Posted on Forbes July 9, 2021, Dr. Bernard Casse authored an article entitled, “The Demise of Robotics Companies: Learning from Past Mistakes.” The article identifies the moment when Amazon acquired Kiva Systems in 2021 as the catalytic event for venture investments in robotic companies.
Dr. Casse outlined the beginning of venture capitalists’ interest in robotics to fill the void left by Kiva as robotics startups move further into developing more capable robots. The following decade built into a staggering aggregate funding of roughly $20 billion to date. Robotics continues as the hottest sector for venture capital investments. Dr. Casse identified three pitfalls that could lead to robotics startup potential demise:
Pursuit of the Elusive Customer in Cut-Throat Markets
Overestimating Robotics Technological Capabilities
Lack of Good Business or Pricing Models
Robotics companies continue to progress forward with extensive VC backed support. Successful robotic startups will transition from lab development to the unstructured, real-world environment and provide full stack robotic solutions, not be just a software or hardware componentry provider. RaaS, Robots-as-a-Service, offers customers a purchasing route without upfront capital investment. Small and medium-sized businesses are an area of focus as their operations have real needs for automation. Robotics start ups are pivoting after the pandemic and shifting their focus to simpler use cases and adopting RaaS. Read the full article
RIOS develops and deploys dexterous AI-powered robots to factory assembly lines and warehouses to help global customers automate their supply chain or logistics operations. We’ve developed a first-of-its-kind haptic intelligence platform for AI robots – this enables our robot to handle hard-to-automate tasks that typically require human-level-dexterity and involve manipulating thousands of SKUs. Our robots possess higher levels of dexterity, cognitive skills, and autonomy than today's robots and operate in unstructured environments. Many companies are connecting with our team of automation experts to learn more about opportunities within their facilities to integrate robotic automation. RIOS encourages you to reach out very soon. You can sign up to be the first to know and get your spot on the waiting list: