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In my experience (which means this is highly subjective), robots were the first “next big thing” in tech. Before tech startups became mainstream, people were fascinated by these mechanical humanoids.
Just look at Honda’s ASIMO, which came out in 2000 or, the weird robot that Rocky gave to his brother-in-law, Paulie, in Rocky IV. Never mind the fact that these look positively quaint or straight up bizarre by today’s tech standards – the point is, robots captured the imagination.
The startup we take a look at in today’s premium article, which is led by an ex-head of Grab Vietnam, wants its robots to be more than a pop culture footnote – it wants to solve the problems of last-mile delivery.
Today we look at:
- An ex-Grab exec’s robotics startup in Vietnam
- An Indian fintech firm raises US$9 million from one of the largest banks in India
- Other newsy highlights such as Alibaba’s plans to build Singapore’s tallest skyscraper and Nanyang Technological University is partnering with a greentech firm to launch a sustainable textile research center
(Note: The Daily newsletter will be on hiatus on Tuesday, but will be back in business the following day.)
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Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto
Image credit: Timmy Loen
I’ve actually hardly seen any robots in real life, unless you count those automated vacuum cleaners. In fact, the only one I’ve seen that wasn’t conducting janitorial services was a robot waiter in a dim sum restaurant. Even then, its human colleagues looked at it as a novelty more than anything else.
Maybe Alpha Asimov Robotics’ robots will prove to be more useful than that.
- What’s all this then? The goal of the startup is to automate and reduce the cost of last-mile delivery, which often contributes a large chunk to shipping fees.
- Food first: CEO Nguyen Tuan Anh says his startup, which offers robots-as-a-service, would first target the food delivery segment. As an example, a pizza restaurant can use the robot to deliver to students on campus. Potentially, the service can be expanded to food delivery platforms as well.
- Autobots, roll out: In the next five years, the company wants to roll out 10,000 robots in five Vietnam cities, targeting same-day and next-day delivery. It is working with local partners to manufacture the robots in the country, with its R&D hub based in Hanoi.
Read more: Ex-Grab VN head launches robotics startup
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