IAM Robotics Participates in TEDxCMU Innovation Series

Tom Galluzzo, Founder and CTO of IAM Robotics, recently participated in the TEDxCMU Innovation Series, part of the Synapse 2020 event. You can catch up on Tom’s full interview.

The IAM Robotics Mission

As a warehouse automation company, IAM Robotics works with customers who seek to automate their e-commerce fulfillment operations. We do this by developing autonomous mobile robots (AMR) with computer vision to transport and move goods around a warehouse, e-commerce fulfillment centers, and buy online, pick up in-store (BOPUS) operations.

We’re based out of Pittsburgh, PA, with a new Showcase Innovation Center on Robotics Row, just outside Lawrenceville. While we definitely have competition across the country and worldwide, our fellow Pittsburgh-based robotics companies are working on similar and complementary technologies.

Recognizing and Collaborating with Our Competitors

IAM Robotics is devoted to fulfillment operations, but we proudly recognize our peers. BossaNova Robotics works with robots to scan inventory in retail stores; Seegrid moves larger goods and transports pallets over long distances in spacious facilities, and Aethon manufactures AMRs for healthcare and manufacturing applications. We envision strategic partnerships as each one of us moves beyond the start-up stage, connecting different applications together.

Labor and Fulfillment Challenges

The biggest challenge in e-commerce is replacing the amount of labor required in the industry. U.S. consumers spend about 40 billion hours per year shopping for their goods, which is fulfillment work they’re basically doing for free. When you move all of that work online, it’s equivalent to 20 million full-time jobs—not nearly enough people in the country to meet demand.

As e-commerce continues to grow, companies will need to automate more, just to keep up with demand. IAM Robotics reallocates the physical touches that would otherwise be required for e-commerce fulfillment and hands them off to the robots. This way, people can use robots as a tool to scale more, achieving more throughput and volume to meet growing consumer demands.

IAM Robotics’ Automation Solutions

IAM Robotics provides automation solutions that give you the power to do more, and we’re just getting started.

Take Bolt, our new AMR, for instance. Bolt is the base foundation for all of our technology. Bolt navigates completely autonomously using simultaneous local vision and mapping (SLAM),  and LiDAR sensors to look at the surrounding environment, understand its place in that environment, and navigate through it. Warehouses are constantly changing environments, and the robot is capable of responding to that by driving around obstacles and operating safely around people.

On top of Bolt, we’ve built several different applications, including Swift, our autonomous mobile manipulation robot (AMMR). Like any shopper, Swift navigates aisles, sees different items, and collects those goods (oftentimes into a batch)—aggregating multiple orders at one time. Our newest version of Swift is a tote handling application that expands the breadth of the pick and pack operation.

We’ve designed our solutions as a pick-and-choose suite of products. We partner with integrators who work directly with clients to figure out the best design for their warehouse, how many robots they need, and what kind of robot makes sense for their operation. Conveniently, our robots are complemented by other technologies and existing automation already in the warehouse. It’s IAM Robotics’ job to provide best-in-class, autonomous robots, with industry-leading uptime and productivity rates, and access to remote monitoring and support from our team.

Meet Your Partner in Modern Material Handling

IAM Robotics continues to work with our customers and business partners to expand the types of operations we support. There isn’t enough time in the day to do each task necessary for order fulfillment without the help of automation. We know just how imperative it is to build out automation efficiencies to handle growing demand. Will you join us?

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