Ambi Robotics Releases AmbiKit for Multi-Robot Pick-and-Place Kitting

Ambi Robotics Inc., which has developed simulation-to-reality artificial intelligence for dexterous robots, today announced AmbiKit. The Emeryville, Calif.-based company described AmbiKit as "the industry’s first multi-robot kitting system that leverages AI data collection to expedite e-commerce kitting operations."

AmbiKit can automate product bundling for faster delivery, increasing order accuracy and reducing operating costs, said Ambi Robotics. It added that its new system includes a five-robot line to augment the pick-and-place tasks associated with one of today’s fastest-growing e-commerce opportunities: online subscription boxes.

“Retailers and global e-commerce brands are operating in a year-round ‘peak’ season,” stated Jim Liefer, CEO of Ambi Robotics. “In order for high-growth brands to fulfill online orders, companies are deploying AI-powered robotic systems to increase resilience in the supply chain. AmbiKit can immediately improve efficiency by deploying into existing workflows and successfully pick and place millions of unique items from Day 1.”

Subscription a growing e-commerce segment

According to the Federal Reserve District, employment opportunities are on the rise, but post-COVID hiring is a widespread challenge. As e-commerce volume continues to surge, companies are hiring more staffers turning to automation to tackle mundane, repetitive sorting tasks to fulfill online orders and are hiring full-time talent to work alongside advanced technologies.

The subscription e-commerce kitting market is expected to exceed $478 billion by 2025, and consumers are demanding more product choices than ever before, shaping new trends like personalization and select-item bundling from individual SKUs. Ambi Robotics said AmbiKit will enable brands to offer on-time deliveries, customized orders, and competitive pricing with reduced operating costs.

“Our advanced AI operating system powers a wide range of robotic solutions," said Jeff Mahler, chief technology officer at Ambi Robotics. "When we launched Ambi Robotics, we made the decision to tackle the complex problems in the supply chain first, during a time when the U.S. relied on global e-commerce and logistics more than ever before.”

Founded in 2018 as Ambidexterous Laboratories, the company’s AmbiOS operating system uses Dex-Net simulation-to-reality technology to operate dexterous robot arms.

AmbiKit works alongside human associates. Credit: Niall David Photography, for Ambi Robotics

AmbiKit works with humans, adapts to orders

AmbiKit can pick and pack millions of unique products into specific bags or boxes for shipping to online customers, said Ambi Robotics. The company said its technologies can ensure more than 99% order accuracy and operate around the clock with no downtime for product changeovers.

While legacy systems take hours or days to adapt to new products introduced into a subscription box, AmbiKit can quickly personalize customer orders at scale to increase throughput, Ambi Robotics claimed.

AmbiKit is able to successfully sort up to 60 items per minute in a commercial production environment, said the company. The kitting system works with humans to alleviate manual warehouse processes for kitting operations that can cost retailers millions of dollars annually due to human error, high employee turnover, and employee injury, it said.

On-floor associates work alongside the AmbiKit system to induct totes with products and pack complete kits to be shipped to customers. The AI-powered robotic system guides the associates while sorting products to complete external actions through intuitive interfaces and dashboards.