As an automated disinfecting robot swept through Build With Robots' new Downtown workspace on Wednesday, members of Albuquerque's business community sat back and watched.
The group gathered together as part of the Albuquerque company's opening of its new facility. The robot, called Breezy One, has brought the startup publicity as demand for cleaning services increased during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The move into the new facility, located at 429 Commercial St. NE, came after a state-backed expansion plan for Build With Robots was announced in March. As part of the expansion project, the company is set to grow to 24 employees within one year, with a total of 64 jobs created by the end of 2024. Its new office includes space for manufacturing, research and development, as well as a robot demonstration area to host clients, according to a news release from the New Mexico Economic Development Department. The expansion is backed by a $360,000 in Local Economic Development Act incentives, used as a closing fund to grow existing New Mexico businesses and recruit others to the state.
Asked why Build With Robots chose to stay and expand in Albuquerque, CEO Chris Ziomek told Business First that "the changes in automation are really changing the economics and the calculus of how things are done and where they are done... the driving factors behind the manufacturing, or in our case disinfecting, is no longer going to be driven by low-cost labor markets" in lieu of other factors such as labor pools, raw material availability and energy production.
Also, Ziomek said, "it's needed here... we have a lot of government and other types of industry here [but] we don't have a S&P 500 company headquartered here. We don't have a lot of organic, vibrant, new market companies here and we believe Build With Robots is going to be one of those."
Build With Robots is currently inching its way towards closing what it hopes will be a $4 million Series A investment round, which was just given a boost with an investment from the Arrowhead Innovation Fund, Business First reported. So far, its technology has seen a quick rise.
The Breezy One robot has been deployed at the Albuquerque International Sunport, Electric Playhouse and St. Mary's Catholic School, among other places. Rebecca Maestas-Sanchez, who is the principal of St. Mary's Catholic School and was present at Wednesday's event, previously said the robot costs about $20 per day to operate. Between the end of March 2020 and the end of March 2021, Build With Robots did about $1 million worth of Breezy One sales.
Moving forward, Build With Robots sees opportunity in helping organizations disinfect large shared spaces frequently occupied by different people, such as schools and airports. In about 20 minutes, the robot can sanitize all of Electric Playhouse's 24,000-square-foot facility at the West Bluff Shopping Center, Ziomek previously told Business First.
