Croatian robotics and AI company Gideon has announced Trey, an autonomous forklift for truck trailer loading and unloading operations.

Trey loads and unloads pallets entirely autonomously, saving more than 80% of a worker’s time. It can operate safely, consistently and reliably in dynamic environments, working side by side with people.

“We at Gideon believe that we can help exponentially grow humanity’s ability to move goods by automating the most complex material handling workflows,” said Matija Kopić, Gideon CEO. “The world needs new ways of solving challenges. Our new way is to give superpowers to the millions of essential workers who keep our supply chains running. With the help of our customers, partners and investors, we’ve built an AMR specifically for the task of loading and unloading truck trailers, augmenting human talent.”

The trailer loading and unloading system combines Gideon’s proprietary autonomy technology powered by AI and 3D vision, user-friendly software for smart workflow orchestration, and a robust, purpose-made chassis from Infinity Machine & Engineering.

“Gideon brings us an exciting potential for optimisation, creating new efficiencies, and new ways to work,” said Annant Patel, director at Koch Disruptive Technologies and Gideon board member. “As new technologies become available, the supply chain challenges act as a catalyst to spur companies to innovate – Gideon being one of them. We may face uncertainties, but innovators like Gideon prove that the future is here and now.”

Trey can help companies relieve labour shortages, increase throughput, and raise process stability and efficiency. It increases loading dock safety, reducing incidents and damages. Thanks to the flexibility and adaptability of the technology, Trey is said to be easy to use, deploy and scale, with little impact on existing infrastructure.

Xavier Garijo is a member of the board for contract logistics at DB Schenker, one of the early Gideon customers and a series A investor.

“Here at DB Schenker, we draw on 150 years of logistic experience, and we’ve always focused on bringing innovation to deliver the efficiency and excellence expected by our clients,” said Garijo, who is also a Gideon board member. “This is why we are excited to see new solutions from Gideon. Our projects so far are promising demonstrated, real-potential use cases that help us transform inbound and outbound logistic operations.”