Over the past year, more than 10 robot companies have announced layoffs.
By Qin Jielan, 2024
In 2024, the economic situation remains uncertain, and the capital winter persists. As large technology companies like Tesla and Google continue to lay off employees, the robotics industry has also been affected. Since 2023, up until April 20, 2024, more than 10 robotics companies have announced layoffs, adjusting their directions, consolidating resources, or resorting to “survival tactics.”
Amazon Robotics – Hardware Development Engineers Among Those Affected
In January 2023, Amazon began another round of layoffs as part of a broader reduction, with an expected total of 18,000 employees to be laid off. Documents reveal that Amazon Robotics is also on the list, with hardware development engineers, electromechanical engineers, network engineers, applied science managers, and technical product managers being some of those affected.
Amazon Robotics is Amazon’s department focused on warehouse automation. It evolved from Amazon’s acquisition of warehouse robot manufacturer Kiva Systems for $775 million in 2012. Since then, the company has continuously introduced different categories of robots, and its robotics business has entered a high-speed development phase.
Alphabet’s Google Shuts Down Everyday Robots, Laying Off Several Employees
In February 2023, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, shut down its subsidiary Everyday Robots as part of a large-scale layoff. After the closure, some of Everyday Robots’ technologies and contents were integrated into existing robotics projects within Google Research. Everyday Robots employed over 200 people, but Alphabet did not disclose how many employees remained.
Everyday Robots originated from Alphabet’s X Moonshot Lab, training over 100 wheeled, single-arm robots to clean cafeteria tables, separate trash from recyclables, and open doors. Although the robots’ capabilities are steadily improving, they have never reached the commercialization stage.
Cleaning Robot Company Avidbots Corp – Laying Off 14% of Its Global Workforce
In March 2023, Avidbots Corp confirmed layoff rumors in an email to CTV News Kitchener. The reorganization will result in the layoff of 14% of its global workforce. The company stated that the decision was made as the global team sought to better align operations with macroeconomic conditions and improve the efficiency of bringing new products to market.
Founded in 2014, Avidbots focuses on designing and manufacturing Neo, an autonomous commercial floor cleaning robot. Headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, Avidbots provides comprehensive service and support to customers on five continents. The company is backed by top global venture capital firms, including Jeneration Capital and BDC Capital.
Surgical Robot Startup Momentis – Laying Off 60% of Its Staff
In May 2023, Israeli surgical robot company Momentis (formerly Memic) announced it was laying off 60% of its staff. The company had a total of 120 employees, and after the layoffs, only 50 will remain, with about 40 working in Israel and the rest at the company’s U.S. headquarters.
Momentis was founded in 2012 by Dvir Cohen and Peregrine Ventures and initially operated in an incubator run by Peregrine. The company has raised 116 million to date. Previously, in August 2021, the company announced amerger agreement with MedTech Acquisition Corporation, a medical technology− focused SPAC. The merged company was expected to have an equity value exceeding 1 billion. However, due to market conditions, the SPAC was ultimately canceled in March of last year.
Autonomous Delivery Vehicle Company Nuro – Laying Off 30% of Its Staff and Postponing Flagship Robot Production
In May 2023, Nuro, a Mountain View-based autonomous delivery vehicle startup, announced its second round of layoffs since 2022. The layoffs affect approximately 340 employees, representing 30% of the company’s existing workforce. After the layoffs, the company will still have about 800 employees, accounting for about 55% of the pre-layoff workforce.
The company has suspended plans to expand its commercial operations and postponed the production of its flagship delivery robot, Nuro bot R3. With these changes, Nuro will be able to operate for another three years without raising additional funds.
Nuro was founded in 2016 by former Google self-driving car team lead software engineer Jiajun Zhu and Dave Ferguson, former head of computer vision and machine learning at Google and chief engineer. Nuro develops and deploys autonomous vehicles to deliver various goods, including pizzas and medicines, and has partnered with brands such as CVS, Walmart, Domino’s Pizza, Kroger, and more.
Warehouse Supply Chain Service Provider Symbotic – Laying Off Outsourced Workers for Walmart and Other Large Warehouse Goods Machines
In May 2023, robotics company Symbotic announced the layoff of 200 employees as part of outsourcing the manufacturing of machines for delivering large warehouse goods for Walmart and other retailers. The Wilmington-based company stated that it would stop manufacturing its own robots at its Montreal facility and “significantly reduce” its manufacturing scale at its Massachusetts headquarters. As a result, the company laid off 100 full-time employees and 100 contractors.
