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MUNICH – German robotics startup Magazino today announced a new pricing model for its TORU autonomous mobile picking robot. With the new “pay-per-pick” model, customers need only pay for the work the robot does, instead of an annual software license.
The TORU robot can pick shoe boxes as well as deliver them. Image: Magazino
The TORU robot is specialized in autonomous picking, stowing, and transporting of individual items, such as shoe boxes, in warehouses of online retailers or fulfillment providers. With the new pricing model, customers pay €55,000 (about $62,635) for the hardware, and then €0.06 (about $0.068) for each pick the robot does in the warehouse.
The company said the new pricing model “gives customers a maximum of flexibility because it reduces the upfront investment and the risk during the starting phase of new projects, or when demand declines.”
Frederik Brantner, CEO, Magazino.
“There is an enormous demand in the logistics market for a performance-based pricing,” said Frederik Brantner, co-founder and CEO of Magazino. “We are proud to offer not only a unique automation technology, but also a payment model that provides flexibility and planning reliability at the same time. Pay-per-pick goes way beyond usual software-as-a-service models. We strongly believe that flexibility becomes the most crucial asset for fulfillment operations in e-commerce.”
The company said that regular software updates, as well as the use of AI and machine learning advances will help the robot work faster and become more robust in unknown situations, which will increase the number of picks the robot does per hour. If demand shrinks during the “low season”, customers won’t have to pay more than the actual picks they get from the robot, Magazino added.
About Magazino
Magazino, one of the “Companies We’re Watching” in this year’s RBR50 2019 awards, was founded in 2014 in Munich. The company develops intelligent, mobile robots that perceive their environment and make their own decisions, working alongside people and processes in e-commerce, fashion, and production logistics. It’s TORU robots are running at nine different customer sites in Poland, Germany, and Belgium, featuring advanced computer vision and self-learning methods to work in warehouse environments that were made for humans. The company said the robots can reduce the cost-per-pick up to 40% compared to manual picking. In February 2018, the company raised $24.8 million in funding.
