CommonSense Robotics claims e-commerce fulfilment milestone

Israel-based micro-fulfilment startup CommonSense Robotics has broken ground on what is pitched as the world’s first underground automated warehouse, in partnership with one of Israel’s largest grocery chains.

This will measure just 18,000 square feet with an average clearance height of 11 feet. It will support fresh, ambient, chilled and frozen items, with the partner able to fulfil delivery orders in less than an hour, thanks to a combination of robotic sorting systems and AI.

“With e-commerce logistics pushing both retailers’ profitability and urban infrastructures to the breaking point, it’s clear that we need to reinvent the way goods are fulfilled and delivered within cities,” says CommonSense Robotics Co-founder and CEO Elram Goren. “In order to fulfil and deliver on demand, you inherently need to be closer to your end customers, but that’s really hard in cities. Taking e-commerce fulfilment underground inside cities is one way we can enable retailers to fulfil online orders in close proximity to their customers, while doing so profitably.”

Last year, CommonSense Robotics launched its first centre in downtown Tel Aviv, measuring just 6,000 square feet in total. It went on to lay claim to the world’s first one-hour delivery fulfilled by robots, in partnership with Israeli drugstore chain, Super-Pharm. This is currently servicing over 400 orders a day for the retailer.

The company raised $20 million in a funding round led by Playground Global last year. It says that it is in talks with a number of large grocery retailers in the US and UK and intends to launch multiple sites across the east coast during 2019.