IRIM Seminar Series - Fall 2021 | Robotics and Warehouse Automation at Berkshire Grey

Abstract: This talk tells the Berkshire Grey story, from its founding in 2013 to its IPO earlier this year — the first robotics IPO since iRobot over 15 years ago. Berkshire Grey produces automated systems for e-commerce order fulfillment, parcel sortation, store replenishment, and related operations in warehouses, distribution centers, and in the back ends of stores. The talk will discuss the commercial opportunity, the technology and solutions developed by Berkshire Grey, and discuss the challenges of warehouse automation.

Bio: Matthew T. Mason has been working on robotic manipulation since the 1970’s. He earned the BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence at MIT, finishing his PhD in 1982. Since that time he has been on the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University. He was Chair of the CMU Robotics PhD program from 1994 to 2004, Director of the CMU Robotics Institute from 2004 to 2014, and is presently Professor Emeritus of Robotics and Computer Science. Since 2014 Mason has also been the Chief Scientist at Berkshire Grey. He is a Fellow of the AAAI, and a Fellow of the IEEE. He is a winner of the System Development Foundation Prize, the IEEE RAS Pioneer Award, and the 2018 IEEE Robotics and Automation Technical Field Award.