In December 2017, the firm won the DHL & Dell Robotics Innovation Challenge for developing the Tote Retrieval System (TRS),[5] an automated guided vehicle (AGV) capable of warehouse navigation and mobile piece-picking from conventional shelves.[5]
History
Vecna Robotics originated as a division of Vecna Technologies,[6] which had been founded in 1998 by MIT engineering alumni, Daniel Theobald.[7] According to a December 2017 profile of Theobald by Forbes contributor, Frederick Daso, the company name ‘Vecna’ is derived from the Czech word věčný, fem. věčná, meaning ‘eternal’.[8] Vecna Technologies focused primarily on health-care software development, while the robotics division engaged in research for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force and National Aeronautics and Space Administration.[9][10][11]
The company was later based in Cambridge, MA and supported efforts to build the Massachusetts Robotics Cluster.[3][12][13]
In the mid-2000s era, Vecna Robotics received funding from the U.S. Army, DARPA and other government agencies to develop the Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot (BEAR).[14][15] The humanoid robot was originally designed to rescue wounded soldiers from the battle field, but as the company refined and adapted its robotics software, other commercial applications became evident.[14][16][17] In turn, Vecna Robotics abstracted its autonomy software or "brain" from the BEAR's physical hardware and utilized the same methodology to develop a range of logistics robots.[16][18] In April 2012, the QC Bot, a robotic courier, was piloted in hospitals to distribute medicine and food.[19] The company's product expansion continued in April 2017 when additional logistics robots became generally available to the industrial sector.[4] Concurrently, Vecna Robotics was established as a wholly owned subsidiary of Vecna Technologies.[20][21] The separation positioned Vecna Robotics to seek outside investment as well as specialize in autonomous mobile solutions for manufacturing and warehouse applications.[20][21]
In January 2018, Daniel Patt, the former deputy director of DARPA's Strategic Technology Office (STO), joined as CEO.[22][23] The same year, Vecna Robotics spun out from former parent, Vecna Technologies.[3] 60 existing employees transferred to positions in the new company.[3] According to a filing with the SEC, Vecna Robotics reincorporated in Delaware and raised $13.5 million in a funding round that began August 14, 2018.[1] The round was led by Columbus, Ohio-based venture capital firm, Drive Capital, and marked the first outside equity investment in the new company Vecna Robotics.[22][24] In January 2020, an additional $50M in investment was announced along with a change of leadership as Theobald took over as CEO.[25]
In June 2021, the company announced former founder and CEO of Lifesize Craig Malloy as CEO.[2]
In January 2022, the company announced a series C raise led by Tiger Global with participation from Lineage Logistics, Proficio Capital Partners, and IMPULSE, bringing the company's total capital raised to $128.5 million.[26]
In March 2022, the company released the industry's first co-bot pallet jack in partnership with forklift maker Big Joe.[27]
Technology
Vecna Robotics’ automated material handling product line includes the RC20 Conveyor, RC500 Conveyor, RL350 Lifter, RL3600 Pallet Truck, RT4500 Tugger and the Tote Retrieval System (TRS).[28][29] As of October 2018, the company's RL3600 Pallet Trucks were deployed at Milton CAT's Milford, Massachusetts distribution center to increase fulfillment speed.[30] The RL3600 addressed the problem of retrieving slow-selling items stored at long walking distances.[30] In March 2018, a fleet of six RT4500 Tuggers were profiled by Cade Metz in The New York Times as new “robotic colleagues” at the FedEx industrial shipping hub in Kernersville, North Carolina.[31] In this warehouse application, the tuggers pull trains of carts with bulky goods such as car tires or canoes to manage a growing percentage of eCommerce orders for items unable to fit on conveyor belts.[31] In addition to Vecna Robotics’ hardware line, the company also developed artificial intelligence (AI) software designed to integrate warehouse management systems, robotics and human workflow.[20][32]
