Eyal Yair Of 1MRobotics On The Future Of Robotics Over the Next Few Years

An Interview With David Leichner

Take a deep breath: There is going to be a long journey ahead of you and you need to prepare yourself for that. The most important thing is to not let small speed bumps get you down. Try to stay focused throughout the race, it’s about endurance.

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 Eyal Yair.

Eyal Yair is a seasoned entrepreneur with a track record of managing and promoting startups. He is skilled in business development and has technical expertise. He has co-founded and been the CEO of four companies, two of which were sold successfully. Currently, he is the CEO of 1MRobotics and is working on developing the next generation of dark stores.

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?

My name is Eyal Yair, Co-Founder & CEO of 1MRobotics. Over the past 20 years, I have led and managed teams across numerous industries. Throughout my career, I co-founded and ran four companies, two of which were sold.

Several years ago, I consulted a logistics company. The job included visiting companies that manufacture automation for large warehouses, and I immediately fell in love with the field. During our visits, I realized that E-commerce’s future lies in logistics capabilities that the market was not yet able to provide.

There was no doubt that this would be the next big thing in the market, so I decided to take it to the next level. I collaborated with my partner Roee Tuval (Ex-IDF elite tech unit, an expert in hardware and robotics), and we discovered that the field of large robotic warehouses at the micro fulfillment field, and even larger than that, was saturated with solutions.

At the same time, the world of nano-fulfillment warehouses for fast shipping started to grow, and we realized that this world wouldn’t survive without automation, this was our “Aha!” moment where we realized we are onto a huge opportunity. 1MRobotics was born out of this vision.

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

In 2012, one of the startups I founded and led as the CEO was selected to participate in Techstars Boston. Every time a batch ends, the next batch is presented so they can say hi and talk, maybe get some advice.

At the end of the program, as the next batch was being presented, I noticed one startup that blew me away. The first thing that came to my mind was that they had to be the next big thing.

I immediately picked up the phone to tell my investors they had to invest in that company, ASAP.

Their answer was “OK”, but ultimately they didn’t invest.

This company was eventually sold for a billion dollars.

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

Two tips that I have learned from my experiences as an entrepreneur, and still follow to this day, are:

1. It’s all about the execution. Leading a startup requires constant monitoring of progress. To achieve the next milestone of the company, you should ask yourself every day, every week, every month: what else do we need to do? This is the key that will make us stand out from our competitors.
2. It’s YOUR company. The journey leads you to meet a lot of people with different opinions, all of whom have tips and advice to share. All of them want what’s best for you and want to help as much as they can, but it can be confusing. It is important to filter out noise in order to stay focused. You have to remember that at the end of the day, the person who really lives the startup every single day, is you. Take into account their opinions, but the final decision must be yours because you know what’s right for your startup.

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?

Hyperlocal fulfillment is a highly challenging area where any player is pushing to operate at maximal efficiency and in the shortest time window possible. It doesn’t matter whether we are talking about retailers, operators, or even assembly and manufacturing lines- leveraging dedicated technology and automation is critical for hyperlocal logistics infrastructure in order to harness new capabilities and improve operations.

We founded 1MRobotics in 2021 in order to create cutting-edge capabilities that would bring lights-out automation to more markets and materials, enabling brands to get closer to their customers and be environmentally friendly, while ensuring a significant operational cost reduction. We have designed an off-the-shelf container-sized solution that is easily deployed right where — and when — you need them. Our hyperlocal automated systems reduce headcount to the bare minimum, if not zero, and ensure operational efficiencies at any scale.

How do you think this might change the world?

Recent reports have shown that people have come to expect fast delivery in the post-COVID world. It’s probably something you’ve experienced yourself. The truth is that people are willing to pay more for instant delivery. In order to offer that, businesses must have physical proximity to their customers. There have been many models that have attempted to solve this issue, but most have failed because of the high costs of real estate and personnel.

Furthermore, there are other sectors that need certain inventory “right here and right now”, take for example the auto parts assembly and manufacturing industries, where there is a constant need for various parts.

The innovation we bring to these industries is the possibility of delivering on-demand in such a way that assists both businesses and the people they are serving — the customer/employee that gets what they want/need very quickly and the business that can be both efficient and profitable. It all starts with the hyperlocal infrastructure. As our systems develop, what is considered a high standard today will become the norm.

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

The preservation of privacy is a very painful public issue today. Our personal data circulates freely and passes from hand to hand with no restrictions or protection.

It might seem that a company like 1MRobotics would have access to the end-user database and their behavior patterns, but it’s quite the opposite. We provide our clients with software to manage inventory and predict their needs as part of managing their mission and critical operations that do not store any data that passes through our systems.

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

First of all, there is something magical about working for months on a machine that suddenly comes to life. You take the hardware, process it the way you want, make it sophisticated, and then the magic happens. At 1MRobotics it took us less than a year to produce a working product, an automated center that we could present to our investors. When it comes to development time, it really is magic.

