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Memphis-based Dextrous Robotics is calling it a day. The news, noted by the Robot Report<\/a>, was confirmed by the warehouse robotics firm\u2019s CEO, Evan Drumwright, on LinkedIn<\/a>. The executive spells out the company\u2019s fate at the top of the post, noting, \u201cPut simply, we adopted an aggressive trajectory 18 months ago that the recent investment market didn\u2019t support. We became insolvent as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n Even in immaculate economic conditions, launching a startup is something of a fool\u2019s errand \u2014 that\u2019s doubly the case with hardware and, perhaps, triply so in robotics. It\u2019s an expensive pursuit that requires extensive runways and room to make pivots, and even the most promising companies rarely make it off the runway.<\/p>\n Last year, Dextrous made headlines for its novel approach to truck unloading. The system deploys a \u201cchopstick\u201d method, wherein a pair of vertical-oriented girders control a pair of sticks that press up against the boxes to lift them. The titular dexterity (not to be confused with fellow truck unloading robot firm Dexterity AI) allows the system to approach boxes from a variety of vantage points and angles.<\/p>\n \u201cWe started Dextrous Robotics four years ago to organize our world with machines and focused on automating one of the most dangerous tasks in the industrialized world,\u201d says Drumwright. \u201cWe don\u2019t think humans should have to sacrifice their physical health in order for goods to make their way around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n The post goes on to add that the company\u2019s DX-1 robot was \u201con track\u201d to deploy with a pair of \u201clarge logistics companies.\u201d Between ongoing labor crunches and a longstanding desire to compete with the likes of Amazon, there\u2019s certainly appetite for this technology. Truck loading and unloading is extremely physically taxing work that\u2019s equally difficult to automate.<\/p>\n But the work done in this industry is never done in vain. The ideas pioneered on DX-1 will likely surface sooner or later somewhere down the road.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n