Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) developer Fetch Robotics has announced a Series C round of funding that resulted in $46 million.

The funding will be used to help Fetch Robotics expand internationally, meet accelerating customer demand, and to facilitate ongoing research and development.

“Customers have responded enthusiastically to our unique Cloud Robotics solution, and we’re responding by securing the funds we need to continue growing and enhancing our offerings,” says Melonee Wise, CEO of Fetch Robotics.

“The competitive pressures for excellence in logistics have never been greater. Our Autonomous Mobile Robots and cloud platform enables our customers to meet their customers’ demands while meeting their own financial objectives.”

According to Fetch Robotics, its Fetch Cloud Robotics Platform is the only cloud-driven AMR technology on the market that addresses material handling and data collection for warehousing and intralogistics environments. The company says that cloud robotics is “revolutionizing automation by bringing the kind of speed, agility and cost advantages that cloud computing brought to IT.”

One company that is utilizing Fetch Robotics’ technology is Universal Logistics Holdings Inc., which provides customized transportation and logistics technologies. The company has a one million square-foot logistics facility in Smyrna, Tennessee that serves the nearby Nissan Motors plant, which is the largest auto manufacturing facility in North America.

The greater metropolitan area where Smyrna resides has one of the lowest overall unemployment rates in the United States at just 2.4 percent, which makes it hard to meet the demand for logistics workers, which leads to chronic under-staffing situations.

This has resulted in Universal’s need for flexible, reliable and cost-effective automation technologies that can perform low-level tasks such as pushing carts with parts and sub-assemblies over long distances.  

“In Smyrna as in many markets we serve, we face chronic labor shortages, at times in excess of 10% of our required staff, which puts significant pressure on everyone from the workers on the floor to senior management,” explains Universal CEO Jeff Rogers.

“The Fetch Robotics system provides an answer to our problem. Because the system installs so quickly – we had it fully operational in less than a week – we’re able to boost output and manage our costs. And our workers like it because the robots take on the less interesting, more laborious tasks. With Fetch, our employees can focus on the revenue-generating tasks that are more fulfilling and more valuable.”

To automate several key processes in the warehouse, Universal is using 10 Fetch CartConnect robots in combination with 40 carts at the Smyrna facility. This allows Universal to meet its targets while reducing the constant need to ask associates to work overtime.

Universal has also been able to minimize its upfront investment and realize an attractive return on investment thanks to opting for the Fetch Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) monthly fee model.

“Thanks to the short time from delivery to operation and the pay-as-you go approach, we’ve seen an immediate financial benefit from the Fetch deployment,” says Lee Weisenberger, managing director of IT at Universal.

“This is a model we can easily roll out to many additional facilities.”