Episode 203 of The Robot Report Podcast features guests John Santagate from Infios, Elliot Helms from Novanta, and Aleksandr Malashchenko from Revimo.
The featured conversation is with John Santagate, senior vice president of global robotics at Infios. He discusses his journey in the supply chain robotics industry, the company‘s recent rebranding from Korber Supply Chain Software, and the impact of automation and AI on warehousing.
Santagate also shares insights from recent trade shows, the challenges posed by tariffs, and the potential for humanoid robots in the industry. In addition, he discusses the evolution of technology in supply chain management and the importance of adapting to market changes.
Regarding the use of humanoids in the warehouse, infios’ Santagate said he believes that “the market is not ready for humanoids yet,” and that “humanoid robots need to find a purpose.”
The conversation with Elliot Helms and Aleksandr Malashchenko is from a live interview from the 2025 Robotics Summit & Expo show floor with Steve Crowe and explores the partnership between Novanta and Revimo.
Vera C Rubin Observatory comes online.
Show timeline
- 06:30 – News of the week
- 16:27 – Interview with Elliot Helms from Novanta and Aleksandr Malashchenko from Revimo
- 42:44 – Interview with John Santagate, senior vice president of global robotics at Infios
News of the week
Attabotics files for bankruptcy as ASRS firm lays off staff
Attabotics Inc. last week reportedly laid off most of its approximately 200 employees and filed a notice of intention for bankruptcy protection. The Calgary, Alberta-based company had developed hardware and software for automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS).
Founded in 2016, the company had raised a total of more than $194 million (U.S.), according to Crunchbase. While Attabotics’ annual revenue was over $50 million last year, it also had a net loss of nearly $50 million CAD ($36 million U.S.) in 2024.
Interact Analysis slashes mobile robot outlook amid tariff uncertainty
Current industry challenges and a wide range of other contributory factors have caused Interact Analysis to downgrade its mobile robot market forecast. | Source: Interact Analysis
Interact Analysis has reduced its 2025 market forecast by another $800 million, with lower growth predicted in each of the major regions, wrote Ash Sharma, chief commercial officer and vice president of research for robotics and warehouse automation at Interact Analysis. This adjustment reflects a broader reassessment of the industry’s growth trajectory, with the 2030 revenue projection now standing at $15.6 billion, down from earlier, more optimistic estimates.
U.S. tariffs are a significant contributor to Interact Analysis’ forecast revision. It said they are adding uncertainty around capital investment decisions, causing delays in robot orders.
Johns Hopkins teaches robot to remove a gallbladder from a realistic patient
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have developed a robot, Surgical Robot Transformer-Hierarchy (SRT-H), that successfully performed a portion of a gallbladder from a realistic patient model without human intervention. The team was led by medical roboticist Axel Krieger.
Built with the same machine learning architecture that powers ChatGPT, SRT-H is able to respond to spoken commands such as “grab the gallbladder head” and corrections like “move the left arm a bit to the left.” The robot learns from this feedback.
Last year, Krieger’s team used the system to train a robot to perform three foundational surgical tasks: manipulating a needle, lifting body tissue, and suturing. Those tasks took just a few seconds each. Johns Hopkins won a 2025 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award for the achievement.
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