FedEx Corp. and UPS Inc. are on the move for automation to keep up with the quick and actively
developing commerce and competition from Amazon.com; they have been however faced with
trouble in the sector of loading and offloading of trucks, which the robot industry is about to
solve.

Siemens AG and Honeywell International Inc. have set the pace by building machines that can
get packages off of the back of the trailers placing them onto conveyor belts to take them for
sorting. Robots with a different ability, loading trucks are not an easy thing to pull off, but they
edge closer to being unveiled. According to Ted Dengel, Managing director of operations
technology at FedEx, there is a significant hurdle to face since most parcels nowadays are of
different colors, shapes, sizes and weight making the invention quite a problem.

Some devices were unveiled in Chicago in an automation conference. The machines are a hope
for seeing to it that productivity is higher and the elimination of one of the most cumbersome
jobs is also achieved. Most of the couriers are already showing great interest in automation to
help them handle the overwhelmingly increasing online shopping, leading to higher demands
though at the expense of profits.

The development of the unloading robots has taken many years and has not yet reached
perfection thanks to dealing with a wide variety of packages that are arranged differently on
different trucks. Use of the machines means that there is a need to create some space for them at
the warehouses or the hubs. Some, for instance at Siemens, require the trucks to be modified to
suit their functionality, unlike Honeywell which is also slow.

The machine used by Honeywell is large and on wheels with a section for grabbing parcels that
are stacked high. There is a mobile conveyor belt that catches the packages and from the trailer
bed. The apparatus on suits trucks with a flat floor. Matt Wick, vice president of product
development at Honeywell claimed that the process of development of the machine is very
cumbersome. The people working on the machines have it so rough when handling the devices
especially moving in and out of the bed of the trailers. The machines have a significant impact on
employee retention.

Siemens machines are different in that; there is a conveyor belt permanently built on the floor of
the truck. During offloading, an apparatus is connected at the tail of the truck to pick and pass the
packages for sorting. The process would last only ten minutes compared to one hour if people
were to offload the truck manually.

Dengel claims that it's been six years since FedEx began the search for the automation of
offloading. Currently, they are testing two different machines. UPS, according to Glenn Zaccara,
the spokesman, is also working on automation of unloading though the details are not out yet.
The process of loading is much more complicated compared to offloading.

Dorabot is running the test of automated loading with two customers. The robots use artificial
intelligence and are expected to load 400 parcels in an hour filling up 60% of the trailer.
According to Dorabot CEO, Spencer Deng, the speed is to be increased by 50 parcels ad hour
filling up 80% of the trailer.