Fighting Amazon, Robot To Robot

Startup Berkshire Grey has an alternative to Bezos’ warehouse drones

- Max Chafkin

In an enormous space at an undisclosed U.S. location, a four-wheeled autonomous vehicle the size of a microwave oven rolls up to a robotic arm and stops suddenly. The arm swivels, inserts a probe into the vehicle’s plastic bin, and, with a whooshing sound, retrieves a box of Hamburger Helper. The arm drops the processed pasta- and-sauce concoction into a cardboard box for shipment, and another little robot car takes it away.

This system has been a closely guarded secret. But a few days after Thanksgiving, with shopping season under way, the robots’ creator, Boston startup Berkshire Grey Inc., gave a Bloomberg Businessweek reporter a peek, as dozens of little machines scurried around the vast warehouse.

Berkshire Grey built the system for a large retailer not named Amazon. The startup, founded in 2013, charges tens of millions of dollars for these installations, pitching them as a way for retailers to compete with the ruthless efficiency of Amazon .com Inc. Jeff Bezos’ company has trained customers to say, “I want exactly what I want, and I want it now. And, oh, by the way, I expect the shipping to be free,” says Tom Wagner, Berkshire Grey’s chief executive officer.