Automating the Dock

SHIRLEY GO: Welcome to automating the Doc how robotic unloading improves warehouse operations. Let's kick things off with a short video. [MUSIC PLAYING] Thanks for joining Automating the Doc I'm your host, Shirley Go. I wanted to introduce you to our speakers today. We have Brendan Hensley from ODW Logistics, his colleague Jared Abrams, my colleague Sharon Aluma. I wanted to give each of you the chance to tell us more about your role and your background. Can we start with you, Brendan? Yeah, absolutely. First off, thank you, Shirley, the Boston Dynamics team, for having us today. My name is Brendan Hensley. I'm an industrial engineer here at ODW Logistics. I've been with ODW for about two years now. I started out as an intern in 2023 and then transitioned to full time post-grad last spring. I primarily focus on finding ways to improve processes, increase efficiency, and deliver measurable cost savings across our operations. A key part of my role is analyzing data and technology to identify opportunities for improvement, and then designing and implementing solutions while working with teams. Over the past few months, I've been working with Boston Dynamics to integrate Stretch into one of our facilities. And I'm here with my colleague Jared to share our experience how we've adopted Stretch at ODW. Thanks. Jared. Awesome. Thank you, Brendan and Shirley. Hi, everyone. My name is Jared Abrams and I am an industrial engineer here at ODW Logistics. And similarly to what Brendan mentioned, my primary responsibilities fall on analyzing, driving, and scoping out improvement projects across the ODW network. I'm happy to be here today and looking forward to answering any questions you in the audience may have for us. Sharon. Hi, everyone. I'm Sharon Aluma. I'm a product manager on the warehouse robotics team here at Boston Dynamics, leading development of new applications for our mobile case handling robot Stretch. Before joining Boston Dynamics last year, I was working on warehouse automation at Amazon Robotics for about six years, building highly integrated, highly automated systems for operation at really vast scale in Amazon's global fulfillment network. And part of my role here involves working really closely with customers like ODW logistics to deeply understand their automation goals, confirm the business case and product fit for Stretch to help them achieve those goals, and identify new capabilities that we should prioritize on our roadmap to unlock additional business value and delight users. So also really happy to be joining Jared and Brendan and Shirley here with you all today. And I'm Shirley Go. I'm a product marketing manager here at Boston Dynamics. Previously, I worked at MIT and Boston College. And prior to that, I was a staff writer and editor at The Boston Globe. So let's first touch on the question of why you might turn to warehouse automation. When we consider keeping up with demand, we run into some humbling figures. Among them, the containerized shipping market is projected to reach $16 billion in 2028, and that's up from billion in 2021. Also, containerized maritime trade reached around 167 million TEUs in 2024, continuing year over year growth. To meet this demand, companies are turning to automation. A McKinsey survey forecasts that automation will account for 25% of industrial companies capital spending through 2027. But what are companies looking for as they integrate more automation into warehouses? Sharon, can you share some insights. Yeah, absolutely. So as Shirley alluded, logistics customers understand the value that automation brings to ensure some level of operational predictability, especially in the face of labor scarcity. But the type of automation that you choose to address those problems matters. So depending on your organization's business model, what type of freight you're moving, what volume targets you need to hit, certain fixed automation, like an automated storage and retrieval system, for example, might make sense for you. But having worked on some of those systems myself, I know that they can take a long time to deploy and they can fail to adapt to change, whether that's change to your inventory or your operational processes. And when I talk to our customers, one of whom is quoted here, their feedback about what drives their interest to more mobile material handling solutions like Stretch often surrounds that very issue. They want the efficiency and safety benefits that comes with that automation, but they don't want to be locked into fixed infrastructure that is literally bolted to the ground that prevents them from scaling or reconfiguring their sites as their business evolves. And we know that those changes can sometimes happen in what feels like an instant. So they want the flexibility that comes with these mobile automation solutions. If you're not familiar with Stretch, you're going to be hearing a lot about it-- more about Stretch today. But here is a brief introduction. [MUSIC PLAYING] All right. So hopefully, that gives you a nice overview. We'll be answering more questions about Stretch throughout the session. But in this video, you see Stretch unloading millions of boxes in containers and trailers at customer facilities around the world. And we've taken steps to ensure that Stretch can work really well with the conveyance equipment that customers already have in their buildings, as well as the containers and trailers that customers need to unload. And one of those customers where Stretch's working today is ODW logistics. So we also want to hear their perspective on what it's like to work with Stretch. So Brendan, can you share a little bit more with us about ODW? Yeah, absolutely. So ODW, we're a third-party logistics provider privately held since 1971. We offer warehousing and distribution, managed transportation, and retail consolidation to over 75 mass retailers nationwide. Some of our customers