San Francisco-based startup Mytra has emerged from two years of stealth development with a new automated warehousing and material handling solution. The technology, which has already attracted $78 million in financing, uses a combination of hardware and software to move materials in three dimensions, promising to revolutionize supply chains and material handling.
The Brains Behind Mytra
The company was founded by Chris Walti, who spent seven years at Tesla leading the Model 3 material flow team and the Tesla Bot humanoid robot program, and Ahmad Baitalmal, who led software developments at Tesla and EV-maker Rivian. Both founders experienced the challenges of implementing automated warehouses and manufacturing facilities and felt it was time for a change.
A New Approach to Material Handling
Mytra’s solution is a system that can move any type of inventory weighing up to 3,000lb in any direction using cells, mobile robots, and software. The founders believe they can automate up to 60% of the material-handling process, a significant increase from the 10% automation achieved with existing technologies.
Key Components of the System
The system comprises three key components: bots that move the materials, a simple, repeated matrix structure for storage, and edge-intelligent software that simplifies deployment, reduces costs, and avoids single points of failure. The system uses advanced machine vision and sensor technologies for precise, real-time responses, with autonomous AI-driven transport robots making independent decisions in real time.
Software-Defined Material Flows
Mytra’s software optimizes bot routes, manages inventory, and learns and improves continuously, adjusting to changing customer demands. Material flows are software-defined, allowing users to unlock new applications and future-proof their operations.
Impressive Efficiency Gains
Mytra estimates that its system can reduce warehouse labor hours by up to 88% and double internal rates of return compared to current best-in-class technologies. The first real-world installations of the technology are at US supermarket chain Albertsons, which is using it to buffer and sequence inventory at its distribution centers before shipping to stores.
The company has ambitious plans to expand its team, scale its technology, and deploy a next generation of systems to blue-chip companies to automate applications that are currently manual and labor-intensive.
