Vecna Robotics

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DANIEL THEOBALD: My name is Daniel Theobald. I am founder and CEO of Vecna Robotics. We are the global leader in autonomous bulk handling. Think driverless forklifts. Vecna Robotics is the result of a lifelong pursuit of making modern, mobile robots practical.

So Vecna Robotics has taken a different approach than most robotics companies. And we spent really last couple of decades solving the much harder fundamental autonomous mobility problem. In a general way, our software learns to drive the vehicle much more like a human driver would. We're not hardcoded to any particular vehicle type, or any particular type of sensors.

Our technology is much more generally applicable. So our Pivot.al software that we've developed has the capability of turning any piece of industrial equipment into a fully autonomous, mobile, safe device that can help with making workers more effective, supercharging their productivity by eliminating a lot of the need for them to do tasks that don't add any value.

Humans are really great at problem solving. Humans are really great at dealing with exceptions. They're not so great at driving across a million square foot warehouse and not getting bored doing that activity, which is why sometimes accidents happen, and you have a hard time holding on to staff. Because it's just not great work.

It's not challenging. It's not stimulating. It's not engaging. So what we've focused on is solving the problems that allow the human workers to be more productive than ever before, because they are focusing on the tasks that really engage them, that are really adding value to their organization. What we found, in a number of case studies, is that when we can effectively orchestrate the work in real time, that means make sure the right resource is in the right place, at the right time, doing the right task, when you can do that, it really supercharges your throughput.

And you're able to significantly-- we've shown over two times increase in throughput without adding any additional resources, simply by making sure that the resources that are already in place are providing their most valuable contribution to the critical path. Our Pivot.al software is a platform that we've invested heavily in over the past couple of decades. And it does three things.

First thing it does is it allows us to turn any piece of industrial equipment into a safe, fully autonomous, mobile robot very quickly. The second thing it does is continual learning. So all of the data from all of those robots, and even workers that are connected to our system with Android devices, or AR headsets, all that data is streaming in constantly.

And so the system is learning where the challenges and obstacles are to getting that maximum throughput. And then the third thing it does is this workflow orchestration piece where, since it understands where everybody is, understands where all the robots are, it understands where the manual equipment is and what work needs to get done because it's integrated with the warehouse management system or the manufacturing execution system or whatever is generating demand for work.

It's kind of like a grand master chess player. It's able to look at the board see all the pieces, know what needs to happen next, and make the next best move. So it's really exciting to be able to show that you can get far more throughput from your facility, and resilience, and flexibility, by adopting this kind of orchestration platform. The robots are an important part of it. But our whole approach is that robots are just another agent that can get work done.

And, ultimately, it's about using the resources you have as effectively as possible. And that's what Pivot.al allows you to do. I think what separates us from our competitors is really our long-term view, our trying to optimize for the long term, our partnership approach with our customers, our deep expertise in robotics and solving the really hard problems, not just building a superficial system that can meet a short-term need, but ultimately won't scale with your organization.

Building in the flexibility to truly scale and evolve with our customers' needs over time is something that really sets us apart from everybody else out there. The quick ROI win helps a little bit today. But, if you want to ensure that you are the leader in your field in the future, it requires a little bit longer term thinking.

And a lot of this technology is incredibly powerful, but it does take time to adopt it. It does take time to learn how to apply it in your enterprise in the best possible way. Being part of the STEX25 MIT Startup Exchange and the Industrial Liaison Program, ILP, at MIT has been absolutely phenomenal for us. It has been great to get the advice of the very knowledgeable, talented staff in a number of different areas.

It's been great to have them connect us with similar MIT startups, or other startups that have technology that we can benefit from, or experiences that we can learn from. And then most importantly, it's been absolutely phenomenal to have them connect us with large corporate entities that need the type of technology we're developing. It's been great that they have those connections, that they facilitate that in a very effective way.

There are a lot of organizations out there that try to act as intermediaries, but I feel like I haven't been as effective. And the MIT Startup Exchange I have found to be unique in their ability to really provide value in moving industry forward.

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