The AMR consolidation and the humanoid boom
Amazon kickstarted the Autonomous Mobile Robot* (AMR) funding craze with its acquisition of Kiva robotics in 2012. From 2014 to 2021, the number of AMR/Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGV) deals per year increased from 2 to ~20. This was, of course, helped along by falling interest rates, an eCommerce boom, and Covid.
*AMRs and AGVs are mobile robots used in warehouses (and other spaces) to help lift, move, and transport items across a floor. They serve a number of other purposes too.
The boom and consolidation of AMRs
Venture investment in autonomous mobile robots boomed and then stopped. See the chart below of venture deals per year into AMRs and AGVs.
The chart of venture dollars is even starker (and more clearly shows a Covid effect).
These AMR companies aren’t going bankrupt. They are getting bought out.
AMR funding picked up, a number of companies were born, now we’re seeing consolidation. This is a positive trend for the industry because these solutions will be pushed out in the field in a profitable way. Rockwell Automation, the recent buyer of Clearpath robotics, sees the AMR space as strategically important given the expected growth.
Humanoid Robot Rebirth
Humanoid robots, a potentially more multi-purpose variant of AMRs, are seeing a rebirth. Tesla’s optimus and Agility’s Digit robots are seeing pilot use in an industrial setting.
Venture capital investors are responding in kind, with a nearly 4x increase in the number of humanoid robotics deals.
From AMR experimentation to Humanoid exploration
AMRs have reached enough maturity to see widespread use in the field. The number of venture deals per year into AMRs went from 2 to 20. With the slow down in AMR experimentation, it’s possible to pick winners in the space. Larger incumbents are doing this, buying up AMR companies. The number of AMR acquisitions went from 0 to 5 per year. At the same time, the next wave of industrial robotics innovation is taking a… more human shape.