Dematic and Dexterity Partner to Deploy ‘Full Task’ Robots for Warehouses

Retailers and distributors around the world are increasingly looking to automation to help them meet pressing business needs. Dematic Corp. today announced that it has partnered with Dexterity Inc. to offer “full-task” robotics globally. It will also facilitate Dexterity's entry into the European market.

“Our growing partnership with Dexterity is yet another example of Dematic taking the necessary steps to continue to be a software and technology leader,” stated Hasan Dandashly, president of Dematic and an executive board member at KION Group. “As a leader, we provide our customers with the intelligent solutions they require for success, and fully integrated robotic solutions fit hand-in-glove with that.”

By combining their expertise in supply chain systems and robotics, the strategic partners said they will provide integrated, autonomous, and scalable offerings, ranging from specific subsystems to complete operations. Dematic will deploy robots already contracted with Dexterity’s consumer goods manufacturing, retail, and parcel customers.

In addition, Dematic will sell and deploy Dexterity products within its own warehouse, distribution, and order-fulfillment customers over the next several years.

Dexterity provides robot smarts as a service

Redwood City, Calif.-based Dexterity said its software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform gives standard industrial robot arms the vision, sense of touch, and intelligence to be full-task robots. They can multi-task, handle complicated goods, fit within existing workflows, and surpass human throughput in repetitive tasks, it claimed.

The company said it helps automate material handling work such as sortation, palletizing, and fulfillment so employees can focus on higher-level, cognitive work. Dexterity said its full-stack systems are in production 24/7 with a support and performance guarantee.

Full-task robots can solve some of the most difficult operational challenges, including creating mixed-SKU pallets, singulating and inducting items, and fulfilling orders, acccording to the company. To date, Dexerity robots have picked over 37 million goods in warehouses across the U.S., and it raised $140 million in Series B funding in October 2021.

The robots have also contributed to the refined algorithms and advanced machine learning that have enabled efficiencies in labor, material flow, and system efficiency, Dexterity said.

“Dexterity-powered robots have increased the market demand for flexible automation that can operate in existing workflows and infrastructure,” said Samir Menon, CEO of Dexterity. “Partnering with an industry leader like Dematic will accelerate Dexterity customers deploying robots and greatly expand the global reach of Dexterity robots.”

Dematic to build trust in robotics

Dematic designs, builds, and supports automation for customers in manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution. With research and development engineering centers, factories, and service centers in more than 35 countries, the Dematic network of over 11,000 employees has helped about 8,000 customer installations for some of the world’s leading brands.

The Atlanta-based company is a member of KION Group, a leading supplier of industrial trucks and supply chain systems.

Dematic said its systems and software roadmap aligns with Dexterity’s robotics approach. It added that the partnership accelerates its ability to offer customers more flexible automation to reduce their dependency on labor.

The partnership will also help elevate customer confidence in robotics, said Dematic. The companies plan to deliver and support modular systems to help solve supply chain problems—from initial planning to execution and live operations.

“Dematic has been at the forefront of driving new technology adoption for more than 200 years,” said Dean Priebe, senior director of Dematic’s Robotics Center of Excellence. “The supply chain of tomorrow calls for holistically integrated robots that see, touch, and reason, helping our customers scale their operations like never before.”

“We’re excited to add Dexterity to our portfolio of partners to enhance customer supply chains with this transformative and differentiated new technology,” he added.

The first Dematic-deployed Dexterity robot system is scheduled to be deployed in the fourth quarter of 2022.