The Austrian warehouse automation and intelligent fulfillment systems provider Knapp has opened a “robotics and AI innovation hub” in Boston, saying the new unit will grant the company’s existing robotics center in Graz, Austria, direct access to one of the world’s leading research and technology ecosystems.
Knapp says it founded KNAPPRobotics.ai Inc. to drive the development of intelligent robotics solutions and accelerate achieving their industrial readiness.
The unit, located in Somerville, Massachusetts, will have a team of 30 to 35 employees by early 2027. The hub will build closer ties with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a renowned center for AI and robotics research, in order to drive its focus on AI, computer vision, robotics, and product development.
While the location in Graz, Austria, will stay the center for robotics development, logistics know-how and achieving industrial readiness, the Boston location will serve as an international innovation and technology hub for specific industrial applications. Together, these centers form a well-connected network of competence linking research, product development, and solution design and deployment.
As the group-wide business owner of robotics, KNAPPRobotics.ai unites product management, development and implementation under one roof, shortening KNAPP’s development cycles, accelerating product launch and paving the way for robotics to become a scalable product and solution business.
At the core of KNAPPRobotics.ai’s endeavors are physical AI systems, which are able to perceive their environment, make decisions and perform physical tasks reliably. For example, they can be used to carry out piece picking, bin picking, cycle counting and other processes throughout the material flow in a warehouse. Overarching these systems is the KNAPP Brain, a platform that covers solutions for AI, computer vision, grip point calculation, motion planning and continuous learning, forming a powerful basis for intelligent robotics solutions.