In February 2024, its latest financial report showed a year-on-year revenue growth of nearly 80%. The report indicated that Symbotic’s revenue surged from 369 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2024. Additionally, the financial report revealed a net loss of 68 million net loss reported in the first quarter of 2023. From the income statement, Symbotic’s gross profit margin increased from 17.1% in the same period last year to 19.0% this quarter.
Surgical Robot Unicorn Vicarious Surgical – Two Layoffs in 2023
In November 2023, Adam Sachs, CEO of Vicarious Surgical located in Massachusetts, announced another round of layoffs during the third-quarter investor performance discussion, although he did not specify how many employees would be affected.
Vicarious Surgical is a VR surgical robot company dedicated to developing next-generation surgical robot technology. It has received support from renowned investors such as BD Medical, Bill Gates, and Vinod Khosla. On September 21, 2021, Vicarious Surgical and special purpose acquisition company D8 Holdings officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange through a SPAC. It’s worth mentioning that earlier in 2023, the company had laid off 14% of its staff. In October, it also received a “delisting” warning notice from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) due to its share price being below $1 for 30 consecutive days.
Warehouse Robot Unicorn Locus Robotics – Making Small Adjustments Based on Market Conditions
In January 2024, warehouse robot company Locus Robotics confirmed layoff rumors, responding that after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone, including Locus Robotics’ customers, overestimated their business. To adapt to the market reality, Locus Robotics has adjusted its sales and marketing organization and carried out small-scale layoffs, although the specific number of layoffs was not disclosed.
Floor Sweeping Robot Manufacturer iRobot – Suspending All Work Related to Non-Floor Care Innovation
In January 2024, Amazon announced the abandonment of its 94 million “breakup fee.”
Subsequently, iRobot announced the implementation of an operational restructuring plan aimed at stabilizing the company in the current environment while focusing on profitability and advancing key growth plans to expand its market share in the mid- to high-end segments. This series of measures will also result in the layoff of approximately 350 employees, accounting for 31% of the total workforce. It is reported that in February 2023, the company announced the layoff of 85 employees, accounting for about 8% of the workforce.
Exoskeleton Robot Company Sarcos Robotics – Suspending Hardware Commercialization and Focusing Resources on AI/ML Platform
In January 2024, Sarcos Robotics announced the layoff of 70 employees as part of the company’s continuous “streamlining.” According to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the layoff plan began in November last year. This is the company’s second layoff, with another 71 employees to be laid off in July. The total number of layoffs accounts for about two-thirds of the company’s total workforce, leaving about 60 or 70 employees.
Humanoid Robot Company Agility – Continuing to Promote Humanoid Robot Commercialization
In March 2024, humanoid robot company Agility Robotics confirmed the layoff of a “small number” of employees. The company said the decision was part of its commercialization efforts.
In a statement, Agility wrote: “As part of Agility’s ongoing efforts to structure the company for success, we have terminated our relationships with a small number of employees who are not critical to core product development and commercialization. At the same time, we are committed to satisfying industry Use cases for bipedal robots mean increasing Digit’s production while continuing to win top customers around the world and adding new roles that meet these goals. We believe today’s actions will allow us to focus on driving digital productization and commercialization. ation and production areas.”
Conclusion:
The development of history always moves forward in twists and turns. Whether faced with layoffs, bankruptcies, slow development or even stagnation in the industry, we must analyze calmly and rationally. Enterprises need to continuously improve their technical level, keep up with industry development trends, flexibly adjust strategies, and focus on technological innovation and business models. combined to respond to changing market conditions.
At the same time, we must maintain an optimistic and enterprising attitude. As Locus Robotics said in response to the layoffs, although the robotics industry is currently facing twists and turns, its development prospects are still broad: “I have never been more optimistic about our future or the future of the industry. All long-term trends are good for AMR supply It’s good for businesses—labor shortages are real and persistent, e-commerce is growing steadily, and consumers expect faster delivery speeds.” For those companies that firmly believe in and are committed to the field of robotics, persisting in parallel with transformation may be the only way to move across industries. trough and welcome a new round of development opportunities.
Whether it is the manufacturing industry or the warehousing and logistics industry, the requirements for intelligent circulation of production lines and unmanned warehousing and sorting are becoming more and more obvious. On May 9, the “13th Manufacturing Logistics and Warehousing Intelligent Engineering Conference and the 2nd Global Fork Mobile Robot Summit” hosted by the CMR Industry Alliance will be held in Foshan to explore new directions for intelligent logistics, so stay tuned. !