include well-known brands such as Morton Salt, e.l.f. Beautie, Pillsbury, and branch basics. We have about 29 DCS totaling over 9,000,000ft consisting of both dedicated and shared warehousing space supported by over 2,200 associates. In terms of our target market, our focus is on the middle market as well as growth and enterprise companies looking for multi node distribution. Many of our clients are using an East to West distribution model, need omnichannel fulfillment solutions and we deliver that across wholesale drop shipping, e-commerce, B2B. In terms of company growth, like I mentioned earlier, privately held for 50 years with annual revenues exceeding 400 million. And we continued to invest in automation and innovation within our facilities to drive efficiencies and cost savings for our clients. And today, we're excited to walk you through our operations and share some of our success, particularly with Boston Dynamics and Stretch, and how implementing this new technology within our systems is helping our clients achieve additional growth within their supply chains. Thanks for sharing that, Brendan. I want to go back to the beginning a bit. Can you tell us why were you interested in automating automated unloading at ODW to begin with? What was the challenge that you were trying to solve? Yeah, great question. Unloading was one of the most physically demanding and time consuming parts of our operation. We were looking for ways to make the process safer and more consistent, while also improving productivity and performance across the process. So automation made sense because it could reduce the manual strain and improve throughput without compromising safety, which is one of our top priorities here at ODW. Stretch stood out particularly because it can handle a wide variety of box sizes, even different box sizes within the same container, which is exactly what we needed for our operation here. Great. Thank you. And did you consider other solutions? What was it about Stretch that interested you? Yeah. So like I mentioned, we really like the flexibility of it. We've had a great relationship with Boston Dynamics from the start, and I had the opportunity to go to Promat earlier this year and see Stretch in action that really helped us envision what Stretch would look like in our facility. And from there, that solidified our choice on Stretch. Now, you shared a little bit more about what type of freight ODW moves. But what kind of freight are you putting in front of Stretch today? What is Stretch unloading for you all? Yeah, I can take this one. So Stretch is currently being utilized for a customer in the cosmetic beauty industry. Of course, most of the containers are coming in floor loaded with a very wide variety of SKUs. I think there's over about 200 SKUs with this account. So the Stretch is vision and perception system built into it. It allows for that flexibility of being able to adapt as different size boxes come through. So in terms of-- on top of that, the container profile we see, we do see a good mix of both multi skew containers and single SKU containers. Some of those multi-SKU containers can come in either mix or segmented off via netting on our operations side, we handle once we get that netting out of the way. It's very easy for Stretch to just get in and then get right to it. So overall though, we see a very wide variety of the customer cases coming through, and Stretch has been great at adapting as needed. That's great that you can have the confidence to not worry about what types of SKUs or how many SKUs are in the trailer before you put it in front of Stretch, and that you can really trust the robot to get the job done. Now, we know Stretch isn't working alone in your facilities, but alongside your people. So can you share more about what the experience has been like for them as you've been adopting Stretch? How easy or difficult has it been for your operators to be trained to drive Stretch or get it started up and monitor it as it's unloading throughout the day? Yeah, so I guess, thinking about before Stretch arrived, and we introduced to the associates like, hey, this is what's coming. There was a lot of uncertainty in questions. And that team, in particular, in that distribution center, automation was not a part of their daily lives, so it was something new to them, a lot of uncertainty, a lot of questions. But as we more marketed as Stretch was coming and as well as once Stretch arrived and the team from Boston Dynamics arrived, that uncertainty pretty quickly turned into excitement. So Boston Dynamics, they had a very thorough schedule of their implementation timeline. So it made the process very seamless. And the team on site, they were wonderful to work with. They were very easy to answer questions, which I think really helped a lot with the associates trying to calm a little bit of nerves and reiterate that excitement that Stretch's here. So when we get into the training portion of it, the training portion is very, very drawn out and thorough. So it's also a mix of a classroom and hands-on setting. So each of the associates that were a part of the training were able to actually drive, Stretch around. And part of what Stretch has is like a little controller that feels almost like a video game controller. So it's very user friendly. It's very accessible for any associate to work with. So once we got through that week of training, I think there was a lot of comfort with the associates. They were very excited for it. And the training is also very repeatable for post Boston Dynamic, the implementation. So I mean, overall, the implementation and training experience was fantastic. Again, I cannot emphasize enough how very thorough it was and how everything top to bottom was Stretched that was needed to cover was covered. That's so great to hear. I think the question that everyone is wondering is what impact has Stretch had on your operations at ODW? How has