
Robotics is undergoing fundamental change in three core areas: collaboration, autonomous mobility and increasing intelligence.
Autonomous mobility technology is entering the industrial vehicle marketplace of AGVs, forklifts and tugs with new products, better navigation technologies and lower costs.
Forecasters Grandview Research and IDTechEx suggest that autonomous forklifts and tugs will emerge as the standard from 2022/2023 onwards, ultimately growing to represent 70% of annual mobile material handling equipment by 2037. The key to this transformation is unmanned mobile autonomy. These new mobile autonomous robots can achieve higher productivity and cost efficiencies because the technology largely reduces the driver labor costs, increases safety, and lowers insurance rates and spoilage.
The Vecna Story
Cambridge, MA-based Vecna Technologies, founded in 1998 by a group of MIT scientists on a $5,000 shoe-string investment from the founders, has self-funded itself into a profitable ongoing manufacturer, researcher and software firm serving the healthcare, logistics and remote presence marketplaces. They have amassed more than a hundred issued and pending patents and employ more than 200.
Earlier this year Vecna Technologies spun off 60 employees and the robotics business to found and operate Vecna Robotics working with a large number of partners and contractors. The new entity’s primary applications are to provide mixed fleets of mobile robotic solutions for:
- Goods to person
- Receiving to warehouse
- Production cell to cell
- Point to point gofering
- Zone picking transport
- Tote and case picking transport
Vecna already has a broad range of products serving these applications: from tuggers like at FedEx (see video below) to RC20s which are the lowest cost per performance mobile robot on the market and several models in between. Thousands of Vecna robots are deployed worldwide in (1) major manufacturing facilities doing line-side replenishment; (2) in major shipping companies moving non-conveyables and automating indoor and outdoor tuggers and lifts; and (3) in major 3PLs and retailers doing order fulfillment transport both for store replenishment and for e-commerce.
A recent NY Times story exemplifies how these new Vecna Robotics autonomous mobile robots are impacting the world of material handling. In this case, Vecna robots are used by FedEx to handle large items that don’t fit on conveyor belts.
“When a truck filled with packages arrives, workers load the bulky items onto trailers hitched to a robot. Once these trailers are full, they press a button that sends the vehicle on its way. Equipped with laser-based sensors, cameras and other navigation tools, the robots stop when people or other vehicles get in the way. In some cases, they even figure out a new way to go.”
Vecna robots have vision systems that allow them to navigate safely around humans so that they can share common paths. And they have Autonomy Kit, a general purpose robot brain that can turn any piece of equipment into a safe and efficient mobile robot. Everything from large earth moving and construction equipment to forklifts, tuggers, floor cleaners, and even small order fulfillment and each picking systems can easily be automated and operate in collaborative human-filled environments. Further, all Vecna systems are directed by a smart centralized controller for optimization, traffic control and service. Because Vecna Robotics is finding so much demand (and success) in this sector, it is considering bringing in outside money to fund a more rapid expansion into the marketplace.
Meanwhile, Vecna Technologies, sans the robotics group, remains a leader in healthcare information technology providing patient portals, payment solutions, kiosks, mobile apps, telepresence and medical logistics, and “will continue to innovate and accelerate cutting edge solutions to our customers in the commercial and government healthcare markets,” says Vecna CTO Daniel Theobald.
Marketplace full of competitors, many from China

As competitors sense the growing demand from distribution and fulfillment center executives in need of solutions to pick, pack and ship more parcels quickly, there are many startups and companies inventing or modifying their products to solve those problems and take advantage of the demand.

There is also increasing demand from factory managers who need flexibility to move goods within their facilities that cannot be handled economically by human workers or fixed conveyor systems.
Both markets are growing exponentially and, as can be seen by the two charts above, there are many players competing in the field. Further, the market is also fueled by approved investment priorities in capital purchases that were put off during and after the financial crisis of 2008-9. This can be seen in the VDC Research graphic on the right which surveyed manufacturing executives about their capital purchasing plans for 2018-2020.

Vecna responded to those demands years ago when it began developing and expanding its line of robots and accompanying software. The refocusing that went into spinning off Vecna Robotics will help enable Vecna to continue to be a big, innovative and progressive player in the mobile robotics market.







