Tech startup Anyware Robotics today launched an automated truck unloading system, adding a new option to a robotics application that was considered too difficult to achieve only a few years ago.
Fremont, California-based Anyware Robotics today said it had emerged from stealth mode to unveil its AI-powered robotic solution, Pixmo, for container and truck unloading. Founded in January 2023, the firm raised $5 million in seed capital in March 2023, and is now raising another round of funding to accelerate the rollout.
The Pixmo product is designed for a market that the firm says includes the estimated 28 million containers per year that enter the U.S. with contents, usually boxes, that need to be unloaded. The firm says its robots enable companies to ease the heavy burden on human workers who currently unload those items, autonomously unloading boxes in containers and trucks more safely, cost-effectively, reliably, and quickly than humans can, while avoiding work-related injuries.
The device combines an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) base, a cobot arm with six degrees of freedom, vacuum-powered end effector designed for case handling, and AI-powered perception and motion planning systems, all mounted on a mobile base that has the footprint of a warehouse pallet.
Anyware Robotics is currently running pilot programs of Pixmo with various companies in the U.S. They recently completed their first pilot with an import deconsolidation business that manages 21 warehouses, and have multiple upcoming pilots, including one with a global third-party logistics provider (3PL). The autonomous mobile Pixmo robots are designed for installation at transload facilities, cross docks, 3PLs, distribution centers, and e-commerce fulfillment warehouses.
Other recent truck-unloading robots that have hit this sector in recent years include platforms from Boston Dynamics, Pickle Robot Co., Mujin, and Dexterity.
