United Parcel Service (UPS) is reportedly set to invest about US$120m in roughly 400 robotic systems designed to automate truck unloading, adding detail to its wider automation drive across its US operations.
Multiple outlets, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that UPS has placed the order with Pickle Robot, a Massachusetts-based startup whose mobile, arm-equipped robots are built to enter trailers and shipping containers, lift parcels using suction and feed them onto conveyors.
The robots are reported to handle boxes weighing up to 50lb (about 23kg) and to unload a typical truck in around two hours.
The reported purchase sits within UPS’s ‘Network of the Future’ modernisation plan, which it has previously framed around greater automation, improved productivity and lower unit costs.
In 2024, UPS announced a four-year plan to invest US$9bn in automation projects at more than 60 facilities with a goal of achieving US$3bn in cost savings by 2028.
While contract terms were not disclosed, coverage of the deal suggests the robots are expected to be deployed in multiple UPS facilities starting in the second half of 2026 and continuing into 2027, following earlier testing.
UPS has previously positioned automation as a way to reduce physically demanding, repetitive work inside its network.
In a 2023 statement outlining a series of technology deployments, UPS said it is leveraging automation to reduce repetitive tasks and physical stress while promoting safety for its employees and improving parcel flow through its facilities.
Pickle markets its technology around one of warehousing’s most labour-intensive bottlenecks: floor-loaded trailer unloading, where cartons are stacked tightly and vary in size, weight and condition.
On its website, Pickle says its robotic system can unload roughly 400 to 1,500 cases per hour depending on the freight mix.
The UPS move also lands amid broader momentum around “trailer unloading” automation, long viewed as a difficult frontier compared with tasks such as pallet movement or goods-to-person picking.
A Wall Street Journal report earlier this year described truck loading and unloading as a longstanding “holy grail” for warehouse automation due to the variability of packages and the constraints inside trailers, noting increasing experimentation and deployments by major logistics players.
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