SG Holdings Co., Ltd. (SG Holdings), Sagawa Express Co., Ltd. (Sagawa Express), Sumitomo Corporation (Sumitomo), and Dexterity Inc. (Dexterity) announced a partnership to leverage AI-powered robots to load parcel trucks in Japan. As part of the partnership, Sagawa Express, one of Japan's leading logistics and delivery service providers, will begin harnessing Dexterity's AI technology to power robots capable of loading trucks with randomized boxes. Before scaling deployment, Dexterity's AI will learn from Sagawa Express's logistics operations, ensuring that Dexterity's dual-arm robot - the DexR - will fit seamlessly into Sagawa's existing logistics infrastructure.

Working together with Sumitomo, an exclusive distributor of Dexterity in Japan, the truck loading partnership will start in 2024 with a plan to integrate into Sagawa's newest distribution center following a successful first pilot. Dexterity previously announced its DexR mobile truck loading robot in September. The robot's unique dual-arm design and onboard AI enable it to match operational loading speeds and packing requirements without knowing the size, weight, or shape of boxes before they arrive at the robot - a process described as "playing 3D Tetris with up to 50lb boxes." The partnership builds upon Dexterity and Sumitomo's previously announced partnership to deploy 1,500 robots in Japanese warehouses by 2026.