Startup secures US$7.5 million in funding for energy ‘ecosystem’ to replace batteries in logistics robots

Israeli technology startup CaPow has raised $7.5 million in seed round funding to ‘scale up the commercialisation’ of its ‘battery-free wireless energy delivery ecosystem for autonomous robotics’.

Describing itself as a perpetual power solutions provider, CaPow seeks to eliminate the need for lithium-ion batteries in warehousing and logistics robots without the need for them to be offline to charge.

As well as improving areas of inefficiency in supply chains, CaPow’s technology is intended to be more environmentally-friendly that the traditional batteries used to power autonomous robots.

The way it works is through the placement of stickers both on the facility floor and the base of the robot itself. Once CaPow’s internal receiver and power bank are inserted into the autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) they can be powered as they move around, with the power bank only being activated while the robots move over the floor stickers.

CaPow’s Floor Planner tool calculates the optimal placement of floor stickers to ensure ‘maximum throughput is maintained at all times’.

The company claims that its technology is ‘adaptive’ and ‘continuously adjusts the energy delivery to maintain optimal transfer conditions under dynamic variations’.

One of the investors in this funding round was IL Ventures, a fund that invests in ‘disruptive’ technologies being developed by Israeli startups. Managing Partner Yoni Heilbronn describes CaPow’s technology as “a game changer for the entire robotic power landscape”.

Source: logisticsmanager.com