Inside a warehouse trailer, unloading freight is still one of the most punishing jobs in the supply chain. The work happens in cramped spaces, often in extreme heat or cold, and relies on repetitive heavy lifting that drives high turnover and frequent injury. It is also, AJ Meyer points out, one of the least automated parts of warehouse operations.
Meyer is the Founder and CEO of Pickle Robot, a company he started in 2018 to ease the physical strain of one of the hardest jobs in the supply chain. Pickle’s first system is “an autonomous robot that unloads loose-loaded trucks and import containers,” using what Meyer calls Physical AI to combine “generative AI, advanced vision, grasping, and autonomy” so the robot can identify, pick, and place freight directly onto existing conveyor systems.
Meyer says Pickle’s system is “production-proven in live warehouse environments achieving better than manual performance” and has been trained on thousands of hours of real freight unloading. Its robots can be set up in under a day, require no trailer modifications, and operate across a wide range of freight types, from footwear and apparel to tools, toys, and small appliances. In 2025 alone, Pickle robots unloaded more than 35 million pounds of freight in production environments.
Pickle grew out of Meyer’s earlier company, LeafLabs, an engineering and product development firm he founded after graduating from MIT with a degree in electrical engineering and computer science. “Leaf, which still operates, has more of a consulting approach,” he says, “and I wanted to build a product company that could deliver long term value for customers leveraging physical AI and robotics.”
Pickle gained another marker of traction in November 2024, when it closed a $50 million Series B with participation from investors including Teradyne Robotics Ventures, Toyota Ventures, and Ranpak. Meyer says the financing helped the company expand to more than 130 employees across engineering, manufacturing, and deployment, while supporting robot rollouts with customers including UPS, Ryobi Tools, Yusen Logistics, Hoover Floor Care, and Randa Apparel.
Meyer points to trailer unloading as one of the highest-turnover jobs in the warehouse. Pickle took on the heavy lifting, in his words, to “solve the hardest tasks and processes in logistics.”