San Francisco drone startup Ware is using Skydio drones and sophisticated sftware to handle inventory tracking for the warehouse industry.  Inventory tracking is both labor intensive and time-consuming: making it a perfect target for robotic assistance.  The Ware solution uses a drone to capture images of warehouse bins and then uses machine learning algorithms to process the images.

Instead of trying to produce specialized hardware, Ware provides software to be used with the Skydio 2, a compact, inexpensive and readily available drone with excellent sense and avoid capabilities ideal for navigating the many obstacles that might be found in warehouse aisles.  See our DRONELIFE Exclusive interview with Ian Smith tomorrow.

The following is a Ware press release. 

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – USA, March 9, 2020 —​ War​e,​ a San Francisco-based technology company, has launched the first warehouse inventory automation system built on Skydio 2, the world’s smartest drone. Tracking and counting inventory cost-effectively is one of the $1.9 trillion warehousing industry’s greatest challenges. Ware’s product was designed specifically to address this, helping customers increase the accuracy and frequency of their inventory tracking, while simultaneously reducing its cost.

“The extreme growth of e-commerce has caused warehousing to expand rapidly over the past two decades,” says Ian Smith, CEO and co-founder of Ware. “That, combined with the historically-low unemployment rate in the U.S., means that demand for the warehouse workforce has outstripped the supply. Warehouses are increasingly looking towards automation and robotics as solutions to fill these gaps in their inventory departments. That’s why we created Ware.”

Most warehouses and distribution centers strive for twice-yearly or quarterly full-counts of their inventory, but because of labor challenges and competing priorities, many don’t reach those goals.

“Today, our solution can deliver full-counts every month—increasing most customers’ frequency by 6x,” explains Joseph Moster, CTO and co-founder of Ware. “Our system leverages fleets of drones to capture images of every bin location in a facility, giving operators a visual audit history of the status of their inventory and proactively alerting them to potential issues.” Moster continues, “And we don’t just stop there—all of those same images contribute to building the largest-ever visual dataset of warehouse inventory, which serves as the backbone of our machine learning algorithms.”

Smith makes it clear that while drones are a critical part of their system, Ware doesn’t build them in-house. “Hardware is hard. So we partnered with Skydi​o to integrate their latest drone, Skydio 2, as the data collection vehicle for our system.” This frees Ware to focus deeply on delivering accurate data results to their customers.

“We’re incredibly excited to partner with Ware to build the first indoor warehousing product on Skydio 2,” says Adam Bry, CEO of Skydio. “Indoor drone use cases have been talked about for years, and with Skydio 2’s visual navigation system and Ware’s product, it’s finally possible to deliver the solutions customers have been asking for.”

Smith closes, “Our mission at Ware is to help warehouses never have to worry about cycle counting again. We’re excited to have built the first turn-key, enterprise-grade inventory automation product which finally delivers on the reliability our customers have been craving.”

Ware’s current focus is the U.S. market but plans to expand internationally in the future.

About Ware

Ware deploys autonomous, self-flying drones, combined with machine learning, inside warehouses to automate their inventory tracking. Designed to solve some of the $1.9 trillion warehousing industry’s most pressing issues, Ware’s product helps their customers operate more efficiently. A partner of Skydio and funded by Bloomberg Beta, Ware works with the world’s largest 3PL’s and global brands to improve their accuracy and save money. For more information, visit: http://getware.co​ m