In addition, the accuracy of these machines should be evaluated. From a manual and inefficient operation, we help brands switch to robotics, producing over 99% accuracy in the picking and packing process. With almost no error rates, you can remotely manage the facility with peace of mind and great efficiency.

Last but not least, our systems run 24/7. Rather than discussing complicated concepts of shifts, additional operating hours, employee churn, etc., we simplify the process and let robotics handle it.

A live facility that we are already running in Tel Aviv as part of a collaboration with a major DTC brand enables exactly that. There is no difference between day and night here. This service always works, meaning the brand is always available to its customers and the customers receive their orders quickly, regardless of time.

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

Safety: It is important to know how to behave when handling machines and robotics that move on their own. In order to ensure the safety of our employees, we train them thoroughly and ensure they follow the strictest safety procedures. They have access to the most advanced protective equipment, and we make sure that the procedures are regularly updated.

Development time: As I’ve already mentioned, in the robotics industry the development of a product can certainly take several years. In the case of 1MRobotics, thanks to our professional team we were able to develop in less than a year, from scratch, a product that works and is commercially available on the market.

Production costs: Industrial robotics products are very expensive, and they can be extremely problematic for businesses. We bring full automation and a modular approach while offering our clients a flexible Opex-based commercial model, enabling rapid deployment at a global scale, while ensuring a significant operational cost reduction and business growth.

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?

The idea of robots replacing people in the future has raised a lot of concern. Movies have been made predicting what will happen when robots take over the world, and many professions are predicted to disappear. It may seem that our product replaces humans with robots, but this is not the case.

In our case, robotics fulfills a function that humans do not wish to perform. In manual operations, there is a shortage of manpower and the work is considered unattractive. The products we offer fill a market need and optimize the process without harming human workers.

Moreover, our goal is not to replace existing facilities, but to complement them. We are focused on optimizing our customers’ services by expanding them and enabling a better consumer/employee experience, on top of the existing facilities.

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?

I think that at the end of the day, any type of product, whether software or hardware-based, is only as good as the strength of its backbone, or infrastructure.

Imagine what could happen if a hacker took over an autonomous car.

We’ve put significant emphasis on ensuring that our technology solution is not only developed at the highest level but is also safely managed from a security perspective — both hardware and software-wise. As a company that provides dedicated software for managing inventory operations, we operate in the most advanced channels to ensure both product and data security. This is a top priority for us.

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?

We have a very large team of top-quality engineers and programmers, all A-Players with extensive experience in their respective fields. Imagine bringing together an exceptional group of engineers who are all MIT graduates. It allows us to develop exactly what we need quickly and efficiently, and I believe it is difficult to duplicate.

Obviously, we do not trust that alone, which is why we have registered several patents that protect all the different components of our products.

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?

Well, that’s a great question. Here are my 5 tips:

1. Hardware is NOT software: Think carefully about the possible outcomes before you start the company. I founded three software companies before 1MRobotics, so the transition to a hardware company is a completely different experience. The financial investment is high, the development process is slower, you are dependent on a supply and production chain that is hard to control, etc. With SaaS products, it is very easy to replicate the product to new customers, but with the hardware, this is not the case.
2. Market fit: There is less time for mistakes and corrections than in a software company, so you must do extensive research in advance and identify whether the product you intend to create will be in demand. As for our case, we approached several customers and even had an LOI signed by one of them before we raised our first dollar.
3. Choosing the right team: This is true for any company but is especially important when it comes to hardware and robotics. I already told you about our team and their abilities. Having the right team is crucial to creating a new product in less than a year.
4. Deployment: Start working with your customers as soon as you can- the things you learn in the lab are completely different from what you learn in the field where your product is actually being used.
5. Take a deep breath: There is going to be a long journey ahead of you and you need to prepare yourself for that. The most important thing is to not let small speed bumps get you down. Try to stay focused throughout the race, it’s about endurance.

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?

The women in this industry can do any role, just like the men. Our company makes every effort to recruit female workers and recently, we hired 2 engineers, a marketing director, a project manager, and an industrial designer, all women. I believe women should not be afraid to enter this field, they are an asset that we want to have in our company.

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. :-)

In general, I’m a big fan of the pay-it-forward principle. Just as many good people helped me at the beginning of my career, I am excited to guide entrepreneurs on their professional paths. Whether you are giving or receiving advice, I believe that every meeting like this enriches both parties.

Every now and then, when someone gets advice from me and asks what they can do to thank me for it, I simply tell them to pay it forward.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Visit 1MRobotics’ website to find out more — 1mrobotics.com

Or follow us on Linkedin — https://www.linkedin.com/company/1mrobotics

And you are more than welcome to follow my personal profile as well — https://www.linkedin.com/in/eyalyair/

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.