Pitney Bowes to Automate Middle Mile Sorting With Ambi Robotics

Pitney Bowes Inc. and Ambi Robotics Inc. today announced that they have successfully deployed the new AmbiSort B-Series modular system for parcel induction and sorting in middle-mile operations.

“Today’s e-commerce demands must be met with speed, and as such, technological solutions must be scaled quickly,” stated Stephanie Cannon, senior vice president of operations excellence and collaborative innovation at Pitney Bowes.

“At Pitney Bowes, we are partnering with some of the most innovative companies in the industry to make B2C [business-to-consumer] e-commerce logistics easier for our clients,” she added. “With Ambi Robotics, we were able to develop a sortation system that solved a particular need and scaled it quickly across our ecommerce hubs, adding capacity for our clients ahead of peak season.”

Pitney Bowes accelerates parcel sortation

As global parcel volume exceeds 161 billion pieces annually, logistics and delivery organizations are seeking automation that can quickly scale to meet their needs, noted the latest Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index. The Stamford, Conn.-based company said it provides shipping and mailing technology, logistics, and financial services to more than 90% of the Fortune 500.

Pitney Bowes said that small-business, retail, enterprise, and government clients around the world rely on it to remove the complexity of sending mail and parcels. It initially deployed the AmbiSort A-Series sortation system for small parcels in last-mile operations.

The company then partnered with Ambi Robotics to develop and deploy the AmbiSort B-Series in Pitney Bowes e-commerce hubs across the U.S. It said the artificial intelligence-powered robotics will help speed parcel sortation to middle-mile delivery providers while improving productivity, accuracy, and worker safety.

“We view automation as the execution of the undesirable tasks that humans don’t want to do so that employees can build a sustainable career,” said Ryan Hannon, vice president of industrial engineering and collaborative innovation at Pitney Bowes. “We achieve this by elevating the working conditions, setting the new standard of human work, and creating new desirable roles like robot operator and super robot operator.”

AmbiSort B-Series adaptable, says Ambi Robotics

Ambi Robotics said its AmbiSort B-Series can reduce operating costs by inducting and sorting parcels into gaylord destinations. It also claimed that the system addresses the challenges of labor-intensive manual sorting throughout high-speed supply chain operations.

“The AmbiSort B-Series solution adapts to various use cases, such as reverse logistics, interfacility sortation, sort-to-carrier, zone-skipping, and automated parcel induction,” the company asserted.

“The successful deployment of the AmbiSort B-Series is a result of strategic and collaborative innovation between the two companies,” said Jim Liefer, CEO of Ambi Robotics, in a release. “Pitney Bowes is pioneering the future of smart logistics and has been at the forefront of transforming warehouse work to align with the demands of constant e-commerce.”

“This partnership serves as a model of such collaborative innovation and sets a high bar for future supply chain modernization,” he said.

Founded in 2018, Ambi Robotics said it develops AI and robotics to enable e-commerce operations to meet demand “while empowering humans to handle more.” Its AmbiOS operating system uses proprietary simulation-to-reality (Sim2Real) technology to operate highly-dexterous robotic systems.

The Berkeley, Calif.-based company said it employs “the world's top roboticists, AI researchers, and leading business professionals.” It raised $32 million in additional funding last year.

The global market for parcel sortation systems could expand from $2 billion in 2023 to $2.8 billion by 2028 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7%, according to Markets and Markets. It attributed that growth to the e-commerce industry and growing adoption of sortation systems.