Iván Hernández Dalas: Melonee Wise to lead KUKA’s new software and AI organization
Melonee Wise is the new chief product officer of KUKA’s software and AI organization. | Source: Melonee Wise
Robotics industry veteran Melonee Wise has taken a new position at KUKA AG. She is now the chief product officer for the company’s new software and artificial intelligence organization in Silicon Valley. Wise said she has been in the position for about four weeks so far.
Wise was previously the chief product officer at Agility Robotics. She stepped down from that position in August.
In 2023, Wise joined the humanoid robotics developer as chief technology officer, and she shifted into the chief product officer role in May 2024. Wise led Agility’s engineering team in addition to its newly formed product organization.
“I took some time off after Agility, and then I started looking for a new role,” Wise told The Robot Report. “I met with a lot of different companies, but I ended up meeting with the team at KUKA, and I got really excited about the new software and AI group that was being put together in Silicon Valley. That was obviously one big draw for me, getting to really focus on software and AI with such a large company.”
Wise has years of experience in the robotics industry. Prior to joining Agility in 2023, she was the vice president of robotics automation at Zebra Technologies. Before that, Wise was CEO of mobile robot maker Fetch Robotics until its acquisition by Zebra in 2021 for $290 million.
Last month, Wise joined the board of advisors at A&K Robotics, which develops micromobility platforms.
Wise brings a startup mindset to one of the world’s largest robotics companies
Prior to working with KUKA, much of Wise’s experience has been in building companies from the ground up. Now, she’ll have the opportunity to innovate with the resources of an industrial automation provider that brought in more than $4 billion in 2024.
“KUKA has such a large installed base of robotic systems, and being able to build on top of that is really exciting,” said Wise. “Having been at a lot of startups for the last 20 years, you’re always starting from the ground up. You have to build your customer base. You have to build all of that trust.”
“It’s really exciting to come into KUKA, with that big customer base, all that trust, and a lot of deployed products,” she added. “So when we go and build these cool new software systems, we’re building on a big base and able to move fast and do some pretty cool things.”
At the same time, however, Wise plans to bring some of the startup culture she’s so familiar with to KUKA.
“I’ve seen a lot of different things over the last 15 years of deploying robots,” Wise said. “I have had a lot of experience deploying new technology within industrial spaces, which has its own unique brand of fun, and so I know where the pitfalls are of deploying new technology in these traditional automation spaces.”
So far, she has been working to get to know KUKA’s customers.
“The nice thing when you look at KUKA’s customers is they’re very pragmatic. They want to solve real problems today,” Wise said. “As a roboticist, you can spend a lot of time in demo land. I think it’s super exciting to be able to work with customers right out of the gate, get their feedback and their opinions, good or bad, about the work that you’re doing, and constantly improve.”
What will the new software and AI organization focus on?
In her new position, Wise is building a team of software and AI experts for KUKA in Silicon Valley.
“We’re building a center of excellence in Silicon Valley,” she noted. “We’re going to be focusing on unifying a lot of our software systems to make sure that we are creating the right environment for deploying large autonomous systems at scale, so that we can become more autonomous, more connected, and software-defined as a company. That’s central to our vision going forward.”
Much of the group’s focus will be on delivering for customers who expect more from robots than in the past.
“When we look at the challenge going forward, more industrial environments are having more different types of robots, so it’s becoming more dynamic, more heterogeneous,” explained Wise. “Our customers are demanding more from us around making [robotics] easy to use, making it more intelligent. We want to basically be able to meet them and to adapt to these constantly changing conditions and be more independent, mobile, connected, and context-aware.”
So far, the team is made up of Wise and two other people, but KUKA will be hiring for positions in the new group. Interested applicants can reach out to her for more information.
“The team is small. We’re working on getting an office set up and getting robots there,” Wise said. “Right now, we have a robot in someone’s garage because we’re still working on getting a robot space. But that’s kind of the tradition of Silicon Valley, starting in someone’s garage. So, I think that really embraces the Valley vibe, and anchors the story around KUKA trying to build its center of excellence.”
KUKA to bet on mobile manipulation
Wise has spent much of her career working with mobile robots, whether it be the AMRs she developed at Fetch or the humanoids she worked on at Agility. In her opinion, mobile manipulation will be an increasing focus for the industry in the coming years.
“I think that in three to five years, mobile manipulation is going to be where it’s at. Now, I don’t think anyone really knows exactly what’s going to be the killer format for it, whether it’s wheels and arms, arms and legs, one arm, two arms,” said Wise. “At KUKA, we’re going to be making a bet around mobile manipulation. We’re still coming to a full conclusion on what the form of that is, but I think that that’s where the big bets are going to be placed in the next three to five years,” Wise said.
For now, however, Wise will be keeping her head down and getting to work. She hinted at KUKA coming out with more information in the new year.
“My goal is to just execute and move fast,” Wise said. “We’re obviously building a roadmap. My goal is to basically crush it, get it done as fast as possible, and deliver, deliver, deliver.”
“It’s a pretty competitive market out there right now,” she acknowledged. “There are a lot of different people building solutions and products for the market, and everyone, not just KUKA, is on a ticking fuse to be first to market.”
“So, my goal is to get out there and deliver, and provide value as fast as possible, and execute on our roadmap as timely as possible,” Wise concluded. “Unfortunately, we’re not ready to talk about some of the cooler things that we’re working on, but I hope to be able to speak about that in the new year.”
KUKA offers mobile manipulators for transporting materials, machine tending, inspection, order picking, and pick-and-place tasks. | Source: KUKA
The post Melonee Wise to lead KUKA’s new software and AI organization appeared first on The Robot Report.
View Source
