WEBVTT - Locus' Welty Builds Warehouse Robots to Work With Humans(Audio)

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<v Speaker 1>Broadcasting live to New York, Bloomberg eleventh to Washington, d C.

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomber to Boston, Bloomberg twelve hundreds to San Francisco, Bloomberg

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<v Speaker 1>nine to the Country series Exam Channel one, and around

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<v Speaker 1>the globe the Bloomberg Radio flows ab and Bloomberg got gone.

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<v Speaker 1>This is taking stock. Coming up on taking stock Locusts Robotics.

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<v Speaker 1>It's our featured company for the weekly Small Business segment.

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<v Speaker 1>We'll be speaking with Bruce Wealthy. He's the founder of

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<v Speaker 1>Locust Robotics. And if you've purchased anything from Amazon, chances

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<v Speaker 1>are one of their robots has had a hand in it.

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<v Speaker 1>That's all coming up on taking stock right now. Let's

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<v Speaker 1>go to Charlie Pellard in the Bloomberg newsroom for Bloomberg

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<v Speaker 1>Business flathand I think if him Fox stocks continue to

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<v Speaker 1>trade in record territory amid corporate results. The point to

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<v Speaker 1>resilience in the global economy. The pound surged out of

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<v Speaker 1>the Bank of England unexpectedly kept its interest rate unchanged

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<v Speaker 1>at zero point five percent. As many as thirty one

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<v Speaker 1>or fifty four economist survey by Bloomberg had forecast a reduction.

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<v Speaker 1>Joachim Phelps his Fells, his global economic advisor at PIMCO.

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<v Speaker 1>He was interviewed this morning on Bloomberg Television. I think

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<v Speaker 1>if you look at today's decision, there was only one

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<v Speaker 1>member who voted for a rate cut, and even he

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<v Speaker 1>who was the most stablished member f league, he voted

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<v Speaker 1>for a twenty five basis points cut. So I'm not

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<v Speaker 1>sure that they'll do all the fifty basis points that

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<v Speaker 1>we expect in one go in August, but I think

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<v Speaker 1>we'll get at least twenty five, and I could even

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<v Speaker 1>see a bigger move like forty or fifty basis points

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<v Speaker 1>in August. Another option for them is to do more queue,

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<v Speaker 1>more asset purchase purchases, mostly guilts, but perhaps also some

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<v Speaker 1>corporate bonds, but I don't think this will be announced

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<v Speaker 1>already in August. Gold is down ten eight denounced thirty two.

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<v Speaker 1>That is a drop of eight tenths of one percent.

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<v Speaker 1>Crude oil back above forty five dollars a barrel forty

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<v Speaker 1>five fifty six right now on West Texas gettermediate of

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<v Speaker 1>eighty cents. That's a gain of one point a cent.

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<v Speaker 1>Ten You're down seventeen thirty seconds. Looking at the yield

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<v Speaker 1>of one point five three percent, Germany's buyer raising its

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<v Speaker 1>offer for Monsanto and a bid the value shares of

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<v Speaker 1>the American company at fifty four point seven billion dollars

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<v Speaker 1>after being rebuffed in its initial efforts to combine operations

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<v Speaker 1>and become the world's biggest supplier of farm chemicals and seeds.

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<v Speaker 1>Monsanto shares up today by two point eight percent. JP

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<v Speaker 1>Morgan Chase beat analysts estimates it shares up now by

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<v Speaker 1>two percent again. Recapping stocks, Hire SMP up ten to

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<v Speaker 1>sixty two, a gain of point five percent, The Dow

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<v Speaker 1>up one thirty three, a gain of points seven percent

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<v Speaker 1>to thirty two on Wall Street. Now, let's take a

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<v Speaker 1>look at some of the other stories making news. Thank you,

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<v Speaker 1>Charlie from the Bloomberg News room. I'm Matt Miller. Conflicting

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<v Speaker 1>reports today about Donald Trump's election of a running mate.

