CaPow is a company that operates in the field of continuous power delivery, facilitating a sophisticated perpetual power-sourcing solution that drives a change in how automation solutions are designed and deployed. Pulse 2.0 interviewed CaPow CEO and co-founder Mor Peretz.
Mor Peretz’s Background
Before launching CaPow, Peretz was a tenured full-time professor in electrical and computer engineering at Ben-Gurion University, where he established and currently directs the Center for Power Electronics and Mixed-Signal IC. Peretz said:
“Over the course of my career, I’ve authored over 150 scientific publications, raised over $15 million in funding, and hold 20 patents, a large number of which are now licensed technologies.”
Formation Of CaPow
How did the idea for CaPow come together? Peretz shared:
“The idea first came to me five years ago. I had already been working in the field of energy delivery for years and at that time, I was working on a project to create a solution where vehicles could be charged without a physical connection. However, due to the high positioning accuracy needed to facilitate energy transfer, we kept encountering faults.”
“Challenging as it was, it got me thinking about the idea of transferring energy dynamically and the benefits of a system that could deliver power on the go, wirelessly. Nikola Tesla, in fact, theorized the fundamental concept, but it was never actualized. So, I decided to do just that and take it up a notch. We started working on it in the lab, and soon, we began to see promising results in simulations, and then its potential in real-world applications. “
“Shortly after we assembled a functional system, I received a call from a customer familiar with what we were developing asking my team to create a fully functioning application for them. It was at that point we decided to transform this idea into a fully-fledged company. We gathered funds from investors and then were bootstrapped for the next two years while our technology matured through various projects.”
“In the early days, our technology became quite versatile, but we eventually honed it to one specific purpose – delivering energy to mobile robots while in motion for those used in warehouse logistics.”
“Mind you, it won’t be the last market we enter, but for now, it is our main focus.”
“We launched our first product, Genesis, at the ProMat Show in March 2023. It is the first and only product of its kind in the market that can provide dynamic energy transfer capabilities that truly enable 100% of warehouse robotic fleets to work 100% of the time, without the headaches that typically ensue during the deployment of other charging solutions.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for CaPow so far? Peretz reflected:
“I can’t really distill my favorite memory into one moment. Rather, I think what has pleased me most is seeing all of our team’s ideas come to life and put to actual use. From my team’s “eureka moment” in the lab to getting our first POC with a customer, that satisfaction is a package deal we all get to share, and it’s the reason I do what I do.”
Challenges Faced
What are some of the challenges Peretz faced in building the company and has the current macroeconomic climate had any effect on the company? Peretz acknowledged:
“The core of our company is its cutting-edge technology – it’s beyond ‘state of the art,’ it’s pushing the envelope of physics. If you asked me ten years ago if I could build such a company, I would say ‘no.’ The materials and components involved simply weren’t around or readily accessible.”
“But developing hardware solutions at a time when software is so popular is a significant hurdle today. The challenge will be convincing people that software is not always the be-all-end-all solution, and leaps forward based on hardware are critical.”
Core Products
What are CaPow’s core products and features? Peretz explained:
“CaPow’s first-of-its-kind power delivery platform for mobile robots can supply a non-stop power flow to robotic solutions and removes hazardous batteries from robotic operations. Put simply, it is revolutionizing warehousing operations by enabling fulfillment centers’ mobile robot fleets to operate non-stop with zero charging downtime, ensuring operations perpetually remain at 100% efficiency.”
“The solution utilizes charging pad “stickers” which are placed along key high-traffic or strategic areas within the warehouse, and power receivers that are installed on the robot. When the robot moves over the sticker, regardless of “alignment accuracy”, power is rapidly transferred. With perpetual power delivery in place, charging downtime is totally eliminated along with the need for an inflated fleet of robots to compensate for the lack of activity on the warehouse floor during the charging process.”
“CaPow is fueling the future of robotic power with a safer, more effective solution that simplifies the charging process with “energy-on-the-go” at no performance cost.”
Evolution Of CaPow’s Technology
How has CaPow’s technology evolved since launching? Peretz noted:
“CaPow’s technologies were initially being used in several different markets, and over time the team identified the robotics and logistics industry as the one to focus on.”
“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 drastically 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.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of CaPow’s most significant milestones? Peretz cited:
“As CaPow was founded by a team of research scientists, we already hold six approved patents. CaPows technology has been piloted in different industries with success including early-stage testing with large retailers and governmental organizations. And admittedly, I’m most proud to be able to say that CaPow is doing something no other company has done before.”
Customer Success Stories
Upon asking Peretz about customer success stories, he commented:
“CaPow is engaged with several ongoing PoCs in various fields of automation, including fulfillment and manufacturing. The use cases also vary, from self navigating autonomous mobile robots (AMRS), to automated guided vehicles (AGVs) a to automated storage and retrieval systems and automated shuttles.”
“One thing that all the use cases and customers we’re working with have in common, is they all suffer from energy transfer inefficiencies. That’s where CaPow’s product comes 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 the 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 (a term we use to describe a CaPow-installed robot) allows the fleet a dramatically extended working-to-charging ratio ( if not removing it entirely, it depends on the level of integration), and simultaneously frees the operation to grow without hindering technical factors.”
“Another great example is a decision CaPow made on a strategic level. A customer approached us and expressed the desire to design a new automated product without using lithium batteries. The intention was not to have a work or charge ratio at all, but instead to have a constantly powered product that is Lithium free, relieved of charging requirements, smaller in dimensions, and of course, more efficient.”
“We entered a joint design phase with the customer, and we are happy to say that ever since they made that decision they haven’t looked back, and that’s become one less thing for them to worry about.”
“At the moment, CaPow’s primary focus is on deployments for our approved pilots/POCs. Thus far there are over 100 robot units that are fully CaPowered being tested by customers.”
Funding
In terms of funding, CaPow raised $7.5 million in a seed round in February 2023 led by IL Ventures, which is a VC fund focused on disruptive technologies for legacy industries, with co-investment from Mobilion VC, Payton Planar Magnetics, Doral Energy-Tech Ventures, Mobilitech Capital, and Ray Nissan, a prominent angel investor.
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates CaPow from its competition? Peretz affirmed:
“Like any electric device that lives on the go, mobile robots depend on batteries – and charging stations. Though there have been advancements to this process, at most, companies are able to offer wireless, static charging which comes with the problem of downtime.”
“Every minute a robot spends charging is another minute of workforce, and revenue, loss. As more businesses turn to mobile robots to optimize their operations and profitability, this downtime is becoming more and more expensive.”
“Instead, CaPow has focused on dynamic in-motion charging. CaPow is the first-of-its-kind power delivery platform for mobile robots using dynamic charging to supply non-stop energy delivery to robots. This revolutionary technology allows facility centers to operate at 100% efficiency 100% of the time, with no downtime for charging required.”
“As the only mobile robot charging solution that can support constant clean energy delivery, CaPow dramatically reduces upfront costs by removing the need to invest in additional fleets and charging stations, or pay third-party logistics providers. By freeing up charging locations in the warehouse facility operators can make more efficient use of their precious space. Reducing the number of batteries on-premise, which for robots tend to be lithium based and are a hazardous material, also makes the workplace safer for everyone.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of CaPow’s future company goals? Peretz concluded:
“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.”