it performed? Brendan, can you tell us? Yeah, absolutely. This is a great question. So we're still early in our journey with Stretch. We've had it for about three months now, but I'd say so far, it's had a noticeable impact on our operations. One of the main things that sticks out is that it's made unloading more consistent and predictable, which helps downstream processes stay balanced. I know we touched on this a couple of times, but like I mentioned, it can handle a wide variety of box sizes, which means, like Jared mentioned, it can handle a wide variety of container types which we see a good amount of volume of. I'd say one of the biggest benefits, though, has been reducing the physical strain on our team. Having Stretch allows them to focus on palletizing and putaway rather than repetitive unloading. So we're still early, but seeing good signs of success, I'd say overall so far it's improved throughput, safety, and operational consistency so far. I'd love to hear that. I want to dive a little more into the robot and talk about the topic of exception handling. Sharon, can you help us with this? How does Stretch adapt to various situations as it works? For example, say boxes that might shift and fall to the ground in the process of unloading. What does the robot do when that happens? Yeah, absolutely. So exceptions can make or break the success of an entire system if you don't plan for them to happen at some point. As much as we want to be able to prevent things like drop boxes from happening in the first place, we do expect that they will happen from time to time. Just like it's possible for a person to drop a box now and then. But just as you're seeing in the video here, we've designed the system to self recover in those situations as feasible. So on board perception system is detecting that a box has fallen to the floor and you're seeing the arm go back and reach for that box and place it onto the conveyor and keep material flowing without requiring somebody to manually intervene. So as much as possible, we want to prepare for what types of exception scenarios we might encounter in workflows like these. And in some cases, we may need to call somebody over. But as much as possible, if we can reduce reliance on the need for somebody to pause the system, enter the trailer, and fix the issue, then they can stay focused on those other more complex tasks in the building. All right. This next one is for Jared. A robotic solution has to integrate with operational processes and other equipment when it's installed. What was it like to make Stretch part of ODW? Yeah, great question. So focusing more on the process side of implementing Stretch, so as you probably see-- as you can see in the pictures here actually and in the video. So along with Stretch, we also worked with a company called Stewart-Glapat to implement a traversing conveyor. We'll call it just of air between two dock doors. So working both with the Boston Dynamic teams, Directly Apex team, that process was seamless. Both teams were very straightforward and what they needed to get us, but really having that adjusted barrier there helps streamline our unloading process. So from there, it goes down into a couple nested flexes. But I think, from the top end here, going from Stretch to the adjusted layers definitely helped streamline unloading. And then another piece of it is that has definitely helped with more on the leadership team on site. It's better to-- it makes it a little bit easier for us to manage labor. An we'll touch on that a little bit more and a little bit. But, those two big pieces there have really provided the best benefit for us when implementing Stretch. It's really here to it's really encouraging to hear how seamless that integration has been for you all. And I think that's a testament to some of the partnerships that we've established with some of these conveyance manufacturers like Stewart-Glapat is one of those trusted partners, Caljan and FMH who have extendable or telescoping conveyors as well. And we've taken on a lot of that upfront work to make sure our systems can easily talk to each other and work with each other, such that when we get on site, it's just a matter of days to complete the installation and train everyone up to get the system going. All right. I also wanted to cover some of our features. We've released a number of impactful features, one of which is label sense. Sharon, can you tell us how this feature works and what it means for customers? Absolutely. And I think this is actually a fantastic example of how our customers influence our product roadmap. So this was a highly requested feature that we released earlier this year. And I saw one question in the chat about the ability to integrate Stretch unloading with downstream sortation systems. This is one of the features that helps us do a good job of that. So what you're seeing in the image to the left here is the onboard perception system, using machine learning to detect where labels are on the boxes as they're stacked inside the trailer, and then have logic to orient how those boxes are placed on the conveyor such that the label is facing a certain direction, or is oriented in a certain position to be picked up by either a three-sided or five-sided scanner. Whether that scanner is being used to receive those goods into inventory, or we have customers who are directly in feeding those boxes into an automated storage system so that orienting those boxes, using that label sense feature allows for Stretch to integrate with those sortation systems, without somebody without needing that additional touch, or having somebody manually reorient boxes that are just randomly placed on the conveyor. And I want to hit on one more feature that I think makes life so much easier for our robot operators. Can you tell us about automatic backout? Yeah, so that's another highly requested feature that we released a few months ago. And so