Logistics

Robot.com has secured a 7-year commercial agreement with Sodexo Group to expand its R-Kiwi sidewalk delivery robots across college campuses in North America. The deal builds on a partnership that began in 2021 and signals enterprise confidence in autonomous delivery as a solution to labor shortages in food service operations.

PlusAI is merging with Texas Ventures Acquisition III in an $800M SPAC deal, securing up to $300M to fund its autonomous trucking commercialization. The company already operates test routes in Texas with Ryder and International Motors and has generated $25M in revenue from its HyperFoundry AI development platform, positioning it as one of the few autonomous trucking firms with near-term cash flow ahead of a planned 2027 product launch.

AIR has partnered with Elmo Motion Control to integrate high-voltage servo drives into its AIR 120D cargo drone, enabling air-cooled operation that eliminates liquid cooling systems. The weight reduction translates directly into increased payload capacity for a platform designed to serve both commercial logistics and defense resupply missions.

Amazon has upgraded its Proteus autonomous mobile robot with natural language processing, allowing warehouse workers to issue commands without technical training or programming. The company is simultaneously expanding deployment of its Vulcan picking robot and STARK collaborative tote system across Europe, backed by a €10B investment in fulfillment modernization through 2027.

India-based ANSCER Robotics closed a $5.4M Series A led by IAN Group to expand its hybrid autonomous mobile robot platform into U.S. manufacturing and logistics markets. The company's robots combine AGV payload capacity with AMR navigation intelligence, positioning them for deployment in rough industrial environments like factory floors and loading docks where traditional AMRs struggle.

Merlin has introduced Merlin Pilot for Commercial Cargo, an AI-powered flight system designed to operate large cargo aircraft autonomously. The company is pursuing staged certification, starting with the system as a co-pilot alongside human safety pilots, then advancing to fully autonomous operation as it gathers regulatory approval and flight data.

Symbotic will acquire Walmart's Advanced Systems and Robotics business and deploy AI-powered automation across 400 of Walmart's Accelerated Pickup and Delivery centers over multiple years. The deal extends Symbotic's existing relationship with Walmart — already automating all 42 U.S. regional distribution centers — into store-level micro-fulfillment for eCommerce pickup and delivery. It expands Symbotic's addressable market by $300 billion and positions the company as the automation backbone for Walmart's last-mile strategy.