Founded in 2019, by Prof. Mor Peretz, Dr. Alon Cervera, and Dr. Eli Abramov, CaPow is a pioneer in the field of continuous power delivery, facilitating a perpetual energy delivery solution that changes the way mobile robot solutions are designed and deployed.
CaPow’s Genesis allows automated robotic fleets to consistently operate at 100% capacity by delivering power while the robots are in motion, thus eliminating charging downtime. Moreover, CaPow’s continuous energy management can eliminate the need for traditional Lithium batteries, making automated solutions safer and more efficient. CaPow changes the nature of robotic usage in warehouses and fulfillment. Based on nearly two decades of research backed up by an extensive patent portfolio and a team of scientists, CaPow’s technology significantly improves automated fleet’s power delivery strategy, dramatically reduces the cost of ownership, simplifies infrastructure installation, and establishes eco-friendly deployments.
CaPow is headquartered in Be’er Sheva, Israel, and has a team of 20 employees.
Interview with Mor Peretz, CEO of CaPow.
Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
Mor Peretz: CaPow works within the energy and automation ecosystem and is revolutionizing power delivery for mobile robots, focusing on the Logistics, Fulfilment, and Manufacturing markets.
E.E: What’s the news about new products?
M.P: CaPow helps enable warehouses to operate their AMR fleets with maximal efficiency and reduces the hassle of batteries (sourcing, replacement, storage, and disposal). With CaPow in place, operations are simplified by eliminating downtime with a continuous energy flow for a simpler, sustainable future.
CaPow is currently engaged with several ongoing PoCs in various fields of robotics and automation, including fulfillment and manufacturing. The use cases vary, from self-navigating autonomous mobile robots (AMRS), to automated guided vehicles (AGVs) to automated storage and retrieval systems and automated shuttles.
One thing that all customers have in common is that they all suffer from energy transfer inefficiencies which causes prolonged downtime or inflated fleets. That’s where CaPow’s product, Genesis, comes in, to solve that challenge.
For example, say there is a customer who has deployed AMRs in clusters and complains about having to charge at least one AMR at any given moment — this isn’t just affecting the warehouse’s efficiency, but it is actually preventing them from growing and expanding.
Instead having these robots “CaPowered” allows the fleet to dramatically improve the work:charge ratio to the point of eliminating any need to stop for charging, and simultaneously frees the operation to grow without hindering technical factors.
At the moment, CaPow’s primary focus is on deployments for our approved pilots/POCs. There will be over 100 units that are fully CaPowered being tested by customers by the end of 2023.
E.E: What are the ranges of products?
M.P: CaPow’s main product, Genesis, is an end-to-end power management system for mobile robots. Genesis supports a continuous flow of 500w with more than 80% efficiency, source-to-load. Depending on the average power consumption and operational schemes, Genesis fully supports any moving object from lightweight robotic applications to heavy-duty AMRs and AGVs.
Genesis is also agnostic to the operational function of the robot and supports AMRs, AGVs, Pallet Shuttles, AS/RS solutions, etc.
By this time next year, CaPow plans on launching a higher power delivery platform of up to 1.5kW and a dedicated low-power option as well.
E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?
M.P: CaPow’s target markets are both warehouse operators and manufacturers.
Warehouses and distribution centers have nearly reached their limits in terms of space and system capacity due to the huge growth in e-commerce seen in the past few years. CaPow enables warehouse operators to effectively manage their AMR fleets and reduce the hassle of batteries. With CaPow in place, operations are simplified by eliminating downtime with a continuous energy flow for a simpler future. This, in turn, allows operators to reduce their fleet size, and cut maintenance related to traditional batteries, which helps increases efficiency and reduce operational expenses.
CaPow helps mobile robot manufacturers to improve their robots by either replacing or integrating them with existing battery systems. This enables manufacturers to provide fleets that are constantly operational and available 100% of the time while simultaneously eliminating the need to buy additional mobile robots to make up for the downtime caused by charging. CaPow helps manufacturers easily forget about many complications that come with traditional battery usage with the ability to integrate a streamlined perpetual, automated solution.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
M.P: The future is bright for warehouse automation, and things appear to be only getting started. The use of AI, machine learning, drones, and robotics increases efficiency and productivity. With the increased use of AI and machine learning, robots will soon be able to do more and more tasks without human intervention.
In the meantime, there are still many players in the market who are still hesitant about jumping into the automation pool, and many more who have launched a small-scale solution and are looking to expand the size of the operation.
This could lead to more efficient operations, which is what CaPow is committed to doing – removing the mundane, tiring, and tedious work so warehouse operators can focus their efforts on optimizing processes and increasing revenue.
E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?
M.P: There has been a demand for better charging and battery standards in the robotics industry for a long time. While there are companies that have found ways to reduce charging time, we found that the ability to eliminate charging time entirely was an unfulfilled goal.
At its inception, CaPow was focused on those two challenges: implementing a platform-agnostic on-the-go power delivery system and eliminating the industry’s biggest challenge, charging downtime. Once CaPow was able to overcome those challenges, they found that companies that are operating robotic fleets are hesitant to implement sweeping changes to their fleets.
So CaPow created a way to adapt fleets incrementally.
Operators can integrate the power transfer solutions in various, gradual ways: keep the existing battery and prolong the current lifecycle by up to 40% with perpetual charging, spec down batteries to reduce battery cost and extend the lifecycle or remove the battery entirely and rely 100% on CaPow’s energy solution.
The current iteration of our technology further enables manufacturers and operators to provide and purchase fleets that are constantly operational and available 100% of the time, all while simultaneously eliminating the need to buy additional mobile robots.
E.E: What estimations do you have for 2023?
M.P: The combination of human labor and robotic processes is essential for providing the highest degree of service. Warehouse space and efficiency are critical as eCommerce and fast delivery standards rise.
Robotic warehouse automation is in high demand and has become a major business. Robotic storage automation can help satisfy space demands while increasing output. In the face of rising real estate and personnel costs, automated facilities are becoming increasingly important.
Even for smaller operations, we believe that many will start turning towards automation in some way, looking for scalable yet affordable solutions to push their businesses forward.
For CaPow, in parallel to bringing Genesis to the wider market and improving its capabilities to ensure the performance expectations of our customers, we are working on two additional exciting products. One is to enhance Genesis’ capabilities by interacting with other warehouse and information management systems, and the other will be expanding the capability origins of our products.
We also plan on gradually expanding into other markets, as we have identified adjacent markets where Genesis would be a great fit. Agrobotics is a great example, as the pain points are very similar to that of the logistics industry.
