inVia, The Monthly Robot Subscription Service

Meet inVia Robotics, a startup that is redefining both the warehouse and automation models by developing robots that, rather than just assist humans in the shipping process, can now place items directly into boxes to be shipped.

“What we’ve introduced — and we’re the first with that — is goods-to-box,” Lior Elazary, inVia’s CEO and founder, told ZDNet. “And that means we’re picking the items from the shelf and putting it right into a tote or the box that is going out for packing.”

In addition to being the first to offer a fully “goods-to-box” service experience, inVia’s robots move quickly when used to pick in “human-free” zones but can also be programed to slow down if they are delivering goods to human workers. Sensors on inVia’s robots can also detect humans who might be nearby and cause the robot to automatically stop if someone were to walk into its path.

Companies that don’t use robots to assist with the picking and packaging process can have costs as high as $1 per pick, according to ZDNet, while those that do reduce costs to about $0.25 per pick.

InVia’s robots cut costs even further to just $0.10 per pick.

But rather than buying a whole fleet of robots, customers simply pay inVia a monthly service fee based on the number of picks the company might need the robots for. This means that companies that contract inVia’s robots do not need to train their warehouse employees on the use or maintenance of the robots. InVia handles that instead.

“It allows them to scale, allows them to plan, and it gives them also cost certainty,” Elazary explained.