While interest in physical AI has grown recently, warehouse automation providers such as Berkshire Grey Inc. have been applying AI and robotics to industry challenges for years.
The company in June opened its Customer Innovation Center in Haarlem, the Netherlands, as part of its expansion in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). The new facility will serve as a hub for customer engagement, solution validation, technical training, and regional support, said the Bedford, Mass.-based company.
Berkshire Grey customers including FedEx and Walmart have automated fulfillment, picking, sortation, and warehouse workflows. It added that demand for its systems has grown across the EMEA region as retailers, e-commerce businesses, and logistics providers seek technologies that deliver measurable operational results.
Berkshire Grey has applied AI to the physical world for a decade
While “physical AI” is currently a popular term, Berkshire Grey said it “has spent more than a decade helping customers apply artificial intelligence and robotics to solve operational challenges at enterprise scale.”
The Bedford, Mass.-based company has more than 1,000 granted and pending patents worldwide. Physical AI has the potential to make robots more adaptable and to improve overall efficiency.
“Physical AI is ultimately measured by performance in the real world,” stated Dave Paratore, CEO of Berkshire Grey. “For more than a decade, Berkshire Grey has helped customers apply AI and robotics to solve operational challenges in live production environments at enterprise scale.”
“The way that I look at a classical definition of physical AI is it’s where AI is used in concert with some form of a body,” he told Automated Warehouse. “I don’t mean the body has to be humanoid; it could be a robot arm, a mobile robot, or a car, and it can perceive and act in the real world.”
“How we embody it is a little different,” added Paratore. “We’re very myopically focused on how that applies to warehouse automation, and then taking it one level down: how that applies to being able to make [customers’] operations faster, less labor-dependent, and more scalable.”
“Most of what we use are robot arms, which have been around for many years,” he said. “The difference now is I don’t have to have discrete programming for every function, every task. If the robotic foundation models can do what everyone believes they will be able to do — which they can’t do today — but if they can do that, you’re really changing the game because we can have robots make decisions in a highly variable world, whereas before, we had to tell them every little step.”
Software maturity depends on the type of system
Physical AI involves evaluating the state of the environment and workpieces, making decisions and plans, and controlling robot execution, explained Paratore. The maturity level of Berkshire Grey’s systems depends on the application, he acknowledged.
“We have our Core pick cell, and we have the Scoop trailer unloader,” Paratore said. “We have the Stride shuttle sortation system, and so forth. Each one of those is a different stage.”
He described the stages as standard algorithmic approaches, machine learning, and “deep learning or what some people are calling AI.” Core makes the most use of machine learning, while Scoop is moving from algorithmic to deep learning, said Paratore.
As foundation models look to commoditize, they will need real-world data, he said. “Who has the most data to fine-tune those models in the best way for a customer?” asked Paratore. “I feel like, with 10 years of data, we’re sitting on a nice little gold mine in that regard.”
Customer Innovation Center sited close to European industry
The new facility is near Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, offering convenient access to Berkshire Grey customers, partners, and teams across the region. The company also noted that it is in the center of the Benelux logistics automation market, close to retailers, warehouse operators, and systems integrators.
“As demand for intelligent automation continues to grow across Europe, we’re investing in the people, facilities, and capabilities needed to bring that experience and expertise closer to our customers,” said Paratore. Berkshire Grey considered putting the new center in Spain, France, or Germany, but it chose the Netherlands because of convenience and cost, he noted.
Berkshire Grey added that its Customer Innovation Center provides space for customer demonstrations, SKU testing, technical training, solution design, and regional support. The company said it plans to further expand its technical, engineering, service, and commercial capabilities to meet rising customer demand in Europe.
“We’re by no means abandoning North America, but Europe is more mature in its adoption of some technologies, specifically around robotic picking,” said Paratore. “I’m a firm believer that you’ve got to be where your customers are.”
“The secondary goal [of the Customer Innovation Center] is: If you’re not sure you like it, come see it!” he said. “Come bring your SKUs, which is what we did at MODEX this year. It you a sense of the maturity of our models. You could throw something in a tote that the system has never seen before, and it’ll figure out grasp selection, trajectories, and placement selection.”
While Berkshire Grey is marketing all of its systems to the European market, Paratore said there is a “massive opportunity” for trailer loading and unloading systems like Scoop. “Unstructured, complex loads have to be handled at a throughput that matches two humans at 800 boxes per hour,” he said. “We applaud competitors like Pickle Robot and Boston Dynamics — we want them to win, and we’re very comfortable in that space.”
SoftBank Group Corp. acquired Berkshire Grey in 2023 for about $375 million. How has that affected its growth strategy?
“Our relationship is incredibly beneficial,” said Paratore. “It has a good balance of being involved while letting organizations run themselves. They’re passionate about robotics and AI and are not afraid to be heavily engaged across the spectrum. In addition to providing resources for our expansion, it affords relationships and access that we couldn’t do on our own, which has been invaluable.”