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<v Speaker 1>The New York Times and CDs News say Trump is

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<v Speaker 1>elected Indiana Governor Mike Pence, but The Times also reports

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<v Speaker 1>that Trump could change his mind and that campaign manager

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<v Speaker 1>Paul Manafort says no selection has been made. Trump is

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<v Speaker 1>planning to formally announce his selection tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, The

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<v Speaker 1>Indianapolis Star is reporting that Pence has dropped his reelection

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<v Speaker 1>bid for governor. Top US counter terrorism officials are warning

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<v Speaker 1>that radical activists that next week's Republican convention in Cleveland

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<v Speaker 1>could disrupt otherwise peaceful demonstrations with violence. FBI Director James Comey,

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<v Speaker 1>testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee, notes a particular

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<v Speaker 1>risk from domestic terrorists. There is a concern anytime there's

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<v Speaker 1>an event like this that people from across a spectrum

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<v Speaker 1>of radical groups will be attracted to it, So we're

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<v Speaker 1>watching it very, very carefully. Comey says there will be

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<v Speaker 1>hundreds from the Bureau focused on groups that aspire to

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<v Speaker 1>commit acts of violence. And a close political ally of

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<v Speaker 1>New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has pleaded guilty to a

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<v Speaker 1>federal charge of soliciting a bribe. Prosecutors have been invested

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<v Speaker 1>gating David Sampson, a Christie appointee who was Chairman of

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<v Speaker 1>the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from

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<v Speaker 1>two thousand eleven to two thousand fourteen. Officials say he

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<v Speaker 1>threatened to withhold funding unless United Airlines agreed to provide

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<v Speaker 1>direct air service to make it easier for Sampson to

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<v Speaker 1>get to his vacation home in South Carolina. Global News

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<v Speaker 1>twenty four hours a day, powered by more than hundred

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<v Speaker 1>journalists and analysts and more than one d twenty countries.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Matt Miller. This is Bloomberg, Charlie, and we thank

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<v Speaker 1>you and again recapping move higher for US equities SMP

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<v Speaker 1>five hundred index up ten now two, a gain of

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<v Speaker 1>five tenths of one percent. I'm Charlie Pelerton. That's a

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg business flash you're listening to taking start with Kathleen

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<v Speaker 1>Hayes and Pim Box on Bloomberg Radio. Sales Days, Amazon

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<v Speaker 1>Prime Sales Days, perhaps netting the company over a billion

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<v Speaker 1>dollars in sales. A lot of those products come from

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<v Speaker 1>where houses. For e commerce retailers, warehouses are essential to

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<v Speaker 1>getting their products to the customer at the right time.

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<v Speaker 1>One of the things they use our robots. And here

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<v Speaker 1>to tell us more about the use of robots in

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<v Speaker 1>logistics and warehouse operations is Bruce Wealthy. He is the

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<v Speaker 1>founder of Locust Robotics. Locust Robotics is our featured company

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<v Speaker 1>today for the Weekly A Small Business segment. Bruce Wealthy,

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<v Speaker 1>thanks for joining us. Nice to be here. Tell us

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<v Speaker 1>what is a locusts bot like a robot but with locusts.

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<v Speaker 1>What did you do to build this robot? But a

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<v Speaker 1>mobile robot. It's autonomous. It rolls around, um a warehouse

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<v Speaker 1>floor and it maps the floor so it can recognize

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<v Speaker 1>obstacles and racks and people and UM it positions itself

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<v Speaker 1>in front of a pixelot where there might be an

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<v Speaker 1>item that we would like to us to see still

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<v Speaker 1>in order. And uh. It's about two in the round

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<v Speaker 1>and ways about eighty pounds and interacts very very closely

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<v Speaker 1>with people. UM. We actually empower people that do the

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<v Speaker 1>work with with the robots. Now you have described it

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<v Speaker 1>in the past as how these robots operate in what

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<v Speaker 1>you call a giant dispatch system. How does that work? Well?

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<v Speaker 1>The robots are given a task and that task would

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<v Speaker 1>be to go position itself in front of every single

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<v Speaker 1>slot in a warehouse where a pick is required to

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<v Speaker 1>fulfill a specific order, and that could traverse the entire warehouse.

