Finding workers for the toughest warehouse jobs has not gotten easier. Picking, packing, unloading, and tote handling all share the same profile: high turnover, hard to recruit, physically demanding, and essential to keeping the floor running.
Manual labor in US logistics costs $585 billion a year. A lot of that money goes toward replacing people who left roles nobody wanted in the first place.
Jobs that Robots are already Handling
UPS is deploying Pickle Robotics systems to automate one of the hardest problems in logistics: unloading trucks filled with mixed, non-palletized packages. These robots enter trailers, pick boxes up to ~50 lbs, and place them onto conveyors, tackling one of the most physically demanding and variable workflows in the warehouse.
GymBeam has deployed RightHand Robotics systems for automated piece picking in its fulfillment operations, handling a wide range of SKUs. However, performance remains highly dependent on product mix, packaging variability, and edge cases, requiring continuous evaluation to maintain throughput and accuracy.
Rohlik has partnered with Sereact to deploy AI-powered robotic picking in grocery fulfillment, targeting environments with extreme SKU variability, including deformable and irregular items. Real-world performance varies significantly depending on object diversity and operating conditions, making benchmarking across providers critical.
These are no longer pilots, they are production deployments running at scale on the tasks with the highest physical strain and the hardest time retaining people.
Why most Operators are still Stuck
Awareness. Most operators do not have a team tracking which Physical AI vendors are production-ready versus demo-ready.
Risk. Large companies spent years standardizing processes and cleaning data before deploying advanced automation. Most operators do not have that roadmap, and a failed pilot runs $500K+.
Vendor noise. There are dozens of robotics companies. Each says their robot is the best. None will tell you where they fall short, and none can evaluate their competitors.
How Deplace Helps
Deplace runs vendor-neutral evaluations & monitoring of Physical AI on customer’s actual workflows. You share your SOPs and the objects your operation handles. We bring in multiple robotics companies, test them on your conditions, and deliver a performance scorecard: speed, accuracy, error rate, safety, throughput, and human interventions required.
Our monitoring platform updates you monthly, so, as models evolve, you always have current data on which vendor performs best on your specific tasks.
The math: 4-week evaluation versus 6-month pilot. Multi-vendor evaluation instead of $500K+ for a failed pilot.
Get started: pedro@deplaceai.com
