Curt Avallone Of Takeoff Technologies On The Future Of Robotics Over the Next Few Years

An Interview With David Leichner

Vision: What is the problem or opportunity that you are passionate about and willing to commit and put your life’s energy towards. Knowing where you want to go, and what you want to do is important.

With the shortage of labor, companies are now looking at how robots can replace some of the lost labor force. See here for example. The truth is that this is not really a novel idea, as companies like Amazon have been using robots for a while now. What can we expect to see in the robotics industry over the next few years? How will robots be used? What kinds of robots are being produced? To what extent can robots help address the shortage of labor? Which jobs can robots replace, and which jobs need humans? In our series called “The Future Of Robotics Over The Next Few Years” we are talking to leaders of Robotics companies, AI companies, and Hi-Tech Manufacturing companies who can address these questions and share insights from their experience. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Curt Avallone.

Curt Avallone is Chief Business Officer for Takeoff Technologies. Curt has dedicated the past 30 years to developing innovative retail solutions. He has collaborated with a variety of teams to build new businesses that today generate over $8 billion in annual sales and over 30,000 jobs. He launched successful eCommerce divisions at Ahold Delhaize, Giant Eagle, and CVS Pharmacy, as well as the HEB and Ahold Delhaize fueling divisions. Curt designed, patented and operated the Ahold “ScanIt!” mobile system, which allows shoppers to scan and bag groceries while they shop. He holds a BA from Harvard University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started in robotics?

Takeoff Technologies (Takeoff) started about six years ago and was part of a strategy to lower food costs through robotics. It was also started to add convenience to the consumer and the brick and click age. Takeoff was designed to be a more efficient way to distribute food.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

The launch of the original Takeoff Micro Fulfillment Center was a breakthrough for the industry. We’ve had other companies in the industry follow us, but Takeoff’s solution has the ability to pick 50 to 60 item orders in five to six minutes, something that had never been successfully done especially at low cost and within a very small area. Our facilities cost three to four million dollars and can generate 30 to 40 million dollars in profit, which is the equivalent of a brick and mortar store that might cost 16 million to build. So the biggest thing, I think, is the launch of the Micro Fulfillment Center concept itself.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Winston Churchill said, “never, never, never give in” and as a startup we’ve overcome many obstacles and had a pretty steep learning curve on how to do this properly. That would probably be the phrase I would say defines us.

Ok wonderful. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Can you tell our readers about the most interesting projects you are working on now?

We’re working on Nano Express facilities. Opposed to the 10,000 square foot Micro Fulfillment Center, Nano Express facilities are only 2,000 square feet and use our new frozen tote patents. This allows us to do all three temperatures for online grocery, frozen, chilled, and ambient in an extremely small space. And with the right assortment pick orders, this technology makes the process even cheaper than what we’re doing with our current Micro Fulfillment Centers.

How do you think this might change the world?

The Nano Express and Micro Fulfillment Centers are designed to create more convenience. One thing that’s starting to emerge is cross-channel alliances. For example, when you order delivery from a restaurant, your groceries would be delivered together with your meal. When this combination is done through robotics, it can be offered to the consumer for free. I think the other thing is the potential for our facilities to become solar powered, so that they are self-funding. In certain markets, such as urban deserts, grocery stores struggle to provide lower costs and convenience, and our Micro Fulfillment Center or Nano Express units could actually be self-funding so that we could feed more people, across the globe more efficiently.

Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

For Micro Fulfillment Centers or Nano Express, probably not because they potentially make it less expensive and more efficient to feed people. There’s always the risk as robotics grows that jobs are not as plentiful and are replaced by machines. So, there is a disruption to employment that could be the result of any type of robotics, not just what we’re doing.

What are the three things that most excite you about the robotics industry? Why?

The ability to feed people for less, especially with the world population going from eight billion to 10 billion and supply chains being strained. I think what we’re doing has more than just shareholder value. There is great concern among grocers like me, who’ve been doing this for almost four decades, that the risk of more people not being properly fed is a very serious problem. Hopefully cheaper and more efficient food distribution enhanced by robotics will help people from dying from starvation with the supply chains being so strained.

What are the three things that concern you about the robotics industry? Why?