just as you're seeing here, when the robot is finished unloading in the container, previously, someone would have had to walk all the way back the conveyor out of the container and back the robot out. But now Stretch is just doing that on its own. So we're really trying to simplify that changeover process and that experience for associates to either get Stretch ready for another container in that same doctor, or drive it over to the next doctor if it's needed somewhere else. So as much as possible, we're trying to automate not only the work that happens inside the trailer, but also what happens when we need to keep work going and changeover processes. And you might have also seen that this goes back to the exception handling. You see a box that was left on the floor that wasn't caught on the way in. We've integrated the capability for Stretch to also detect on its way out, whether anything was missed, and catch those on the way out. All right. Jared, I want to touch on your associates who used to do the manual unloading of the boxes. Now that Stretch is deployed, can you tell us how their roles have changed? Yeah, absolutely. I would definitely say the best of word to describe what Stretch has brought is really opportunities for the associates. So those associates who were unloading those floor loaded containers, they now have the opportunity, the flexibility to be trained on other warehouse functions. So, of course, when Stretch was being implemented, we did go through training. So they are Stretch certified. But at the same time they now have the opportunity to be cross-trained on other equipment such as MHE, forklifts or Milwaukee riders. So we really have the flexibility now to be able to repurpose labor as we see fit. I think another big piece here that's often overlooked is unloading these floor loaded containers can sometimes be one of the-- not the most ergonomically friendly task in a warehouse setting. So that factor and potential risk there, really, of course, is mitigated now with Stretch doing all the unloading. So again, I definitely would say it's provided a ton of opportunity for the associates on the floor. All right. I think we can take questions now. So we're going to take some of the questions that you've submitted live, some of which you've submitted in advance. And this first one, Sharon, I'm going to put to you. It's what is the battery capacity and how long does a recharge take? Yeah. So Stretch's battery lasts for about two shifts. So if two shifts are about eight hours each, that's 16 hours on a single charge. Previously with standard chargers, it could take almost an entire shift to charge the robot up. But last year or earlier this year, we released our global fast charger, which actually allows Stretch to go from near 0 to full charge in just about an hour. So that's going to allow customers to charge the robots up, perhaps during shift changeover or during a downtime maintenance window then, versus running the risk of that charging time eating into operational production time. All right. Next one is how well can the robot handle damaged or misaligned boxes? Brendan, can you tell us about that one? Yeah, for sure. So I'd say Stretch handles wear and tear really well. It's vision and suction systems can manage things like in a minor crushing, small misalignments, maybe a little bit of spillage without necessarily slowing down the workflow. I don't want arm. We don't really see a lot of severely damaged boxes. But if the bot does encounter something that looks unusually damaged, it will alert us. So an associate can take a quick look. But I'd say yeah. From a day-to-day perspective, Stretch handles those typical imperfections on its own and the operator really only steps in for those rare exceptions. OK, it looks like we've also got interest in the EU market. Does this solution work with EU trailers and can it be ordered in the EU? Sharon. Yes. So actually, I think one of the videos we showed a moment ago showed Stretch actively unloading a curtain side trailer, which is the most common type of shipping container in the EU. And very soon here we're also going to be enabling Stretch to work in swap body containers as well. But Stretch is available for use and purchase today in the EU region. OK, here's a good one. How long are you using the robot for every day? Jared, want to take that one? Yeah, absolutely. So right now we're utilizing the robot on a standard first shift, eight hours a day, about five days a week. And we're currently scoping out to see how we can expand that as well. But currently, we're running eight hours a day on one shift, five days a week. All right. This one was asked multiple times in different forms. So people really want to know this one. Can you deal with chaotically loaded vehicles parcel? Sharon. Yeah. So the short answer is, we're working on it. Parcel trailers in automated unloading are the holy grail. And if you think about manual unloading operation, it doesn't actually pose that much more of a challenge for a person, whether the boxes are neatly stacked versus in a jumbled mess, if you will, and whether there are poly bags mixed in with cartons and other highly irregular shaped packages, but it's a pretty tough robotics problem. It turns out people are very, very good at adapting to those situations. But robotics still has a little bit of work to do to get there. And our manipulation research here at Boston Dynamics is focused on that exact problem. You take our Atlas humanoid robot, for example, the manipulation challenges are focused on handling highly irregular automotive parts or materials that require a significant amount of dexterity. But in Stretch's case, it's dealing with trailers and arrangements of boxes that either have a really high amount of diversity of parcels in the trailer, as well as really high levels of disorder. But our vision is that we will be able to put Stretch in almost any floor loaded