DHL Supply Chain deploys Robust.AI Carter collaborative mobile robots to enhance warehouse picking productivity

DHL Supply Chain, the global leader in contract logistics, serves enterprise clients across multiple industries. In its partnership with Robust.AI, it aims to pair increased efficiency with an elevated employee experience, using robots that augment workers rather than replace them, starting with the picking process.

DHL Supply Chain announced a strategic partnership with Robust.AI in February 2024, piloting 'Carter' — a collaborative mobile robot that uses AI technology to learn and adapt to real-time warehouse conditions, optimizing workflows and maximizing productivity. The pilot is underway at a DHL Supply Chain warehouse, with initial deployment planned for later in 2024. Carter will be able to handle a wide range of tasks, starting with optimizing the picking process, and its embedded sensors and AI capabilities will also generate data to optimize warehouse layouts, staffing, and inventory management. Carter will join DHL's existing robotic solutions, including autonomous forklifts, a robotic arm for unloading cartons from trucks, and autonomous mobile robots.

A pilot of Carter was underway at a DHL Supply Chain warehouse at the time of the February 2024 announcement. Robust.AI CEO Anthony Jules stated that, working cooperatively, the two companies' teams have demonstrated meaningful productivity increases in the warehouse; specific percentage improvements were not disclosed. The announcement also describes planned, not yet reported, benefits:

• Secondary data value: Carter's embedded sensors and AI capabilities will also generate data to optimize warehouse layouts, staffing, and inventory management
• Fleet integration: Carter will join DHL Supply Chain's existing robotic solutions, including autonomous forklifts, autonomous mobile robots, and a carton-unloading robotic arm

• AI-powered collaborative robots designed to augment rather than replace workers can align efficiency goals with improved employee experience.
• Deep operator domain knowledge combined with specialist AI expertise supports product refinement; Robust.AI's CEO said DHL's analytics and logistics expertise helped refine its workflows and AI.
• Sensor-rich robots can generate a secondary stream of operational data (layout, staffing, inventory) beyond their primary task.
• Piloting in a live facility before broad rollout can reduce integration risk.
• Treating warehouse automation as a layered portfolio — adding collaborative robots alongside existing AGVs and AMRs — enables incremental capability gains without wholesale system replacement.