Amazon Robotics to Acquire Canvas Technology

April 11, 2019

Amazon Robotics adds autonomous mobile robot startup Canvas Technology to its portfolio.

TechCrunch reported yesterday that autonomous mobile robot supplier Canvas Technology was being acquired by Amazon Robotics. Amazon confirmed the acquisition with TechCrunch. Colorado based Canvas Technology is a warehouse robotics company with an autonomous person-to-goods cart solution. Canvas raised at least $15 million and had an estimated revenue of $5M (Owler).

In the TechCrunch report, a spokesperson said: “We are inspired by Canvas Technology’s innovations, and share a common vision for a future where people work alongside robotics to further improve safety and the workplace experience. We look forward to working with Canvas Technology’s fantastic team to keep inventing for customers.”

Canvas Cart

The Canvas Technology Autonomous Mobile Cart

Here at The Mobile Robot Guide, we believe that the addition of Canvas Technology to the Amazon Robotics portfolio should make a nice fit. Canvas Technology brings proven autonomous mobile robot technology to Amazon Robotics. Unlike the Kiva solution, Canvas Technology autonomous carts are designed to operate safely in the warehouse aisles alongside Amazon associates. Canvas fulfills a different warehouse application from the Kiva-style goods-to-person solution.

As Mike Oitzman predicted in his “How to Select a Mobile Robot” presentation onstage at Automate 2019 yesterday, we can expect to see more consolidation like this in the autonomous mobile robot market in the next 3-5 years. There were over 40 autonomous mobile robot vendors showing off their solutions at the ProMAT and Automate shows this week. Stay tuned as update all of our vendor profiles in the coming month from what we learned at the shows this week. For a realtime view of what we’v seen this week, check out our twitter feed @TheRobotGuide.