A farewell has been announced by Memphis-based Dextrous Robotics. According to the Robot Report, CEO Evan Drumwright confirmed the news on his LinkedIn account, stating, “Put simply, we adopted an aggressive trajectory 18 months ago that the recent investment market didn’t support. We became insolvent as a result.” This decision marks the end of the road for the warehouse robotics firm.
Even in immaculate economic conditions, launching a startup is something of a fool’s errand – that’s doubly the case with hardware and, perhaps, triply so in robotics. It’s an expensive pursuit that requires extensive runways and room to make pivots, and even the most promising companies rarely make it off the runway.
Last year, Dextrous gained attention for their innovative approach to truck unloading. Their system utilizes a “chopstick” technique, in which two vertical-oriented girders control a pair of sticks that press against boxes to lift them. This dexterity (not to be confused with fellow truck unloading robot company Dexterity AI) allows the system to approach boxes from multiple angles.
“Four years ago, we established Dextrous Robotics with a goal to automate one of the most dangerous tasks in the industrialized world and bring order to our world with machines,” reveals Drumwright. He adds, “We believe humans should not have to compromise their physical well-being for goods to travel around the world.”
The post continues by mentioning that the company’s DX-1 robot was “on track” to launch with two “large logistics companies.” There is high demand for this technology due to ongoing labor shortages and the desire to compete with industry giant Amazon. Loading and unloading trucks is physically demanding work that remains challenging to automate.
However, the effort put into this industry is never in vain. The concepts introduced through the DX-1 robot will eventually resurface and be utilized in some form down the road.
