Byte-Sized AI is a bi-weekly column that covers all things artificial intelligence —from startup funding, to newly inked partnerships, to just-launched, AI-powered capabilities from major retailers, software providers and supply chain players.
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Vayu Robotics signs 2,500-robot contract with e-commerce player
San Francisco-based startup Vayu Robotics announced Tuesday it had released its on-road delivery robots , powered by AI foundation models. In the announcement, the company notes that a “large e-commerce player” has tapped it to deploy 2,500 of the robots for quick-turnaround order delivery. Vayu did not disclose which company the partner is.
According to the company, the robots are not fitted with light detection and ranging (Lidar) sensors. Lidar often helps robots to determine their proximity to other objects, like cars on the road or pallets in a warehouse, which, in turn, causes fewer collisions.
Instead, the company has put low-cost passive sensors on the robots, allowing the foundation model to send signals to the robot instead. That, the company noted, means that the robots can navigate city streets, store floors and residential neighborhoods without pre-mapping its routes. The robots are capable of carrying up to 100 pounds and go less than 20 mph.
Anand Gopalan, the company’s CEO and co-founder, said the company’s AI-powered technology could be used in the future to power other types of robots.
”Our software is robot form factor agnostic and we have already deployed it across several wheeled form factors. In the near future, Vayu’s software technology will enable the movement of quadrupedal and bipedal robots, allowing us to expand into those markets as well,” he said in a statement.
Attentive amps up email marketing for Ugg, Hot Topic
Marketing platform Attentive wants to step up brands and retailers’ game when it comes to delivering customer messages via email and text. The company announced on July 16 that it had made its AI Pro system publicly available after testing with select clients.
The new tools are meant to deliver exactly the right message, at the right time, to the right audiences. AI Pro has four major tools underneath it: Audiences AI, Identity AI, Send Time AI and Brand Voice.
Audiences AI allows companies to more easily segment and target customers, which can help deliver insights about high-value subscribers. Identity AI helps recognize customers beyond the lifetime of browser cookies, allowing more room for personalization in site experience and messaging, while Send Time AI, true to name, helps brands aim their messages toward consumers at the right time based on historical performance. Brand Voice, perhaps the most unique of the four tools, helps marketers write copy in their brand voice based on models trained on their previous communications.
According to the company, companies testing the new tools have seen, on average, a 124 percent increase in revenue. Clients testing the technology included Hot Topic , Crate & Barrel and Ugg .
Amit Jhawar, CEO of Attentive, said AI Pro should impact brands’ holiday performances.
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“At Attentive, our top priority is to help brands deliver bespoke customer experiences that help them drive revenue and loyalty,” Jhawar told Sourcing Journal. “We have built distinctive AI capabilities that power average revenue boosts of 124 percent.…This holiday season, brands that embrace personalization will see performance gains while those that rely solely on generic messaging will fall behind. With Attentive AI, we are committed to helping marketers ensure every message matters.”
Windward AI partners with AWS
Windward AI, a platform that uses predictive analytics to help those in the maritime ecosystem get real-time insight into their supply chains and freight operations, announced earlier this month it had partnered with AWS .
The two will work together to develop a generative AI-powered solution to improve risk management for those working in the shipping and logistics industries. Amazon Bedrock will underlay the solution, according to a release.
The new solution is meant to help companies overcome what Windward calls a “lack of human expertise for dealing with complex risk management requirements” in the logistics industry. The system will have capabilities targeted at managing unstructured data. Before now, customers did not have the potential to use their own unstructured data, instead relying on Maritime’s aggregated data and expertise.
Ami Daniel, Windward’s co-founder and CEO, said that the upgrade, as well as the new partnership,creates a lot of potential for customers in the maritime shipping industry.
“We are excited to work with AWS and combine our advanced maritime expertise with generative AI capabilities from AWS,” said Ami Daniel, Co-founder & CEO of Windward. “The convergence between vertical AI, generative AI and our collaboration with AWS…allows us to now solve bigger problems than we ever could. The shipping and logistics industries are traditionally under-digitized, as such, the potential upside for our key customers in partnering with us and combining their data with our technology will create a significant reduction of risk and uplift to their revenues.”
Female-founded startup secures seed round
Hey Savi, a female-founded startup using AI for search and personalization , announced July 15 it had secured a seed round of £2.2 million ($2.83 million).
Its funding comes on the heels of other startups, like Daydream , scoring huge sums for similar functions. Personalization continues to be a hot topic among brands and retailers pursuing new AI strategies. Hey Savi was founded in the United Kingdom by three female entrepreneurs. According to a release from the company, consumers in the UK make over 10,000 fashion-related searches every minute. The founders want to change the way search functionality for online shopping works, replacing outdated systems and bringing the consumer experience closer to expectations.
Angela Vinci, co-founder and chief product and technology officer at Hey Savi said modernizing search with AI systems has the potential to change the shopping experience in a holistic way.
“The challenge consumers face today is that search engines will always prioritize their business models of paid for advertising, rather than delivering relevant results,” Vinci said in a statement. “The search experience is outdated and not fit for today’s fast-paced fashion environment. We are creating an experience customers will love and that will give them confidence in their choices. Hey Savi’s unique platform is built by an industry leading, fully female product team, and is perfectly timed to reignite the way customers engage with retailers online, unlocking millions in new revenue.”
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