Editor’s Note: Robotics Business Review’s coverage emphasizes innovation, including start-up companies (or ‘young’ companies). RBR “Start-Up Profiles” highlight individual start-up companies using a consistent, templated format that makes for quick, yet informed reading, that also simplifies comparative analysis.
Southie Autonomy- Company Profile
| City: | Boston | State: | Massachusetts |
| Country: | USA | # of Employees: | 8 |
| URL: | www.southie.ai | Founded: | 2017 |
Founders – Rahul Chipalkatty, CEO and Founder, Jay M. Wong, Robotics Lead and Co-Founder
Funding Status – Completed Pre-Seed in 2019. Raising Seed to close in early 2021.
With Southie Autonomy’s easy-to-use, full robotic solution, Codiac, anyone can automate packing, kitting, and palletization tasks that change every few hours.
Southie Autonomy- Offerings Profile
Primary Target Markets – Defense / Security, Logistics / Supply Chain, Manufacturing
Technology / Product / Service(s) – Southie Autonomy’s robot software makes it easy for anyone to use robots within minutes using only simple gestures. NO coding, NO programming required! With Southie Autonomy’s easy-to-use, full robotic solution, Codiac, anyone can automate packing, kitting, and palletization tasks that change every few hours. With a simple wave of The Wand, the user tells the robot to pick up objects of varying shapes and sizes, then where to place them. Southie Autonomy’s novel AI/AR software understands the objects, creates a program for the robot to follow, then deploys the robot to begin handling the objects in minutes. The expert Southie Autonomy team will design, source, and install Codiac, assisting every step throughout the automation process.
Value Proposition – With Codiac, customers across manufacturing are able to automate short-run tasks, like packaging assembly and kitting, which haven’t made sense to automate in the past. Using Codiac, customers gain a 1.5-2x increase in productivity per workstation – producing more volume faster than ever before, while cutting operational costs. Southie Autonomy cuts the cost of automation by 50%, allowing customers to achieve ROI on the full Codiac solution in 18-24 months. By working with Southie Autonomy, customers have access to our expert robotics team which will design, install, and be there for full customer support every step of the way.
Demand Drivers – Consumers are demanding more customized goods through omni-channel, meaning manufacturers have to produce in smaller and smaller batch sizes. So, traditional high-volume automation is not an option. Companies across manufacturing are looking to expand their operations to keep up with fast-growing demand for their services. However, doing so with manual packing and kitting processes means increasing challenges with labor, like repetitive stress injuries or even finding enough manpower to do the work.
As labor rates continue to decline across manufacturing, Southie Autonomy’s customers are looking for automation solutions, like Codiac, to help secure growth and maintain stability across their operations.
Southie Autonomy is a certified partner of Universal Robots’ UR+ program.
Southie Autonomy- Business Model(s) and Competition
Business Model – Southie Autonomy works directly with customers, while also actively partnering with distributors and integrators. Southie Autonomy is a certified partner of the Universal Robots’ UR+ program, Mitsubishi Electric, and works closely with other top OEMs across the robotics industry. The company is a member of Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute (ARM) and Robotic Industries Association (RIA). Our hybrid model allows customers to pay a smaller upfront cost and then monthly payments less than the cost of a temp worker.
Partners – Southie Autonomy is a certified partner of Universal Robots partnership program (UR+)
which includes promotion of Codiac by the Universal Robots network.
Customers – Yes, Southie Autonomy currently works with three main customers – contract packaging,
automotive Tier 1 suppliers, and the Department of Defense. Southie Autonomy has conducted paid pilot work with a top 3 CPG Fortune 500 company.
Competitive Landscape – Pickle Robotics, Vicarious and Ready Robotics.
Southie Autonomy – Recent News
- Southie Autonomy Selected and Awarded $200K by Army Futures Command and Army Applications Lab for the New SPARTN Program – Fire Faster Cohort
- Southie Autonomy Winner of the $20K Challenge for Dual-Use Technology by UMass Lowell SBIR Center of Excellence
- Southie Autonomy Selected as a Finalist for the 2020 Startup of the Year Award
- Southie Autonomy Driving Growth in the Future of Logistics as an Automation Solution Provider
- Southie Autonomy Selected as a Finalist for the New England Innovation Awards (NEIA)
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