Robots That Don’t Walk Are Making Strides

Humanoid robots that walk around on two legs have been attracting attention and money, but they are still a long way off from being mass produced. Traditional robots that don’t have legs, however, are moving ahead in places like agricultural fields, stores and warehouses.

One example is Mech, an artificial intelligence-powered robot for logistics jobs unveiled this week by Dexterity, a startup founded by seven Stanford University-educated engineers. On Tuesday, the eight-year-old company confirmed it had raised funding at a $1.65 billion valuation, which I reported last year. 

That may not be as eye-popping as the roughly $40 billion valuation that humanoid robot developer Figure hopes to get from its existing investors in an ongoing capital raise. But Dexterity can point to what appears to be demand from real customers.

Mech has two eight-jointed arms that can each lift 65 pounds, swappable suction cup hands for different tasks and a rolling blue base that can connect to conveyor belts so it can handle a stream of packages. It can stack boxes on pallets, sort packages and load trucks, CEO Samir Menon said. It’s also working with an international airport to test Mech’s ability to stow baggage in the unusually curve-shaped hold of a plane, a spokesperson said.