.png)
Delivery is emerging as an essential service in the customer-centric economy. Companies are seeking increasingly customized solutions to their problems. And several municipalities are starting to offer convenience services - like snow removal and lawn mowing - to the elderly or disabled populations. The only problem? The availability and cost of drivers can hinder a company’s ability to scale or accomplish a task at the rate they want to.
Enter Synkar Autonomous.
The brainchild of Matheus Theodoro, Lucas Assis, and Evandro Barros, the Brazilian-Canadian startup seeks to bring autonomous robotics into people’s everyday lives. Their robots are small vehicles that use low-cost sensors and cameras enhanced by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and computer vision to autonomously navigate, avoid obstacles, and locate themselves without human assistance.
Synkar develops the autonomous system that is embedded in each robot as well as all the hardware and cloud system that manages the entire fleet. This allows them to assist if a vehicle runs into a problem along their delivery route.
“When the vehicles encounter situations they cannot resolve on their own, such as an unforeseen obstacle blocking the entire passage, our operations centre is alerted. We then intervene in the vehicle’s journey, helping it to overcome the challenge,” Matheus notes.
He adds there are multiple use cases for their technology, with delivery being one of the largest. A few others, Matheus states, are product picking in warehouses, industrial automation, infrastructure inspections, or even assisting with security and surveillance.
“We have an API that facilitates the integration of our fleet management system with any system, connecting the user with something that is needed or with industrial automation systems that need to be integrated with an autonomous mobility solution,” he adds.
Their technology can be used indoors and outdoors, and the entire autonomous stack, fleet management, and hardware developed by Synkar can be customized to meet a client's needs.
Matheus says the company’s next goal, which he and his team are achieving with the help of ventureLAB as part of the 2023 Accelerate AI cohort, is to hit a few to-market milestones and, eventually, to operate the largest fleet of autonomous robots in the Americas.
“We view the use of AI as a building block to solve complex problems,” Matheus notes. “We advise entrepreneurs to seek knowledge in this area through programs like Accelerate AI and to be close to experts as the use of AI in the correct way can bring significant advantages to problem solving and, ultimately, generate great results for a startup.”
He adds Synkar Autonomous is driven to solve critical challenges facing the supply chain.
“We saw a great opportunity to join forces in order to bring autonomous mobility to the logistics market, which is in need of this type of solution,” Matheus says. “In some countries, like Canada, we know the challenges companies face in hiring people for logistics operations; and in countries like Brazil, we know the difficulties workers face. We seek to bring a tool to market that can help everyone.”
About Accelerate AI
Led by our seasoned expert Advisors and business leaders Garry Chan and Krishna Vempati, this free comprehensive 6-month program will propel Accelerate AI companies to solve the modern-day challenges of the supply chain industry by leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning into their established product offerings. We are excited to watch the immense growth of these companies as they tackle some of the most challenging entrepreneurial hurdles in technology today.
About ventureLAB
ventureLAB is a leading global founder community for hardware technology and enterprise software companies in Canada. Located at the heart of Ontario’s innovation corridor in York Region, ventureLAB is part of one of the biggest and most diverse tech communities in Canada. Our initiatives focused on raising capital, talent retention, commercializing technology and IP, and customer acquisition have enabled thousands of companies to create over 5,000 jobs and raise more than $340 million in investment capital. At ventureLAB, we grow globally competitive tech titans that build-to-scale in Canada, for global markets.
