Ghost Robotics: Innovating for safety
In Episode 232 of The Robot Report Podcast, Gavin Kenneally, co-founder and CEO of Ghost Robotics, discusses the journey of his company, from its inception to becoming a leader in legged robotics.
Kevin Kenneally, CEO and cofounder, Ghost Robotics. | Credit: Ghost Robotics
He highlights the unique challenges and advantages of legged robots compared with their wheeled counterparts, emphasizing their ability to navigate difficult terrains.
In 2014, Kenneally and Avik De founded Ghost Robotics after successfully developing multiple direct-drive robots, like Minitaur. Gavin originally held the role of chief technology officer when Jiren Parikh joined the company as CEO.
The company launched the Vision 60 in 2020, while the team grew to 10 employees. Ghost Robotics also deployed the first base security robot at Tyndall AFB.
In the past year, the company has grown to 60+ employees, delivered enhancements to the Vision 60 platform, including new payload development and manipulator arm attachments. The company has also started to market to the commercial sector.
Kenneally will be speaking at the 2026 Robotics Summit & Expo in Boston in May.
Show timeline
- 3:27 – News of the week
- 23:54 – Gavin Kenneally, co-founder and CEO, Ghost Robotics
News of the week
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada to deploy Agility’s Digit humanoids
Agility Robotics has signed an agreement with Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, or TMMC, to deploy its Digit robot in its facilities after a successful year-long pilot.
TMMC is Toyota Motor Corp.’s largest manufacturing operation outside of Japan, with vehicle assembly plants in Cambridge and Woodstock, Ontario. The unit has assembled vehicles since 1988, including more than 535,000 in 2025, and it employs over 8,500 people. The company last month said it would build its 6th-generation RAV4 at TMMC’s plants, investing $1.1 billion.
TMMC’s pilot involved three Digits and included development, proof-of-technology, and onsite phases. The company said it plans to now deploy seven humanoids to load and unload totes from an automated tugger, with more robots to come if they are successful.
In addition to the work that Digit is already doing, Agility and TMMC will assess additional use cases for robots and AI in support of employees in manufacturing, supply chain, and logistics operations.
Amazon’s Blue Jay sortation project fails to take flight
Amazon has reportedly pulled the plug on one of its newest warehouse robots, a few months after unveiling it. Blue Jay, a multi-armed robotic system that the company launched in October for its same-day delivery warehouses, quietly shut down in January, according to people familiar with the matter.
Many employees who worked on the project were reassigned to other robotics initiatives, the people added, while asking not to be identified, discussing private matters.
“Several individuals at Amazon who’ve been terminated contacted me to tell me about Orbital, Amazon’s new robotic fulfillment platform,” wrote supply chain analyst Britain Ladd on LinkedIn. “Orbital is a replacement for the LVM or Local Vending Machine, which was Amazon’s version of a micro-fulfillment center. LVM has been canceled. This hasn’t been previously reported.”
One health system stops using Moxi robot
A month after Serve Robotics said it planned to acquire Diligent Robotics, the developer of the Moxi hospital delivery robot, The News Tribune said that a healthcare system had stopped using the robot.
“In Tacoma, a hospital system quietly ended its deployment of Moxi, a nursing-support robot once positioned as a way to free clinicians from routine tasks,” said the newspaper. “In response to questions from The News Tribune, MultiCare media representative Scott Thompson said via e-mail on Feb. 12, ‘We ended our contract with Moxi about a year ago.'”
“We found it wasn’t financially sustainable for us to keep using the robots,” wrote Thompson. “The cost didn’t justify their level of usage.”
Friend of the show Aaron Prather posted this on his LinkedIn feed:
The post Ghost Robotics: Innovating for safety appeared first on The Robot Report.