Year In Review and
A Look Ahead to 2024
As we plan for 2024, let me first say how proud I am of our accomplishments this year and how super grateful I am to my team for hitting a variety of key milestones. 2023 has been an exciting year for my co-founder Jessica Yip and me. We are so lucky to be working with such a highly talented team of experts as we reimagine mobility, and with customers who appreciate our vision and innovation.
Here’s an end-of-year recap on some highlights of our team’s accomplishments and a sneak preview of some of the exciting opportunities coming up in 2024!
A Look Back:
Funding: In addition to increased sales, A&K Robotics has successfully closed another round of funding that has enabled us to constantly test the robots in real-life situations. Special thanks to WUTIF Capital, Ray Muzyka, Barney Pell and Lisa Shields for leading the angel investment rounds in 2023 and to our customers for trusting in us.
Product: We’ve been focused on adding more functionality to our innovative electric micro mobility platform. One of our goals is to make our autonomous robots even easier for people with limited mobility to use to safely navigate long distances, such as in airports and museums. In addition to being grateful to our customers who have adopted our robots, we are very appreciative of our customers and airline partners for allowing us to test our products in real-life situations so we can continue to improve the robot pods.
Customers: I can’t say enough about our airline and airport partners for collaborating with us. Special thanks go to the crew at Vancouver Airport Authority (YVR), Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Fiumicino Airport in Rome, as well as IAG, British Airways, Pittsburgh Airport and American Airlines. We value the opportunity to work with you all.
Visibility: Jessica continues to represent us at various events and panels, sharing her insights on robots, designing tech for good and the future of mobility. Check out her discussion at SXSW: Airports: The Epicenters of the Robot Revolution.
A Look Ahead:
New board member: Linda Schucroft, Vice President Innovation and Customer Experience at King Salman International Airport Development Company will be joining our Board. She specializes in forming strategic partnerships, creating first-to-market products and digitizing experiences that impact the aviation industry. Previously, she was the director of Innovation at YVR, where she helped commercialize their self-service kiosks and established YVR as one of the most innovative airports in the world. Welcome Linda!
Accelerate product adoption: We’ll be expanding our partnerships and working closely with additional airport authorities and airlines in 2024. Expect to see our autonomous robot pods in more airports, including Fiumicino-Rome, YVR, and Pittsburgh Airports.
Develop the ecosystem: In addition to increasing manufacturing capacity, we’ll be working with partners like Delta-Q as a global leader in battery technology to charge our robots at airports and the Rick Hansen Foundation as a global leader for accessibility innovation to guide us in
understanding accessibility in our built environments.
Expand the team: We’ll be hiring additional mechanical, electrical and software engineers -- 25% of whom will be women engineers. If you are interested in joining a diverse team, contact us via our website.
Happy Holidays!
Here’s to 2024 and reimaging mobility!
Matt Anderson is the CEO of A&K Robotics