US-based Agility Robotics has raised US$150 million in its latest Series B funding round, with the money set to help rapidly expand the firm’s workforce and production capabilities and accelerate the delivery of its next-generation logistics and warehouse robot.
The funding round was led by Agility’s long time investors and partners DCVC and Playground Global, with the Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, which was launched last week, joining as an investor to help spur innovation in the logistics industry.
Agility’s robots are designed to work alongside people in logistics and warehouse environments. The new funding will help create “the most advanced robot to date,” according to Jonathan Hurst, Chief Technology Officer at Agility Robotics. This will be a fully commercialized robot that Agility will begin to deploy at customers’ sites later this year.
The robot will augment the human workforce’s productivity by performing tasks that have traditionally been difficult to automate, such as depalletizing warehouse boxes and unloading tractor-trailers.
“Unprecedented consumer and corporate demand have created an extraordinary need for robots to support people in the workplace,” said Damion Shelton, CEO of Agility Robotics. “With this investment, Agility can ramp up the delivery of robots to fill roles where there’s an unmet need.”
Katherine Chen, Head of the Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, added: “Agility’s approach to designing robotics for a blended workforce is truly unique and can have a significant ripple effect for a wide range of industries, and we hope others follow suit to accelerate innovation in this way.”
“Limitless tasks”
Since the company was founded in 2015, Agility Robotics has set out to create robots that can manage practically limitless tasks as part of a blended workforce. Agility first began customer shipments in 2018 and in early 2020 the firm announced that it had partnered with Ford to use the robots to carry parcels from a delivery vehicle right to customers’ doors (CEP-Research has contacted Agility to find out how this project is progressing).
At the end of 2020, Agility closed a US$20 million investment to accelerate the development of the robot. Capital from the most recent funding round will continue this work and will help finetune the human-form robot.
“At Agility, we’re building robots that are designed not just with near-human form but also with human dynamics in physical interaction, enabling them to move seamlessly through our workspaces,” explained Hurst. “These robots can walk, crouch low to pick up a box from the floor, reach to place a box high on a shelf, balance when bumped into, pause when sensing a person or barrier in its path, and manoeuvre around a barrier. Sequenced together, these skills enable real task versatility in a workplace filled with people. This dynamism and versatility are what enable them to handle the boring, repetitive, and sometimes painful tasks that should be automated.”
The deployments of the latest generation robots later this year will allow Agility to iterate with real-time customer feedback and gain insights into operating environments, discover new uses for its robots, and refine their capabilities.
Addressing labour shortages
It is also hoped that the robots will help fill the skills shortage currently impacting the US. According to figures released by the US Labor Department’s monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey in December, there were currently more than 11 million job openings in America at the end of October 2021, illustrating the widespread labour shortage.
The robots are also being designed to alleviate some of the stresses placed on human workers in the warehouse and logistics environments, where people are tired from the repetitive work of stocking, packing, and moving. According to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, these tasks are responsible for more than 200,000 injuries per year in the country.
“To solve this complex labour puzzle, robots are needed to lift the burden of hard, manual labour, provide workforce flexibility, and enable people to do work that requires creativity and judgment – inherently human traits,” added Hurst
Matt Ocko, Co-Managing Partner at investor DCVC, continued: “We’re deepening our investment in Agility Robotics because their robots solve the labour shortages plaguing businesses and wreaking havoc on supply chains. Agility’s robots are designed to free people from repetitive or unpleasant tasks, allowing them to take on the more fulfilling work they can do better than any robot.”
Agility’s Series B round includes participation from previous investors MFV Partners, ITIC, Robotics Hub, Safar Partners, Sony Innovation Fund, and TDK Ventures. The fresh capital will allow Agility to continue expanding its operations and hiring in the US.
The company has opened a new office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in addition to expanding its primary Oregon facilities and Palo Alto operations. Agility plans to double its headcount by 2024 and is actively recruiting robotics talent spanning software and hardware.
To watch the Agility robot in action, click here.
