Stretch: Transforming the 3PL Industry
CEVA Logistics has started to use autonomous container-unloading robot to pluck hundreds of boxes per hour out of trailers at transload facility near ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
CEVA Logistics rolls out Boston Dynamics Stretch and Spot robots at LA warehouse
Robotics vendor Boston Dynamics is rolling more units of its container-unloading Stretch robots into logistics facilities in North America. CEVA Logistics is adopting Stretch for a transload facility in Los Angeles. 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. 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.
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.
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.
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