The global warehouse automation market was worth $19bn in 2021 & predicted to grow to $65bn by 2030. Large warehouses are driving this growth, but what about small & medium-sized ones? turns out, >10% of them are able to adopt robotic automation due to issues of high cost, complexity & long lead times. That’s where UK-based Phinxt (pronounced fin-ext) wants to step in, as the startup aims to allow 90% of SMEs to adopt robotics, by providing a cloud-based “orchestration” platform to make a variety of robots work together (e.g. integrating an AMR with a robotic picking arm). Phinxt wants to differentiate itself from e.g. Wise Robotics (UK) (€n.a.) or Waku Robotics (DE) (€2.5m) via a patented decentralized approach (of having robots “talk” to one another directly to e.g. avoid collisions) vs. a centralized approach (where a warehouse operator has to preset everything). Phinxt prefers customers that generally have no existing automation. The startup will order the robots on their behalf, map out & simulate floorplans (“critically important”, with a tool to optimize layout), & prepare the area with QR codes for robot navigation & the right kind of shelves. New robots can easily be installed on the platform, which interfaces with APIs provided by each/ compatible with most robot manufacturers (some tasks are already preset within Phinxt, others are being developed). The startup plans to charge customers a one-off activation fee per-robot & a per-robot-per-month fee therafter. Phinxt was founded in 2022 by PhDs Yanwen Chen (CEO) & Quirino Zagarese (CTO), with the support of Mayur Tikam (Lead Roboticist). Use of funds will go towards field testing, with a group of UK-based warehouse customers. <Source: techfundingnews.com, roboticsandinnovation.co.uk, uktech.news, preseednow.com>
