development for industrial mobility orchestration, including for AMRs. The companies plan to further increase their R&D and commercial collaboration.

Onn Fenig, CEO of 634AI said: “We are honoured to be partnering with Musashi and Suzuyo, two global industrial giants, to introduce the sizable benefits of our MAESTRO software system. This Proof of Concept has been another excellent showcase of our MAESTRO software, demonstrating its unique capabilities for orchestrating indoor logistics while providing insightful information to facilitate safe and effective floor operations. We are humbled and proud that Suzuyo is considering adopting our MAESTRO AMR navigation and Fleet Management software in their facilities across Japan.”

Murata Sota, CEO of Musashi AI said: “Our proprietary AMR technology, fully compatible with 634AI’s MAESTRO industrial mobility management software, is just another example of our vision to introduce practical solutions that solve real human problems. In a world of labor shortage, autonomous logistics becomes a viable solution for many companies wanting to increase their resilience and business continuity, especially following a global pandemic such as COVID-19.”

Ken Kawashima, General Manager of 3PL Business Development Department at Suzuyo said: “We are always thinking about improving the safety, quality and productivity of our distribution centers and providing our customers with a high level of distribution service. We believe MAESTRO offers a virtually unique ability to manage AMRs, and allows humans and robots to work together in sophisticated hybrid environments. Both Musashi AI and 634AI have the power to make the world’s logistics network function more efficiently than ever. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with these companies.”

Starship quadruples autonomous deliveries during pandemic

Starship Technologies, a leading provider of autonomous delivery services, has announced that its delivery numbers have quadrupled globally since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the service is now available to one million people around the world.

“This past year has been a game-changer for autonomous delivery, moving adoption ahead by years,” said Ahti Heinla, Co-founder and CEO of Starship Technologies. “When we launched commercial delivery three years ago, we didn’t expect to be at the point we are today. We marked the significant milestone of one million deliveries in January 2021 and we’ve since surpassed 1.5 million deliveries. These rapid developments have also helped us scale the business, so we can provide a lower cost of delivery than any other option available.”

As well as offering a reliable way to protect vulnerable populations and adhere to social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, contactless delivery offerings such as Starship’s service have also proved to be a vital revenue stream for local businesses. In the last 12+ months, Starship has partnered with 40 independent merchants in Milton Keynes and Northampton, enabling these companies to offer a delivery service to local residents that they didn’t previously provide in order to continue operations.

One of these businesses that has thrived in the last year is St Mary’s Chippy, a local fish and chip takeaway in Milton Keynes offering contactless delivery using Starship’s fleet of 100+ robots in the town.

“Over the last 12 months during the pandemic we’ve faced a very difficult time as have many local businesses with the lockdowns and guidelines around when and how we’ve been able to stay open,” said Tony Paolucci, Owner of St Mary’s Chippy in Milton Keynes. “However, partnering with Starship has provided a lifeline as it has enabled us to offer delivery services to customers that we didn’t provide previously as a walk in takeaway. In the last year we’ve seen our order numbers grow by 15% through using the robots. It’s a fantastic service!”

Starship Technologies operates commercially on a daily basis around the world. Its zero-emission robots have made more than 1.5 million autonomous deliveries, more than any other autonomous delivery company in the world, travelled millions of miles and make more than 80,000 road crossings every day. The company has raised $102m in funding to date.

The Starship Food Delivery app is available for download on iOS and Android. To get started, users choose from a range of their favourite food or drink items, then drop a pin where they want their delivery to be sent. They can then watch as the robot makes its journey to them, via an interactive map. Once the robot arrives, they receive an alert, and can then meet and unlock it through the app.

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