Intelligent Robots and the Warehouse of the Future

The Manufacturing Executive · 16 Aug 2022 · 30m · Episode 115

What this episode covers

Michael Perry, Vice President of Marketing at Dexterity, discusses how AI-enabled robots are transforming warehouse operations by handling variability that traditional automation cannot. He details Dexterity's platform, which integrates vision and touch to allow robots to pick, pack, and palletize mixed-SKU goods in existing 'brownfield' facilities without extensive infrastructure changes. Perry highlights a specific success story involving a bread fulfillment center where one robot managed over 10,000 SKUs, including deformable items like tortillas and loaves of bread, while also explaining the future of collaborative robot teams.

Most relevant to

companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Dexterity, Boston Dynamics, DJI, Gorilla 76, Stanford

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • Manufacturing Happy Hour · 50m

    173: Leveraging Robotics in an Unstructured World with Dexterity's Michael Patrick Perry

    Michael Patrick Perry, Dexterity’s VP of Marketing, discusses how the company has scaled from a small team to nearly 260 employees, moving from bread packing to full warehouse automation. He explains Dexterity’s software-first approach, which allows robots to handle complex, unstructured tasks like truck loading and palletizing by combining vision, force control, and planning. Perry highlights the democratization of robotics, enabling smaller companies to deploy flexible solutions quickly without massive capital expenditure, while also detailing how AI is used to create customized marketing experiences for enterprise clients.

  • Over the Air · 32m

    End-Of-Line Automation With Ai: Inside Rapid Robotics Revolution

    Kim, CEO of Rapid Robotics, explains how the company pivoted from custom manufacturing automation to end-of-line boxing and palletizing using generative AI to solve labor shortages and handle high SKU variability. She details the development of Rapid ID, which allows robots to identify and handle diverse objects without extensive programming, contrasting this with the limitations of traditional robotics in brownfield environments. Kim also shares her background in the toy industry at Hasbro and how that experience informs her approach to scaling the company and supporting US manufacturing reshoring.

  • Manufacturing Happy Hour · 42m

    244: Automate LIVE 2025: Warehousing Innovations, AI at the Edge, and Interoperability

    Melonee Wise of Agility Robotics discusses the practical logistics applications of humanoid robots, emphasizing a tiered approach to complexity and the critical importance of new ISO safety standards for cooperative deployment. Glen Guernsey of JR Automation highlights advancements in warehouse automation, specifically random SKU palletization and automated truck loading/unloading, driven by labor shortages. Zoie Rittling of OnLogic and Michael Maxey of ZEDEDA explain the concept of 'right-sizing' AI at the edge to eliminate mundane operational tasks without over-engineering. Finally, Robert Ponsonby of Arduino details how open-source interoperability allows manufacturers to integrate legacy systems with modern cloud infrastructure, accelerating deployment and reducing costs.

  • Manufacturing Happy Hour · 40m

    Deploying Intelligent Robots at Scale with Dexterity CEO Samir Menon

    Samir Menon, Founder & CEO of Dexterity, explains how his company uses AI-driven robotics to automate high-speed distribution in logistics and warehousing, aiming to make repetitive manual labor optional. He details Dexterity's evolution from large enterprise clients to democratizing access for small businesses, supported by a recent $140 million Series B funding round. Menon outlines a six-stage spectrum of robotic progress, noting that Dexterity is currently deploying Level 4 systems that collaborate safely with humans, with Level 5 systems on the horizon.

  • The Robot Report Podcast · 51m

    Building robots that survive the warehouse

    Josh Cloer, General Manager for North America at No Magic, explains how the company applies 'physical AI' and vision-language-action (VLA) models to warehouse each-picking and recovery workflows. He emphasizes that No Magic’s competitive advantage lies in using real-world production data rather than simulation to handle edge cases, such as flexible shoebox handling. The discussion covers the shift from batch to continuous 'always-on' operations, the integration of AI layers onto existing hardware like ASRS, and strategies for de-risking automation adoption for supply chain leaders.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by The Manufacturing Executive. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.