The long lead times right now are of concern and there is definitely a slow ramp up due to a combination of covid and other events. I think the first concern is that the robotics firms are not moving as quickly as they would like to. The other is the increasing cost of robotics at this point and its evolution. We haven’t reached that critical mass yet. So a lot of the initial robotics are more expensive than what we had hoped for. I think the third concern is obviously the impact on society as a whole, just the acceptance of it and the proper use of it. There are a lot of opinions and a lot of risk to society, as a whole, around something as massive as robotics becoming a part of everyday life.

As you know, there is an ongoing debate between prominent scientists, (personified as a debate between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg,) about whether advanced AI has the potential to pose a danger to humanity in the future. What is your position about this?

I definitely think it does, especially in the military AI there are tremendous risks. Unfortunately we live in a world where that is probably going to happen in some form or fashion between competing nations. I think there’s a lot of concern about what could happen in that space. On a more positive note, it will probably revolutionize the education process and hopefully we’ll have better informed individuals to manage the risk caused by AI.

My expertise is in product security, so I’m particularly interested in this question. In today’s environment, hackers break into the software running the robotics, for ransomware, to damage brands or for other malicious purposes. Based on your experience, what should manufacturing companies do to uncover vulnerabilities in the development process to safeguard their robotics?

The QA process is critical for anything with technology and having your own organization. Hackers will try to break in and disrupt what you’re building. So, beefing up the QA teams and ongoing resilient organizational structuring is going to make sure your best people are protecting your assets.

Given the cost and resources that it takes to develop robotics, how do you safeguard your intellectual property during development and also once the robot is deployed in industry?

I think there are normal patent processes that most companies apply, but honestly I think the most important thing is to be constantly innovating. Anytime that you build a new technology, people will try to copy or find the avenues around it. So you want to constantly innovate by finding and retaining the visionaries within your own organization so you can create trust and loyalty. Often in the IP spaces somebody from within your organization becomes disgruntled and then takes the ideas and tries to build them or use them differently than what the patents protect.

Fantastic. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In The Robotics Industry?

1. Vision: What is the problem or opportunity that you are passionate about and willing to commit and put your life’s energy towards. Knowing where you want to go, and what you want to do is important.
2. Finding the fast followers that would allow you to build a team to chase that dream.
3. Financial rigor and risk management. Any new venture requires that you are not chasing something irresponsibly or not resourced properly.
4. Consumer-centric or worldview as to how you’re going to introduce your vision because many ideas are ahead of their time. Your ability to get the right message out around your vision rather than create fear and concern that what you’re building is dangerous.
5. How are you going to deal with the adversaries that are opposed to what you would like to do in the very diverse world that we live in? And the conflict that is being created through social media’s growth. You have to have a plan to manage those who would want to destroy what you’re trying to do.

As you know, there are not that many women in this industry. Can you advise what is needed to engage more women in the robotics industry?

I don’t really have a good answer for that, one being a man, but I think most of it is just mentoring and finding chemistry. Most of the things that are innovative are built between individuals that share dreams. So I think you have to look for men or women that are like minded and encourage them to chase a dream with you or chase one of their own dreams.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

For me it’s these Nano Express units that could allow us, if they were solar powered, to place them anywhere in the world to feed people who are starving, and to create a brand new food distribution system with a lot less waste and a lot less cost. We would allow the problem of world hunger to be solved. Certainly, robotics has the capability but whether we get there and how quickly we get there depends upon the visionaries that engage the same robotics that we use for online grocery. This technology can be used for automated agriculture so we cannot only distribute better, but we can grow product better in robotic environments today. Someday the same robots we’re using or something similar will probably be on Mars with automated farms.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

If you go to takeoff.com, you’ll see what we’re up to and what our organization is trying to do and as always, we’re looking for good people. So after you take a look at what we do, if you think you’re a good fit, we’d love to hear from you.

Thank you so much for the time you spent doing this interview. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success.

About The Interviewer: David Leichner is a veteran of the Israeli high-tech industry with significant experience in the areas of cyber and security, enterprise software and communications. At Cybellum, a leading provider of Product Security Lifecycle Management, David is responsible for creating and executing the marketing strategy and managing the global marketing team that forms the foundation for Cybellum’s product and market penetration. Prior to Cybellum, David was CMO at SQream and VP Sales and Marketing at endpoint protection vendor, Cynet. David is the Chairman of the Friends of Israel and Member of the Board of Trustees of the Jerusalem Technology College. He holds a BA in Information Systems Management and an MBA in International Business from the City University of New York.