Autonomous inventory management system provider Corvus Robotics is delivering drone technology for lights-out warehouse environments with the newest version of its Corvus One drone system, announced today.
The update is supported by an $18 million funding round led by S2G Ventures and Spero Adventures.
“Corvus Robotics fits our mission to invest in companies that truly transform the way business is conducted,” Marc Tarpenning, co-founder of Tesla and partner at Spero Ventures, said in a press release Tuesday. “Other than a landing pad, its drone-powered system requires no infrastructure, is quick and easy to deploy, and cost-effective to manage. It literally merges with the existing warehouse environment.”
Corvus Robotics’ drone-based inventory management system uses computer vision and generative AI to understand its environment, flying autonomously in both very narrow aisles—a minimum width of 50 inches—and in very wide aisles. It uses obstacle detection to operate safely in warehouses and features an advanced barcode scanning system that can read any barcode symbology in any orientation placed anywhere on the front of cartons or pallets, according to the company.
The lights-out feature is already in use at customer locations.
“Being able to run inventory checks 24/7 without operator assistance has been a game changer,” Austin Feagins, senior director of solutions at third-party logistics services (3PL) provider Staci Americas, said in the release. “The lights-out capability in the Corvus One system allows our inventory teams to correct discrepancies off-shift and pre-shift before production starts each day, limiting fulfillment delays and production impacts.”
