Attabotics strengthens leadership with 2 hires

Attabotics, a Canadian developer of automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS), expanded its C-suite with two impressive hires. Cyra Richardson, a former executive and leader at Wind River, Microsoft and Amazon, was named Attabotics’ chief technology officer and chief product officer. And Julien Seret, formerly of SoftBank Robotics, was named vice president of network supply chain.

Richardson will be responsible for leading Attabotics’ product strategy, commercialization, product development, and technical strategy. Richardson has nearly 30 years of experience focusing on IoT technology, AI, cloud connectivity, robotics, and scaling technology products and organizations.

She most recently served as vice president and chief product officer for Wind River. At Microsoft, she was the General Manager of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Incubation, leading the development of AI tooling and platforms for machine teaching and autonomous systems. At Amazon, Richardson was a Business & Technical Leader responsible for growing the Mobile Web business, new product implementation and modernization of the consumer shopping experience from Web to Desktop.

Seret will oversee Attabotics’ supply chain approach. Attabotics is working with Microsoft and other partners to deliver a multi-tenant supply chain model for fulfillment centers to leverage data, the cloud, and shared pay-for-use robotics facilities. He held multiple senior leadership roles at SoftBank Robotics, most recently serving as the vice president of global product. Seret played, in particular, an instrumental role in the Whiz and Pepper robots.

Attabotics said its staff has grown by 50% over the past year to more than 300 employees.

“It’s an absolute honor to have Cyra and Julien join the Attabotics team as we continue to build our Network Supply Chain model and evolve in this new era of modern commerce,” said Scott Gravelle, co-founder and CEO of Attabotics. “We’re growing and entering new markets quickly, and are eager to tap into both Cyra’s and Julien’s storied and product-focused experience across automation, AI, and robotics technologies. Their added experience in commercialization and development further positions Attabotics at the forefront of the 3D robotics supply chain arena, and we’re thrilled for what’s in store.”
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Attabotics has been involved in a patent infringement lawsuit with competitor Urbx. It recently filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court of Massachusetts against Urbx. Attabotics alleges that Urbx’s current product infringes on multiple patents held by Attabotics. Attabotics is seeking appropriate relief, including a permanent injunction and damages.

In response to the lawsuit, legal representation from Urbx had the following statement: “Urbx vigorously denies the meritless claims of patent infringement raised in Attabotics’ complaint. Urbx respects intellectual property, and does not infringe the asserted patents. Urbx will respond to the complaint in due course with a complete defense.”

Attabotics has raised about $117 million since it was founded in 2015, according to Crunchbase. It closed a $50 million Series C in August 2020.