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The rise of foundational models is rekindling interest in robotics. From Boston Dynamics to Figure, companies are exploring how continuously learning humanoids can transform business and consumer ecosystems. But do we need complex two-legged robotic systems roaming around all the time? Chris Walti, former head of Tesla’s Optimus humanoid project, thinks not, especially when it comes to warehousing. Today, he announced Mytra, a startup he co-founded with former Rivian head Ahmad Baitalmal. Its mission: to use simple AI-driven 3D robotic systems to handle one of the biggest tasks in a warehouse: material flow.
“We are taking a fundamentally different approach by reducing the number of parts and shifting the focus from hardware to software. We are the first and only solution that can universally automate many of the most labor-intensive, costly and complex aspects of material flow, the ‘red blood’ of any industrial activity,” Walthy said in a statement.
The company has been operating under the radar since 2022, but has finally come out of stealth with a $78 million Series B round of funding. Investment comes from some of the biggest names in the industry and venture capital firms, including Greenoaks, Eclipse, Abstract Ventures, Promus Ventures, LifeX, 515 Ventures, and Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan.
What exactly are robotics startups offering?
Material flow – the movement and storage of materials, products and goods – makes up a large part of the work that takes place in a warehouse. But even with all the advances in AI and robotics, many businesses still rely on humans to drive forklifts and operate conveyors to complete this task – a time-consuming and unsustainable task given increasing pressure on manufacturing and supply chains and a dwindling labor supply.
Waltie saw the problem firsthand during his seven-year tenure at Tesla, when he told VentureBeat that the material flow system was in such a bad state that it “almost destroyed the company.”
“I have built and led an internal team to ensure that Tesla never finds itself in this situation again. As the scope of this effort has expanded, including leading the Tesla Bot initiative, it has become clear that beyond ‘general purpose’ robotics, the world needs better, simpler form factors that can harness the power of modern software to solve pervasive problems in factories and warehouses,” he said. This ultimately led to the founding of Mytra in 2022.
Essentially, the startup offers companies a modular, cell-based matrix structure that AI-powered bots can navigate, transporting up to 3,000 pounds from any cell to any adjacent cell in any direction depending on the warehouse’s needs, dramatically improving how materials are lifted, moved, and stored manually.
“This structure can be scaled in any direction and can have any shape. Technically, it is a tessellated lattice structure. It has no moving parts or powered systems and serves to ‘structure’ the 3D space so that the robot can move from any cell to any adjacent cell in any axis (X, Y, Z). The combination of these two systems allows for the maximum kinematic flexibility limited by physics,” explains Walti.
Meanwhile, end-to-end AI software makes bots more efficient, optimizes routes, and manages inventory. It uses predictive planning for manufacturing facilities (based on historical data) to know what work needs to be done and strategically places stock that is fast or needed immediately in high-throughput zones within the structure, while if it is not needed immediately, it is stored in lower-throughput zones.
“Each cell can be designated in the software as a storage or throughput location. In this way, the Mytra system can be configured with an almost infinite number of locations to store goods and, conversely, define their path through the system,” the CEO added. Essentially, the team can modify the robotics system at any time as needed to suit the scale, density, throughput and application they require.
Mitra structure
To meet the computational demands of this software-based approach, Mytra deployed a combination of algorithms trained with reinforcement learning.
“Algorithms focus on a small subset of problems that are important and add value. Reinforcement learning solves this computational complexity very elegantly and efficiently by sorting through infinite possibilities to create efficient operation plans at any given time,” Walty noted.
Strong support from Fortune 100 companies
Though the company has only just emerged from stealth, its founders claim that it has already garnered significant backing from Fortune 100 companies, including grocery giant Albertsons (which has also invested in the company).
“We have pilot programs underway and are seeing growing interest from existing customers who want to expand their collaboration with us. We’ve also seen increased demand from new customers recently, with several new deployments planned for 2025. The strong support we’ve received from customers to date demonstrates that we’re solving an important and growing business challenge,” added Walti.
When asked how much it would cost to deploy the modular system, the CEO emphasized that “the upfront investment in the structure should be comparable to traditional large-scale pallet racking.” The other elements of the system, the bots and AI software, will be delivered on a service-based model.
“In all our projects to date, we have seen that using Mytra bots + software results in significant cost savings over using traditional material handling equipment (forklifts, pallet jacks) + manpower for the same job,” he said.
Notably, companies like AutoStore, Locus, and Zebra are also working on automating material movement tasks with the help of robots, but their CEOs claim that all these solutions require deep technical expertise and significant investments of time and money. Besides, they lack the flexibility to adapt to evolving business needs.
The CEO plans to use the funding to scale the technology and make the system available to interested customers. He also plans to expand his team across departments to further improve the system and roll out the next generation of Mytra bots to leading enterprises looking to automate applications that remain highly manual and labour intensive.
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