An Exoskeleton Walked Into A Warehouse And…

One glance at Sarcos Robotics webpage and you see part Jetsons, part C-3PO. The company is, in its own words, “enabling the industrial workforce of the future through robotics.” Yesterday Sarcos announced it is going public through a merger with SPAC Rotor Acquisition Corp (ROT, yeah, it could have been a better symbol).

Rotor Acquisition warrants trade under the ticker ROTWS. Each warrant (a unit, ROTU, has one common and one-half warrant) is exercisable at $11.50 for one share of ROT. The warrants will not become exercisable until after the deal closes.

One goal of the merger, not surprisingly, is to fund growth initiatives. This includes completion of the Sarcos Guardian XO, currently scheduled to be launched in mid-2022. 

This Guardian XO is a full body, wearable, battery-powered exoskeleton robot.  Yes, it’s as futuristic as that sounds. It is intended for use in settings such as manufacturing, warehouses, and construction.

Can I mention that it’s hard not to say which childhood toy any of the Sarcos products reminds me of? Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, anyone? 

Also scheduled for release next year is the Guardian XT. This teleoperated robot is controlled by a user wearing a motion-sensing suit. It can grind, cut and weld, all at the command of the user who can be at a safe distance. 

Other Sarcos robots are remote controlled (no exoskeleton or suit required). For example, the Guardian S is an under-twenty pound inspection and surveillance robot that can navigate tricky terrain. Think of the applications for first responders, public safety, and the like. 

Sarcos is not without competition. Boston Dynamics and RE2 Robotics come to mind, though it’s a bit of an apples and oranges in terms of specific products. 

At a robotics and AI conference I attended a few years ago, back when you could do that in person, I had an interesting conversation with one of the warehouse robotics developers.

The gist of the conversation was, in order for any warehouse robotics company to succeed they must meet a price point that is equivalent to a human worker.

What’s interesting with Sarcos, is that they are not replacing the human, but augmenting them. The argument around cost then revolves around replacing a “system” with a human at its center, as opposed to replacing a simple warehouse worker.

Seeing Sarcos products and imagining the products slated for 2022 coming to life (or whatever the robot equivalent of that is) is a fascinating snapshot of technology under creation. The old cliche rings true here: the future is now…but the business of warehouse/logistics robotics will still boil down to getting the job done at the right price.