train trailer and expect consistent performance regardless of what's inside that trailer. And we've got world-class engineers figuring out how to solve that problem with the use of machine learning and AI. I'm extremely encouraged by the work that they're doing and the early results that we've seen. And I'm very confident in saying that I think we will be the first to market with an effective solution in that first Stretch. All right. This next one is one that I hear a lot. How much supervision does Stretch need? And I think they're interested in hearing, do you need to babysit Stretch constantly? Do you need to be doing things with a controller or can you walk away and tend to other tasks? Brendan, can you tell us your experience? Yeah, for sure. This is a great question. I'd say so far Stretch really only needs supervision. Once you do your initial like trailer check, make sure your dock locks are in place, making sure your trailer is in place, making sure you have all your downstream stuff all set up and begin the workflow. Stretch handles the rest on its own. I know we talked about, earlier, it's perception and autonomy systems to manage those things, like identifying the boxes, planning its motions, and adjusting as conditions change. So I'd say from an operator standpoint, it's really an exception based role. You mostly check the status from a distance after the workflow started and going, and then step in only for trailer changes and interventions. All right. This next one is one that we've also seen a few times people are interested. Can Stretch unload to a pallet? Sharon. Yeah, that's a really good question. So Stretch is not yet unloading directly to a pallet, but what some of our-- several of our customers are doing is having inbound palletizing at the end of line, just on the other side of Stretch on the inbound dock. So some of that is manual palletizing. But we also have customers who've integrated fixed cobot palletizing arms with Stretch. And that integration was actually done through our consulting arm at Boston Dynamics called Boston Dynamics Consulting. So if there are customers who are interested in learning more about what those types of inbound palletizing solutions look like, they'd be very happy to talk to you. And related question Sharon, does Stretch have the ability to travel in an aisle and pick orders onto pallets or carts? Yeah, so I mentioned earlier that my focus here is on new applications for Stretch. And that is our next focus as far as new applications go is case picking and order building in aisles of racking or open pallet fields. So we've got a bit of work to do before that solution is commercially ready, but we're going to be-- we're actively developing that application and we'll be testing that in the field here very shortly. So I'm really excited about what's coming there for case picking and order build. And we've got some forward looking questions as well. This one's interesting. As ODW builds new facilities, how are you thinking about incorporating automation including robots from the get go? Brendan. Yeah, this is a really good question. So I know ODW, we're an innovative company. Automation is already a good part of what we do. So we're always researching cutting edge tech and looking for ways to bring it in and apply it to our operations. We regularly attend trade shows. So like I mentioned earlier, we go to Paramount. We stay in the loop with things, probably attending modex this year or next year, I should say. In fact, next year, we actually have an 800,000 square foot facility coming early to mid 2026. And a good portion of that is currently being scoped out and evaluated for automation. By designing and implementing automation from the start, we can make sure workflows and processes are more efficient and scalable, reduce bottlenecks, and ensure everything runs smoothly as we grow. So automation drives progress. It's central to how ODW, we innovate, grow, and prepare for the future. So that's a good question. All right. And I think we have time for one more. How do you envision Stretch moving to other areas of the warehouse? Sharon, I think this one's your specialty. Yeah, so as I mentioned a few minutes ago, when we bring the case, pick application to the market, that will be the first time that Stretch is going to be leaving the trailer and going deeper into the facility, moving throughout various aisles and different picking paths to build orders. And so in addition to that, down the road, we also see Stretch helping out with mobile palletizing applications and eventually loading on the outbound dock. So we're starting on the inbound dock as our first commercially available application. We're going to be going much, much deeper into the facility and storage areas here pretty soon. But down the road, we very much have our sights set on that end-to-end integration and all with the same robot. So I think that's the key here is that it's not a different robot altogether. It's the same robot platform, the same base technology that will eventually be able to be flexed throughout these different operational processes in the same building, just as maybe we operators flex people to different processes to load, balance, or respond to shifts in volume throughout the day. So we very much have our sights set on delivering that vision. We're starting with case pick here. If there are customers who are interested in case pick, I would very much love to talk to their needs there and make sure that we can get those included in our initial product offering and continue to bring this vision to reality. All right. I think that's all we have time for today. I wanted to take the time to thank everyone for joining us today. And thank you to our speakers, Jared, Brendan, Sharon. To learn more about Stretch or to get in touch with our team, please visit these links. Thank you so much. Sounds good. Thanks for having us. Thank you, everyone.