FORT Robotics solutions provide an additional layer of safety across a variety of autonomous machines | Image Credit: FORT Robotics
FORT Robotics has closed on $13 million in funding led by Prime Movers Lab, an investor in scientific startups working to revolutionize the world’s most important industries and transform billions of lives. In addition to Prime Movers Lab, investors included Prologis Ventures, Quiet Capital, Lemnos Labs, Creative Ventures, Ahoy Capital, Compound, FundersClub, and Mark Cuban.
With the new investment, FORT plan to use the investment to increase the size of its workforce and expand its product offerings in key markets. FORT designs and builds certified robotic safety solutions that are vendor agnostic, enabling a customer to deploy a single, wireless e-stop solution for all of the equipment on the floor.
“We’re excited to partner with our new investors to help position FORT at the forefront of this rapidly evolving space,” said founder and CEO Samuel Reeves. “The world is on the cusp of a new industrial revolution in mobile automation. With added investment and support, we’ll be able to rapidly scale the company to capitalize on the convergence of trend and opportunity to ensure that robotic systems are safely deployed across all industries.”
Founded in 2018, FORT Robotics is Reeves’ second company. In 2006, he launched Humanistic Robotics to produce an autonomous solution to safely clear landmines. Through the development of that technology, Reeves saw an opportunity to create a safety-and-security overlay that can be easily integrated into next-generation autonomous machines across multiple industries.
“FORT is creating systems that will accelerate the rise of autonomous vehicles and robotics, making work safer and more productive,” said Suzanne Fletcher, General Partner at Prime Movers Lab. “We’re proud to partner with this forward-looking company that recognizes that safe collaboration between humans and robots is synonymous with the workforce of tomorrow.”
“Robotics and automation are a way for industries such as manufacturing to remain competitive in ‘America 2.0’, but these advances in technology don’t come without risks,” said Mark Cuban. “I’m excited to partner with FORT because protecting the people who work with and around robots will be crucial as we enter this new era of automation.”
Though they can significantly enhance human safety and productivity in nearly every workplace, autonomous machines also pose serious risks. These machines—which are controlled by software connected to the internet—can pose potential threats to people who work around them and are also vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks.
Last year, FORT served more than 100 clients, including dozens of Fortune 1,000 companies, across industries such as warehousing, construction, agriculture, manufacturing, mining, turf care, last-mile delivery, and transportation.
On a recent special edition of The Robot Report Podcast, we discussed the importance of safety with Nathan Bivans, CTO at FORT Robotics:
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