Berkshire Grey, Inc. is an American technology company based in Bedford Massachusetts that develops integrated artificial intelligence (“AI") and robotic solutions for e-commerce, retail replenishment, and logistics. The company's systems automate pick, pack and sort operations. Berkshire Grey was founded by a group of 20 PhD's in the fields of embedded systems to motion planning.

History

Berkshire Grey was founded in 2013 by Tom Wagner. He was previously chief technology officer of iRobot. Chief Scientist for Berkshire Grey is

Matthew T. Mason Matthew Thomas Mason (born August 24, 1952 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) is an American roboticist and the former Director of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Mason is a researcher in the area of robotic manipulation, and is the ...

, former Director of the

Robotics Institute The Robotics Institute (RI) is a division of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. A June 2014 article in ''Robotics Business Review'' magazine calls it "the world's best robo ...

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

, and author of two highly cited textbooks on robotic manipulation. Mason was given the

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE ...

br>Robotics and Automation Award
in 2018. The Berkshire Grey team is staffed with alumni from

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...

Kiva Systems Amazon Robotics LLC, formerly Kiva Systems, is a Massachusetts-based company that manufactures mobile robotic fulfillment systems. It is a subsidiary of Amazon.com. Its automated storage and retrieval systems have been used in the past by compan ...

Tesla Tesla most commonly refers to: * Nikola Tesla (1856–1943), a Serbian-American electrical engineer and inventor * Tesla, Inc., an American electric vehicle and clean energy company, formerly Tesla Motors, Inc. * Tesla (unit) (symbol: T), the SI-d ...

, and

. In December 2018, Berkshire Grey announced it has been selling AI-enabled robotics for retailers and logistics companies, automating tasks not previously performed by machines in commercial settings. In August, 2019,

SoftBank is a Japanese multinational Investment company, investment holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, that focuses on investment management. The group primarily invests in companies operating in technology that offer goods and services ...

announced it had struck a deal with Berkshire Grey. The deal secured $263 million in

series B funding A venture round is a type of funding round used for venture capital financing, by which startup companies obtain investment, generally from venture capitalists and other institutional investors. The availability of venture funding is among the p ...

, led by Softbank. The

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

reported at that time "Berkshire Grey emerged from five years of secretive development late last year."

ABB ABB Group is a Swedish-Swiss multinational electrical engineering corporation. Incorporated in Switzerland as ABB Ltd., and headquartered in Zurich, it is dual-listed on the Nasdaq Nordic exchange in Stockholm, Sweden, and the SIX Swiss Excha ...

, a multinational corporation that operates mainly in

robotics Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Within mechanical engineering, robotics is the design and construction of the physical structures of robots, while in computer s ...

power Power may refer to: Common meanings * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power, a type of energy * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events Math ...

, heavy

electrical equipment Electrical devices or electric devices are devices that functionally rely on electric energy ( AC or DC) to operate their core parts (electric motors, transformers, lighting, rechargeable batteries, control electronics). They can be contraste ...

, and

automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...

technology areas, in 2019 announced they gave Berkshire Grey their "Most Innovative Solutions” Award. As of April 2020, media reports indicated Berkshire Grey's robotic solutions had handled millions of items and containers in production facilities. In February 2021, Berkshire Grey Inc. announced that it plans to go public through a merger with special-purpose acquisition company Revolution Acceleration Acquisition Corp. (RAAC) bringing their valuation to $2.7 billion. Chief Executive of RAAC is John Delaney, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Berkshire Grey's customers include Walmart, Inc.,

Target Corp Target Corporation is an American retail corporation that operates a chain of discount department stores and hypermarkets, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh-largest retailer in the United States, and a component of th ...

., and

FedEx FedEx Corporation, originally known as Federal Express Corporation, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company specializing in Package delivery, transportation, e-commerce, and ...

Corp. The company says its technology will help its customers to compete with

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

, which has invested billions into automation. Offering different robotics that include picking, gripping and image sensing, Berkshire Grey has more than 300 patents in the area. Justia lists 59 patents as granted since 2018. Berkshire Grey plans to use contract manufacturing partners for the robot, camera and conveyor belt parts. They will then assemble them into a finished product with their own employees on-site at the customer location. In March 2021, Berkshire Grey collaborated with

CEVA Logistics CEVA Logistics is a global logistics and supply chain company that operates both freight management and contract logistics. It was purchased by the CMA CGM group in 2019. Since this purchase, CMA CGM has acquired other logistics and transportation ...

to implement robotic automation systems at CEVA's Vancouver eCommerce facility. CEVA used Berkshire Grey's Robotic Product Sortation and Identification system to autonomously identify and sort eCommerce packages.

References

External links

*{{Official, https://www.berkshiregrey.com/ Artificial intelligence companies American companies established in 2013 Robotics companies of the United States Companies based in Lexington, Massachusetts Technology companies based in the Boston area SoftBank portfolio companies