At the Modex expo in Atlanta, another humanoid robot besides Agility’s Digit was capturing the attention of attendees. Over at Reflex Robotics’ booth, located on the far side of the Georgia World Congress Center, the startup showcased its innovative robot through continuous demonstrations. Visitors to the booth could request items, prompting the Reflex robot to swiftly and accurately retrieve them from a shelf, a process made all the more appealing by the promise of free snacks and drinks.
The Reflex robot impressed many with its quick and precise movements. The design features a unique “torso” mounted on a base, allowing its arms and sensors to move vertically, granting the ability to reach items on different shelf levels and navigate in constrained spaces. Its mobility is ensured by a wheeled base, ideal for the kind of environment it’s designed to operate within.
A significant aspect of Reflex’s system is its reliance on teleoperation. This setup, where a human controls the robot remotely, is akin to playing a video game, according to co-founder and CEO Ritesh Ragavender. He believes the robot is nearing the efficiency levels of humans.
The company is working towards a future where the robots operate with increasing autonomy, reducing the need for direct human control to more of a supervisory role, ensuring safety and intervention in novel scenarios. Currently, the operation maintains a one-to-one ratio between humans and robots, but Ragavender envisions a shift to one human overseeing multiple robots in logistical and warehouse settings by the following year.
The model demonstrated at Modex represents the second generation of Reflex’s technology, which is in the pilot phase with select potential clients, including some notable industry players. Ragavender’s roadmap includes scaling up to 10 to 20 units in the near term and expanding to hundreds in the subsequent year.
Ragavender highlighted the combination of a smart, increasingly autonomous system, remote operation capabilities, and an affordable cost as key factors enabling the company’s growth. The current price point for the system is under $50,000, with expectations of further reductions as production scales.
Based in New York, Reflex Robotics operates with a compact team of five, boasting backgrounds from prestigious institutions like MIT and experience from leading companies in the tech and robotics sectors, such as Boston Dynamics and Tesla. Having completed a seed funding round with Khosla Ventures as the lead investor, the startup is contemplating a Series A fundraising effort later this year.