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<v Speaker 1>In fact, we expect that robots to be traveling between

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<v Speaker 1>ten and fifteen miles a day or actually I'll say

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<v Speaker 1>a shift, and they're all um working off the same

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<v Speaker 1>pool of orders, which is optimized to make sure that

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<v Speaker 1>we get the orders out the door when they didn't

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<v Speaker 1>need to go out to fulfill things like the next

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<v Speaker 1>day air and same day shipments you've described in the past. Also,

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<v Speaker 1>they work that the robots have done at two warehouses

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<v Speaker 1>in Boston about five hundred thousand square feet, shipping about

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<v Speaker 1>a billion dollars worth of products annually. You say you

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<v Speaker 1>used ten robots in those two facilities. Is that the

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<v Speaker 1>kind of robotic headcount we can count on? Well, actually,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm not sure where those numbers came from. We intend

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<v Speaker 1>to use considerably more robots than that. We currently have

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<v Speaker 1>two facilities. One runs robots made by Coming called Keep

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<v Speaker 1>the Systems, which is coming that Amazon bot and we

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<v Speaker 1>have two hundred of those robots in one facility and

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<v Speaker 1>the other facility we've partially automated and we have right

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<v Speaker 1>now about twenty operating in there, and we anticipate that

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<v Speaker 1>that will go to about a hundred maybe a hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and twenty five. And how much do the robots cost

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<v Speaker 1>all in? If you add all of the software until

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<v Speaker 1>on divided by the number of robots, it comes to

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<v Speaker 1>about each And you mentioned that they work side by

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<v Speaker 1>side with humans. That's correct. They make of human much

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<v Speaker 1>more productive. In fact, we see improvements and productivity in

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<v Speaker 1>the range of five to seven times, which is a

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<v Speaker 1>very big improvement. I would say five hundred seven and

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<v Speaker 1>that significant in this industry because we've been working with

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<v Speaker 1>incremental improvements in the past and the range of ten

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<v Speaker 1>and that was considered a material improvement. So these really

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<v Speaker 1>truly are a big improvement over the state of the

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<v Speaker 1>art today. Can you describe what a warehouse or logistics

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<v Speaker 1>operator needs to do in order to prepare their operation

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<v Speaker 1>for using these kinds of robots. Well, these robots are

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<v Speaker 1>actually very non disruptive to an existing environment. In fact,

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<v Speaker 1>we anticipate that are the only modification we have to

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<v Speaker 1>make to the environment is to place a two dimensional

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<v Speaker 1>barcode that we refer to as a locust point wherever

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<v Speaker 1>you want the robot to be able to navigate to,

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<v Speaker 1>and that makes that point at a point of interest

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<v Speaker 1>and that will represent the locusts of a bunch of

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<v Speaker 1>pick locations. So that's where the word locusts came from.

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<v Speaker 1>And tell us about your company in terms of funding

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<v Speaker 1>and what you'd like to accomplish in the next six months. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>we've got a couple of customers. We UM operate within

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<v Speaker 1>our own warehouses. We own a number of warehouses under

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<v Speaker 1>the our company Quiet Logistics, and in addition to that,

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<v Speaker 1>we've signed our first non Quiet Logistics customer UM. We

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<v Speaker 1>anticipate very fast growth because these are quite easy to deploy,

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<v Speaker 1>and we think you'd take about five weeks to implement

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<v Speaker 1>uh a pilot, and then once the pilot is running,

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<v Speaker 1>then the system can be u enhanced and expanded really

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<v Speaker 1>at whatever pace you want. We anticipate at a typical

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<v Speaker 1>warehouse will need between a hundred and two hundred of

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<v Speaker 1>these robots, between one and two hundred. Yeah, and of

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<v Speaker 1>course if you have a million square feet it will

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<v Speaker 1>be a much larger number than that. But our typical

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<v Speaker 1>e commerce warehouses in the range of two five square feet.

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<v Speaker 1>And just finally, I mean some of the examples of

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<v Speaker 1>companies that use your products, Guilt Benobos, they're all being

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<v Speaker 1>shipped using these robots. Correct, that's correct, We're using We're

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<v Speaker 1>shooting about thirty different customers in our warehouses. Thank you

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<v Speaker 1>very much for spending time with us. Bruce Wealty is

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<v Speaker 1>the founder of Locusts Robotics, joining us from Boston, of course,

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<v Speaker 1>home to Bloomberg twelve hundred am. You're listening to taking Stock.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm pim Fox coming up on taking stock. We're going

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<v Speaker 1>to take stock of buyer and it's bid for monts Santo.

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<v Speaker 1>Will there be competitors? Will the deal go through? We've

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<v Speaker 1>got more details. This is Bloomberg. Small Business in Focus

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