The mobile robot industry started 2024 with funding announcements, big deployments, and product releases. There was no shortage of mobile robotic news to cover last month.
Here are the 10 most popular robotics stories on The Mobile Robot Guide in January 2024. Subscribe to The Mobile Robot Guide Newsletter to stay updated and have the news delivered straight to your inbox.
10. Burro closes Series B funding to launch more collaborative field robots
Augean Robotics Inc., which does business as Burro, announced that it has closed a $24 million Series B round. The Philadelphia-based company said it plans to expand its commercial, product, and engineering teams. It also plans to add more dealers and launch new products in response to customer demand, starting with the Burro Grande vehicle. Read More
9. Dexterity robots to load Sagawa Express trucks in Japanese deployment
Sagawa Express Co., a Japanese logistics and delivery provider, will soon be using Dexterity Inc.’s AI-powered robots to load its parcel trucks. The partners plan to roll out the systems this year with help from SG Holdings Co. and Sumitomo Corp. Read More
8. Dane Technologies and Brain Corp unveil inventory scanning robot and analytics for retailers
Food retailers need to reduce losses from out-of-stocks and pricing discrepancies. To that end, Brain Corp. announced the BrainOS InventoryAI Suite, which it said is designed to analyze inventory data captured by autonomous mobile robots, or AMRs, running on its platform. The company also unveiled Dane AIR, an inventory scanning robot it developed with Dane Technologies. Read More
7. Locus Robotics lays off staffers, but CEO says outlook is still bright
Some of most successful autonomous mobile robot, or AMR, vendors are having to react to slowing post-pandemic economic growth. Locus Robotics Corp. confirmed that it had a “small, targeted RIF,” or reduction in force. Read More
6. RightHand Robotics sees AI aiding piece picking in the automated warehouse
Despite economic headwinds, robotics will continue to spread across warehouses, distribution centers, and other facilities this year, according to RightHand Robotics Inc. The Charlestown, Mass.-based company provides software and services for robotic piece picking and fleet management. Read More
5. Interact Analysis managing director discusses robotics trends for 2023, 2024
Mobile robot shipments grew by 45% in 2023 after 33% growth in 2022, when vendors shipped more than 120,000 units and made $3.6 billion in revenue, estimated Interact Analysis. Last year posed challenges including faltering post-pandemic e-commerce, high interest rates, and vendor consolidation. However, demand for point-to-point movement of materials continued to be strong, said the firm. Read More
4. EX9 unveils new autonomous yard truck
ex9.tech unveiled its autonomous, all-electric transport tractor, designed to move trailers around logistics warehouses, distribution hubs, and industrial sites. The French startup positioned the EX9 as a uncrewed transport as a service, or TaaS, enabling customers to scale to meet changing demand without needing to purchase and maintain a distinct fleet of vehicles. Read More
3. NRF 2024 shows how robots can innovate category management
Automated systems for retail were spread all over the National Retail Federation’s “big show,” a three-day battle of the bots event. From the main floor to the Innovation Zone, and from the front of house to the back of the store, there were robots for numerous tasks at NRF. Read More
2. Fabric automated storage patent reflects focus on flexibility, says exec
Some warehouses are looking to mobile robots or picking systems to increase efficiency, but others are looking to automated storage and retrieval systems, or ASRS, for space savings and throughput. Fabric Inc. announced that it had secured a patent for the ability of its ASRS to store totes and items of multiple sizes. Read More
1. RobotLAB service robot franchise and use cases grow across the U.S.
RobotLAB had a busy 2023. The Southlake, Texas-based systems integrator of educational and service robots expanded its franchise agreements and partnerships. In May, RobotLAB launched its robotics integration franchise program, which it claimed was the first of its kind. The company also leased a 26,000-sq.-ft. (2,400-sq.-m) Class A multi-tenant workspace at VariSpace Southlake. Read More