In this episode of 










Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu and JD.com from China are in a global competition with Google/Alphabet, Apple, Facebook, Walmart and Amazon from the USA and SoftBank from Japan. All are agressively searching for talent, intellectual property, market share, logistics and supply chain technology, and presence all around the world.
Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) is China’s primary search source and also provides Internet-related services and products as well as targeted advertising, transaction services and a video platform. Baidu is heavily investing in researching deep learning, computer vision, speech recognition and synthesis, natural language understanding, data mining and knowledge discovery, business intelligence, artificial general intelligence, high performance computing, robotics and autonomous driving (at their new self-driving lab in Silicon Valley).
Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) is a multi-national China-based e-commerce retailer, payment and technology conglomerate, cloud provider, whose two shopping malls (Tmall and Taobao) have over 1 billion combined active users and are supported by a budding logistics network. Alibaba’s AI-powered platform (which it uses internally for its shopping malls and logistics processing) was recently rolled out in Kuala Lumpur to support smart cities in their digital transformation. It analyzes large data volumes extracted from various sources in an urban environment, through video, image, and speech recognition. The system then uses machine learning to provide insights for city administrators to improve operational efficiencies and monitor security risks.
Tencent (HKG:0700) is a Chinese provider of Internet and cloud-related services and products, entertainment, music services, AI, real estate and social media including WeChat (which recently hit 1 billion users). More than 35% of WeChat users spend over four hours a day on the service compared to the little more than an hour a day spent on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter combined. Tencent has set up AI labs in Shenzhen and Seattle and is researching voice and image recognition systems and transforming what they’ve learned into apps and algorithms to keep their users informed and attentive.
JD.Com (NASDAQ:JD) is a Chinese e-commerce competitor with about half the user base of Alibaba yet with very progressive logistics and infrastructure programs. JD (Jingdong) is testing robotic delivery services, operating driverless delivery trucks and building drone delivery ports. JD operates 7 fulfillment centers and 405 warehouses in China. Last month it raised $2.5 billion for its JD Logistics subsidiary to build out and expand their logistics network.
Google/Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) is a Silicon Valley search engine and Internet products company with a stable of forthcoming AI ventures such as Waymo, Verb Surgical and Nest along with consumer products like Google Home, Android phones and Chromebook computers. Google is leveraging their data, processing power, and talent into an array of AI-based apps, processes and products. Their foray into robotics hardware has resulted in much valuable research but all of the units have either been sold off or closed (except for Boston Dynamics and Shaft which are held up from sale by government regulators). Although still a leader in machine learning, Google is finding much competition from their Chinese competitors.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Apple, a Silicon Valley designer, manufacturer and marketer of phones, media and hardware devices and provider of software, services and digital content. Apple is the world’s largest information technology company by revenue and the world’s second-largest mobile phone manufacturer after Samsung with annual revenue of $229 billion. Building out Siri from the virtual world into the consumer product world with their new Homepod is off to a late start.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) is also a Silicon Valley-based Internet phenomena with products that include Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Oculus. Facebook has over 2.2 billion active users. Their investments in AI appear to be focused on developing a virtual (or physical) assistant. Their acquisition of Ozlo to help Messenger build out a more elaborate virtual assistant for users is an example.
Walmart (NYSE:WMT) is a global retailer with wholesale facilities, logistics and distribution centers all around the world. Walmart operates over 11,000 stores under 59 names in 28 countries and e-commerce sites in 11 countries. It grosses over $480 billion annually and employs over 2.3 million workers. As Walmart increases its online e-commerce market share while simultaneously changing practices to provide better product transparency (particularly in and faster material handling at its stores and distribution centers, it too is on a talent hunt for roboticists and AI/machine learning people and providers.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Amazon is the leading e-commerce seller of products, supply chain services, AI, and cloud services that is copied and competed with around the world. Amazon accounts for ~4% of all retail and ~44% of all e-commerce spending in the US. Amazon’s supply chain and logistics facilities use more than 60,000 robots in its various warehouses and distribution centers, and its cloud services, which not only services Amazon, provides on-demand cloud computing platforms to companies and governments on a subscription basis. Amazon’s Echo/Alexa home assistant has started to include capabilities like a display, camera and alarm clock, security cameras, and even a fashion advisor. It is combining all these different incremental parts to build a smart home robot as they become viable and front-ended by the Alexa voice assistant.
Infrastructure