Just like someone getting situated in a new home, the staff of Dextrous Robotics is also still getting acclimated to its larger surroundings.
The Memphis-based logistics robotics startup moved into its new 20,000-square-foot facility in Midtown on April 27. The robotics firm held a grand opening event on May 11, hosted by the Greater Memphis Chamber, to showcase its headquarters and robotics lab at 802 Rozelle St.
Ted Townsend, president and CEO of the Greater Memphis Chamber, said Dextrous Robotics represents the epitome of the “Digital Delta,” where an advanced, innovative company is at the fulcrum of logistics and manufacturing.
“To see a startup in Memphis [as it] starts to scale just speaks to the long legacy of great entrepreneurship in logistics and advanced industries that we have here in Memphis,” he said.
Ratcheting up to a bigger facility
Co-founders Evan Drumwright and Sam Zapolsky launched Dextrous Robotics in 2019. Prior to the recent move, the company operated out of a 3,000-square-foot space at Crosstown Concourse. Drumwright told MBJ that it was bittersweet to leave Crosstown, but the move was vital for expanding operations.
“We loved Crosstown Concourse, but [our space there] was pretty much at 99% capacity,” he said. “We needed a lot more space. … We’ve got additional capacity here coming online next year. The entire building is 47,000 square feet, so we can really grow into this building.”
Drumwright noted that establishing the firm in the Bluff City was an ideal fit. Dextrous Robotics employs 10, most of whom were recruited from outside the city.
“More freight moves through Memphis than any other city in the U.S.,” Drumwright said. “If we weren’t here, then we would need to be located somewhere near here. We love the city, and it has a lot of soul, character, art, and music. We’ve been able to recruit people here who also appreciate that, and it’s going to help us expand to have all of these customers in this area."
Robotic impact in the market
Dextrous Robotics' flagship DX-1 robot is designed to unload boxes from trucks. The DX-1 can pick up 2,000 packages per hour at 400 times the speed of a human workforce.
Trucks are loaded with either palletized shipments or with floor-loaded shipments. Palletized freight is easier to get in and out of the truck with the use of a forklift, however, the pallets use up additional space, forcing companies to make a decision on how freight is going to be shipped. Floor-loaded shipments are generally loaded and unloaded by hand.
“People load a semi-trailer or shipping container piece by piece, and what you actually see happen is people spending several hours unloading all those packages or whatever it is out of the semi-trailer," Drumwright said. "It's hard, backbreaking, unskilled, low-paid work. And that is what our robot has been made to do is to automate that process.”
Extending out for growth
At their new Midtown facility, its warehouse holds parts for the next batch of robots prepared to be sent to customers this summer. Dextrous Robotics is currently raising Series A fundsto scale beyond pilots and build production unit robots. However, the firm wouldn’t disclosed to MBJ the amount it has raised thus far or how much it is looking to raise.
“We are about to have these [robots] in the field,” Drumwright said. “The kinds of customers that we target are very large corporations such as the major retailers, third-party logistics companies, warehousing companies, and package logistics companies such as UPS, FedEx, and DHL.”
To support potential growth, Dextrous Robotics' leadership looks to scale up employment beyond the current 10 staff members.
“What we see happening over the next 18 months is going to a headcount of about 45 [workers], which is just a lot of growth in a short period of time,” Drumwright said. “We’re going to be bringing in and hiring more top-notch people such as engineers, salespeople, executives, and in operations, administration, and manufacturing.”
