Amazon has invited Australian investors and entrepreneurs to the Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund – a $US1bn venture program to support and directly invest in promising warehousing and supply chain technologies.
The fund was created to encourage innovation and bring investors to the table to support startups and their technologies.
It has now been opened to Australian entrepreneurs to get behind new and emerging technologies like Rightbot which has created a system to automate the unloading of containers and Instock which has designed a robotic storage and retrieval system with more efficient management of inventory.
The Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund is being led by Franziska Bossart who brings more than 20 years of corporate venture capital and digital transformation experience to the table.
“We launched our inaugural Innovation Challenge program this year to uncover, elevate, and accelerate groundbreaking technologies addressing real-world challenges in our industry,” Ms Bossart said.
“We are excited about the Innovation Challenge initiative to further foster collaboration with AI and robotics entrepreneurs and provide direct access to Amazon’s resources.
“In August 2024, we hosted our first challenge centered on discovering innovative packaging solutions that boost inventory visibility at high speeds.
“As we accelerate delivery times and expand product selection, real-time inventory insights across the supply chain are crucial.
“Tracking products from ocean containers to customers’ doors poses challenges, especially identifying package contents without opening them, which risks slowing deliveries and disrupting efficiency.
“The Packaging Visibility challenge underscored the need to balance speed with precision in inventory management.”
The companies selected for the Packaging Visibility Innovation Challenge are:
– Spectrohm employs radio frequency sensors and AI/ML-powered software to create color 3D images of packages’ internal contents at operational speeds, offering a differentiated method to see through packaging.
– Elementary uses AI and computer vision to autonomously detect external package attributes and defects, enhancing productivity and quality with closed-loop-automation systems.
– ThruWave combines millimeter-wave technology with AI/ML-powered software to quickly scan packages, identifying defects, damage, missing items, and foreign objects.
– Rabot focuses on automating the packing process with computer vision, using video to train foundation models that increase efficiency and quality.
– Cambridge Terahertz uses high-resolution 3D imaging radar to see through non-conductive materials, allowing handheld devices to inspect package contents and personnel.
– Lumafield provides industrial X-ray CT scanners paired with AI-powered software to generate 3D images of packages’ internal contents as they move along conveyors.
Ms Bossart says AI and machine learning will play a huge role in developing new technologies that can not only process large amounts of data but also make decisions and learn.
“The groundwork for this technology has been in development for decades, but now we’re seeing many pieces coming together to further drive innovation,” Ms Bossart says.
“Advances in perception, AI, manipulation, and control are helping us automate a broader range of tasks.
“Progress in computer vision systems has also been remarkable.”
One fund portfolio company Vimaan has developed an AI solution to view warehouse inventory and more easily capture the dimensions and weight of freight in seconds which can reduce operating costs and speed up delivery times.
In October the fund also announced Agility Robotics – a new pilot program to test their Digit robot and how it can use a mobile manipulation system in the Amazon operations.
Automation also has a huge role to play in the Amazon operations of the future. It can take repetitive and predictable tasks and free employees up to take on new responsibilities and potentially new career paths.
* Stephen Fenech travelled to Tokyo as a guest of Amazon
