Vayu Robotics Unveils Groundbreaking AI-Powered Delivery Robot

Consumers rely on e-commerce platforms to deliver groceries, electronics, apparel, and more every day. With online retail purchases expected to account for 23% of American retail by 2027, the demand for efficient delivery solutions is skyrocketing. In response, Vayu Robotics has rolled out the world’s first on-road Delivery Robot that integrates modern AI foundation models with lidar-less, low-cost passive sensors, promising to cut down delivery costs significantly.

Traditional mobile robotics often depend on expensive lidar sensors and software modules designed for single tasks, resulting in costly and fragile systems. Vayu Robotics has taken a different approach by combining a transformer-based mobility foundation model with a powerful passive sensor. This innovation eliminates the need for lidar, allowing Vayu’s Delivery Robot to operate autonomously without pre-mapping roads. Capable of navigating inside stores, on city streets, and unloading packages on driveways or porches, the robot can carry up to 100 lbs at speeds under 20 mph. This makes it the most cost-effective, safe, and reliable delivery system available today.

Vayu Robotics was co-founded by industry veterans Anand Gopalan, Mahesh Krishnamurthi, and Nitish Srivastava. Gopalan, who previously served as CEO of Velodyne, the world’s leading lidar supplier, played a crucial role in taking the company public in 2020. Krishnamurthi and Srivastava bring their expertise from Apple SPG, Lyft, and Geoffrey Hinton’s renowned AI lab at the University of Toronto. Geoffrey Hinton also serves as an advisor to the company. The trio realized that large-scale robotics applications, like delivery services, required a new technology stack featuring lower-cost hardware and more robust software.

“The unique set of technologies we have developed at Vayu have allowed us to solve problems that have plagued delivery robots over the past decade, and finally create a solution that can actually be deployed at scale and enable the cheap transport of goods everywhere,” stated Vayu Robotics CEO, Anand Gopalan.

Vayu’s Delivery Robots are already being tested in real-world applications. The company has recently signed a major commercial agreement with a large e-commerce player to deploy 2,500 robots for ultra-fast goods delivery, with other commercial customers in the pipeline. Additionally, Vayu is collaborating with a leading global robotics manufacturer to replace lidar sensors with their sensing technology for other robotic applications.

Partner Kanu Gulati from Khosla Ventures commented, “At Khosla Ventures, we believe in backing businesses where critical and differentiated technologies can unlock a large market. Vayu is a great example of this, where they have deployed novel sensing and their AI foundation models to a robotic challenge that can have immense economic and societal impact.”

Anand Gopalan added, “Our software is robot form factor agnostic, and we have already deployed it across several wheeled form factors. In the near future, Vayu's software technology will enable the movement of quadrupedal and bipedal robots, allowing us to expand into those markets as well.”

Vayu Robotics has previously raised $12.7 million to further its mission of removing the hardware and software bottlenecks hindering e-commerce growth. Looking ahead, the founders believe their revolutionary low-cost robotics nervous system can power a new wave of mobile robots across various use cases. “Autonomous delivery robots are only the tip of the iceberg,” Gopalan noted. With its cutting-edge innovation and deployment, Vayu is poised to lead the adoption of real-world robotics across industries. For now, Vayu’s scalable robotics architecture is set to empower small businesses to deliver products to their customers’ doorstep seamlessly.