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TechCrunch
an hour ago
- TechCrunch
Amazon deploys its one millionth robot, releases generative AI model
After 13 years of deploying robots into its warehouses, Amazon reached a new milestone. The tech behemoth now has one million robots in its warehouses, the company announced Monday. This one millionth robot was recently delivered to an Amazon fulfillment facility in Japan. That figure puts Amazon on track to reach another landmark: its vast network of warehouses may soon have the same number of robots working as people, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ also reported that 75% of Amazon's global deliveries are now assisted in some way by a robot. TechCrunch reached out to Amazon for more information. The company also announced it's releasing a new generative AI model called DeepFleet for its warehouse robots. This AI model, which can coordinate the robots' routes within the company's warehouses more efficiently, will help increase the speed of its robotic fleet by 10%, according to Amazon. The company used Amazon Sagemaker — the AWS cloud studio that helps build and deploy AI models — to create DeepFleet. Amazon trained the model on its own warehouse and inventory data. Amazon's one-millionth robot represents more than just a number. The company has improved its fleet of robots in recent years, adding new capabilities and models. Techcrunch event Save $450 on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW In May, the company unveiled its latest robot, Vulcan. This model has two arms, one designed for rearranging inventory, and another with a camera and suction cup to grab items. Most notably, these Vulcan robots have a sense of 'touch' that allows it to feel the items it is grabbing, according to Amazon. In October 2024, the company announced its 'next-generation fulfillment centers' which would include 10x as many robots as their current facilities, in addition to human workers. The first of these new robotic-powered centers opened shortly after in Shreveport, Louisiana, near the state's Texas border. Amazon originally started building up its robotic capabilities back in 2012 alongside its acquisition of Kiva Systems.
Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
Supersede Raises $10 Million As Hardware Regains Investor Favor
Workers are producing a batch of export chain parts at the production workshop of a transmission ... More materials company in Huzhou, China, on January 23, 2024. (Photo by Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images) As global supply chains fragment under the strain of tariffs, climate shocks, and political uncertainty, a new generation of manufacturers is rejecting the old playbook of centralized scale and offshore sourcing. Instead, they're building leaner, circular, and regionally grounded operations, designing for resilience in a world where disruption is becoming the default. A High-Performance Alternative To Plywood Among them is Supersede, an Arizona-based startup that has just closed $10 million in seed funding to expand its decentralized manufacturing model. The company produces high-performance structural panels made entirely from recycled plastic, an alternative to marine-grade plywood that is waterproof, rot-proof, recyclable, and free of formaldehyde or other toxic binders. Designed for use in boats, RVs, modular housing, and outdoor construction, Supersede says its panels offer a solution to the escalating volatility and environmental impact of traditional wood-based products. 'We're not selling a green premium,' explained co-founder and chief executive Sean Petterson in an interview. 'We're offering a high-performance material that's competitively priced and built to navigate the kind of volatility that has become the norm.' This desire for stability is gaining urgency. In early 2025, the U.S. imposed new tariffs on Canadian lumber, pushing duties as high as 35%. Some manufacturers paused production or abandoned cross-border sourcing altogether so Supersede's domestically sourced, waste-derived panels offered a reliable, price-stable alternative in a market where certainty is now a competitive advantage. The funding round, which combined $5 million in convertible debt and $5 million in senior secured equipment financing, was backed by a major U.S. building products distributor, Closed Loop Partners, and several strategic angel investors focused on circular innovation. The capital will fund the development of a second U.S. facility, expected to triple production capacity and create more than 50 new jobs. It's a significant expansion at a time when many manufacturers are struggling with labor constraints and ongoing supply pressures. Circular Manufacturing Meets Investor Momentum Supersede's approach, reclaiming unrecyclable post-industrial plastic and turning it into durable structural products, demonstrates the growing appeal of circular, localized manufacturing. 'Our customers are tired of the unpredictability,' said Petterson. 'They don't want to be at the mercy of lumber futures or geopolitical headlines. They want reliability.' Supersede's model aligns with a growing interest from deep tech investors, who are looking beyond digital platforms to startups reshaping the physical world. The 2025 Deep Tech Opportunities Report, released this month by venture firm DCVC, outlines a decisive pivot away from software-only investments and toward startups focused on making the physical world more stable, scalable, and sustainable. The idea is that resilience, not just efficiency, should be a defining metric of industrial innovation and the report highlights opportunities in waste valorization, modular production, and climate-adapted infrastructure. Supersede's panels directly reflect that thinking. They are said to outperform traditional plywood and eliminate the need for sanding, sealing, or drying, streamlining production and reducing labor costs for manufacturers. Supersede also runs a buyback program to reclaim offcuts and used panels, creating a closed-loop system that aligns with growing demand for zero-waste construction inputs. 'We see opportunity for more efficient materials management in the built environment, a sector that often sees high rates of material loss to landfills, and now faces material shortages and delays,' said Kristin Taylor, Venture Partner at Closed Loop Partners. 