Mujin Plans to Use Latest Funding to Grow Robotics Footprint in the U.S.

Why aren't robots more ubiquitous? Ease of use has been one obstacle to more widespread adoption, but several hardware and software providers are trying to overcome it. Mujin Corp. said its MujinController enables integrators and end users to set up palletizing and other applications.

The Tokyo-based company said its technology can also be used in bin picking and truck unloading. Mujin yesterday announced that it had raised a Series C round of $85 million. Funding came from sources including SBI Investment Co. and James Kuffner, CEO of Woven by Toyota.

The global market for just palletizing robots could expand by $1.7 billion at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.71% from 2022 to 2027, according to Research and Markets. Similarly, Fact.MR predicted a CAGR of 9.4%, with that market reaching $10.1 billion by 2033.

Mujin plans for growth

What will Mujin do next in this growing market? Josh Cloer, director of sales at Mujin, replied to the following questions from Robotics 24/7:

What are your plans for the capital?

Josh Cloer, Mujin

Cloer: Our plan is to continue the pace of the innovation within our product development cycle as well as increase our global market share within the intelligent robotics space.

How many employees do you currently have? Are you hiring? (Mujin's U.S. offices are in Suwanee, Ga.)

Cloer: We’re currently around 300 employees globally and around 60 employees in the U.S.

Our U.S. expansion is also accelerating, and we’re hiring at a rapid pace to keep up with the existing an growing demand.

Are you able to name any customers that are using the MujinController?

Cloer: We have quite a few customers that we can talk about from our Asian business. We’ve helped companies like UNIQLO, JD.com, PALTAC, and Fancl adopt robotics within their distribution centers.

In the U.S., we’re working with some very large organizations in retail, CPG [consumer packaged goods], e-commerce, and 3PL [third-party logistics].

We are also partnering with some of the largest robotics and material handling integrator partners in the U.S. At this time, we are not at liberty to disclose our customers or partnerships.

New products to get traction

Mujin showed its TruckBot at ProMat and its Bin-Picking Workcell at Automate -- how has the reception been to those products in the U.S.?

Cloer: Both TruckBot and our Bin-Picking products are doing very well. TruckBot is being adopted in the appropriate industries, and our Bin-Picking product has been popular with our integrator partners here in the U.S.

Does Mujin's software work with warehouse execution systems (WES) or manufacturing execution systems (MES)?

Cloer: The MujinController can work with WMS/WES and MES to take the business level-information and make it relevant to robot systems. This is a critical piece to how we are able to enable new users of robots to take full advantage of a full system.

How will Mujin continue to develop its technology, or what capabilities are you looking to add?

Cloer: We’re planning to continue development of our core product and applications and develop new solutions to support the further proliferation of robots.