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Among the many tough jobs in a distribution center, unloading boxes from a trailer is one of the toughest. \u201cThere\u2019s a higher risk of injury than in other parts of the DC, and unloading was a job that very few people liked to do,\u201d said Kevin Kuntz, SVP of Global Logistics and Operations at Gap<\/strong>. \u201cIt\u2019s hot in a trailer in the summertime, it\u2019s cold in the wintertime and it\u2019s heavy all the time.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Sounds like a job for a robot, and that\u2019s what Gap has deployed \u2014 the Stretch robot from Boston Dynamics. These mobile robots are equipped with computer vision and can maneuver in any direction, navigate around obstacles and traverse ramps, and their footprint is the same as a standard shipping pallet, meaning that anywhere a pallet can go, Stretch can follow.<\/p>\n The robot \u2014 which is equipped with capabilities including label detection and automatic reorientation for downstream scanning \u2014 uses an adaptive vacuum-based gripper to handle a wide range of package shapes and surfaces. (Here\u2019s a video of Stretch in operation.) Stretch also can perform multi-case picking, i.e., handling more than one case at a time.<\/p>\n The productivity gains already have been impressive. The robot enables Gap to process 10,000 <\/strong>cases per day, which would normally take 12 to 15 <\/strong>people to accomplish. Now, one <\/strong>worker can supervise the operations of two<\/strong> Stretch robots, which are \u201creally helpful to run our inbound operations seven<\/strong> days a week with minimal staffing,\u201d said Kuntz in an interview with Retail TouchPoints<\/em>.<\/p>\n After beta testing the technology in its Fishkill, N.Y. facility, Gap conducted a successful year-long pilot in Tennessee. \u201cNow we\u2019ve rolled it out to three<\/strong> other sites across Ohio, Texas and California,\u201d said Kuntz. \u201cWe\u2019re really excited about the results that we\u2019re seeing and plan to expand further in the future, especially as we start to test new capabilities besides unloading, such as using Stretch for palletization [stacking cases on pallets].\u201d<\/p>\n The nature of modern warehouse operations demands technology that can perform a range of tasks, particularly when the facility is fulfilling online sales, which \u201cusually means way more individual orders and a flood of boxes coming in all shapes and sizes,\u201d said Alex Perkins, Senior Technical Director at Boston Dynamics and Chief Roboticist for Stretch in an interview with Retail TouchPoints<\/em>. \u201cIn fact, online fulfillment often demands about 5X <\/strong>more labor than restocking retail stores. That\u2019s where Stretch really shines. Operational agility is critical as warehouses face increasing variability in tasks, box sizes and weights and environmental conditions.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThis is one of the most labor-intensive and injury-prone tasks in distribution centers, so the technology reduces the need for manual labor in the inbound department, which is what we\u2019ve seen improve greatly at Gap facilities,\u201d Perkins added.<\/p>\n Kuntz agreed that the higher risk of injury for humans performing these tasks makes the use of robots a plus for Gap, and also fits in with the retailer\u2019s strategic roadmap \u201cto make our business more digitally enabled, but human centered.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you were to go back in time [prior to deploying Stretch] you would see a combination of people unloading and palletizing product, maybe three or four<\/strong> doors at a time,\u201d Kuntz added. \u201cNow, we can have two<\/strong> Stretch robots running with one<\/strong> person supervising at a safe distance to make sure that things are working well.\u201d<\/p>\n Kuntz also appreciates that the robots don\u2019t need to be tightly integrated with the various inventory and warehouse management systems Gap uses in its DCs. \u201cIt\u2019s literally wirelessly tethered to one piece of conveyor that extends in and out of a trailer,\u201d he said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t need any tech support on the Gap Inc. side. It was easy to deploy; it\u2019s easy to maintain.\u201d<\/p>\n While many people resist using new technology when it\u2019s introduced (the devil you know and all that), Kuntz reported that employees are excited to work with the Stretch robots. \u201cOne of the intangible benefits is the cool factor,\u201d he said. \u201cYou bring in a solution that\u2019s automating [the unloading process], and you\u2019re training your existing staff to drive a robot, get it started, supervise it through the shift, and then they can run two<\/strong> robots. It\u2019s something the teams are excited about now, and they brag to friends and family [that] they\u2019re operating cutting-edge tech at work instead of manually moving boxes.<\/strong> Not all warehouse workers are doing that today, but our teams are learning new skills.\u201d<\/p>\n The Stretch robot\u2019s development actually was spurred by Boston Dynamics\u2019 humanoid robot Atlas. The company put out a YouTube video featuring Atlas moving boxes between shelves and \u201cafter seeing the video, a large logistics company reached out to us about robots unloading trucks,\u201d said Perkins. \u201cWe built Stretch with the purpose of solving a specific, yet very common logistics problem \u2014 unloading inbound shipments in a fast, reliable and safe way. But during design, we also were careful to consider other case-handling applications, including palletizing and order building.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to Gap, the Stretch robots, which were introduced commercially in 2022, have been deployed by retail and logistics companies including Otto Group, <\/strong>DHL, <\/strong>Maersk and H&M<\/strong>. Boston Dynamics continues to improve the technology \u201cbased on customer demands, from case mix to trailer configurations to throughput requirements; that\u2019s why we created multi-case picking,\u201d said Perkins.<\/p>\n While the Stretch robots are increasingly popular, they still have some catching up to do when it comes to Boston Dynamics\u2019 quadruped robot, Spot. These canine-like robots can climb stairs and traverse rough terrain and are small enough to access hazardous or hard-to-reach locations. Spot supports remote operation and autonomous sensing across a range of industries, with more than 1,500 <\/strong>of the robots already \u201cout in the world taking on a number of different tasks, from collecting equipment data in industrial facilities to creating digital twins on construction sites to helping first responders safely assess potentially hazardous situations,\u201d said Perkins.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nUsing Robots to Handle Labor-Intensive, Injury-Prone Tasks<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The \u2018Cool Factor\u2019 to Managing Robots<\/strong><\/h3>\n