'Supersede is using post-industrial feedstock that is otherwise unrecoverable in traditional recycling markets today. By turning this material into durable building products, Supersede is accelerating a more domestic, value-added, resilient circular economy.' Supersede is not alone. A wave of hardware startups is gaining traction by solving foundational problems in energy, materials, and infrastructure. Examples highlighted in the DCVC report include Verdox, developing low-energy carbon capture systems; Fervo Energy, advancing next-generation geothermal power; and Twelve, which transforms CO₂ into industrial chemicals, each representing a shift toward deep tech with real-world industrial impact. Also featured are Alta Resource Technologies, using computational biochemistry to extract critical minerals like neodymium and gallium from e-waste, and Tidal Metals, which is pioneering magnesium extraction from seawater through a novel vapor adsorption system. Like Supersede, these companies are reimagining how essential materials are sourced and produced, favoring circular models, domestic resilience, and scalable infrastructure over legacy global supply chains. And while Supersede's model is built on sustainability, it's performance rather than virtue signalling that drives market adoption. It's a mindset increasingly common among today's industrial innovators - solve the hard, physical problems and the market will follow. The Supersede model speaks directly to the needs of today's stakeholders. Policymakers want to rebuild domestic manufacturing capacity. Consumers increasingly expect sustainability as a baseline, not a bonus. And manufacturers want materials they can rely on. 'We're not just trying to make a better product,' Petterson explained. 'We're trying to build a better way to manufacture, leaner, closer to home, and less dependent on fragile infrastructure.' Instead of building one massive centralized plant, the company is rolling out a network of micro-factories. Located near waste streams and customer hubs, these small-footprint facilities are designed to hire locally, cut transportation emissions, and respond quickly to demand. In a world of fragile global infrastructure, Supersede's model favors modularity over scale and resilience over complexity. 'Ultimately, companies want materials that work,' said Petterson. 'Consumers want options they can feel good about. And policymakers want domestic resilience. We're trying to be where all three of those things meet.'
Bloomberg
3 hours ago
- Bloomberg
Bank of Singapore's Ayub on US Stocks, Fed
00:00 Through your market view. It's interesting. You're neutral on U.S. equities. You're overweight Europe and and Asia, I should say ex Japan. We've just had a booming June for Wall Street, though. So. So why are you not why are you a bit more skeptical when it comes to U.S. stocks, when we take a step back and look at the volatility in terms of US policy that we've seen year to date, it looks to me like the markets are pricing in a very rosy scenario. So there's certainly a perception of a dovish Fed and there is the relief rally that we had last week in response to thankfully the calming of tensions in the Middle East. And there has actually been good earnings out of the US. But what we're really calling for is having a well-diversified portfolio. So still have your allocation to US equities, but we're not as overweight as what we were throughout 2024, where you had perceptions of a dovish Fed. You've got Goldman now calling for a September cut, projecting that because it thinks that the tariff impact on inflation will be a bit smaller than expected, Do you not see a September card? Not necessarily so. At the moment. Our chief investment office is actually only calling for one rate cut by year end. No one knows, right? No one knows. And this is actually, you know, the million dollar question. But the point is that most economists, when they look at the data, are all talking about July being the earliest before we can actually see the past with tariffs coming through into the inflation data. And that's exactly what Chair Powell said in his testimony to Congress as well, that we have to wait for June and July data. So I think it pays to be patient, because if those inflation numbers do come through, it's not definitive. But if they do come through, that does have quite strong implications compared to what the market is pricing in right now, which is just over two in a bit of rate cuts by year. But given your view on U.S. stocks, is that because you see a US recession? Not necessarily, but we are calling for stagflation. I think unfortunately, the highest inflation that we're going to see, no OECD countries is likely to be in the US, given the their view on tariffs and how that policy has been communicated to markets. We just heard the interview with Scott Benson and there's been so much speculation about when the president's going to name a Fed chair, right. Whether or not this new Fed chair is on the FOMC already or not, do you think that they're going to undermine Jerome Powell? So I think when we take a step back, I really do think that this is what we're going to continue to see over the next couple of years is this fight between the US administration and the strength of the institutions in the US? I think, you know, what I take away from all of this is these consistent attacks actually on an independent institution like the Fed and the fact that he can say President Trump can say that, well, I'm trying to pressurize the Fed to cutting rates earlier than what they see is feasible. So you don't think that Trump would eliminate his punchbag then? No, not not necessarily. But I just think that, you know, when we think about the situation, it's much more political in nature than it is economic. And even the perception of the Fed being dovish right now is from those two governors that President Trump has, you know, officially sort of put forward as replacements for Chair Powell. So they're off essentially auditioning for the role. So I think when we actually look at the numbers, when we actually look at the data, yes, the US labor market is strong. We'll see what happens on Thursday with regards to payrolls.
