Aivot, a Seattle-based startup that aims to help businesses tackle monotonous tasks, has built a fleet of AI-equipped humanoid androids for hiring. The company is the brainchild of a trio of former Dell EMC engineers: CEO Shashwat Srivastav, CTO Sriram Sankaran and founding engineer Igor Medvedev.
Aivot robots have been used in warehouses, delivery centers, retail stores and restaurants. Devices can tag, move and clean, and learn about their surroundings just an hour before starting work. Once accustomed, the robots use their existing abilities, such as shaking, tilting and placing objects, to complete the task. Evergreens, a salad chain based in the Pacific Northwest, used Aivo to add labels to bottles of a new beverage line. It was a role the chain had struggled with in the past. With the help of robots, Evergreens has been able to streamline its automated tasks, giving employees more time to train and move into more skilled roles.
Aviot charges a monthly fee for rental robots based on hourly usage. The introduction of robots is currently the company’s only source of income. According to Srivastav, Pivot’s robots are equipped to “understand the context of the physical world and the rules to operate in it.” The company’s innovative approach to robotics has attracted pilots, and it aims to continue expanding its reach in the market.
The pandemic continues to create labor shortages and automation is increasingly in demand. According to market research, the food robotics industry is expected to grow at nearly 11 percent annual growth and reach $4 billion by 2028. Seattle is home to other food and beverage robotics startups, such as Artly, which creates a robot barista, and Picnic, which sells pizza-making robot and partnered with Dominos last year.
