Stop by any loading dock and you may notice forklifts loaded with goods maneuvering in and out of truck trailers. This logistical dance can take up to an hour to fill a trailer, leaving truck drivers idle.

Founders based in Atlanta Gliding Robotics They say they have developed a robot that reduces this time to five minutes. Design inspirations: floor.

Founded in 2020 by Chris Smith, Dennis Siedlak, and John Jakomin, Slip Robotics has developed and launched a commercial robot-as-a-service business that combines automation software with large floor-like robotic platforms that can hold 10 pallets. It can carry up to 12,000 pounds. Called SlipBot, these robots can handle uneven ground and navigate routes from the warehouse floor to a truck trailer, according to the company. Three SlipBots (approximately 36,000 pounds of payload) fit into a truck trailer. When the truck reaches its destination, the SlipBots exit the vehicle.

The idea behind SlipBots came in part from Smith's collective experience at former employers Cummins, Tesla, and Volley Automation, a robotics startup that develops automated parking systems. Particularly influential was his time at Tesla, where he led factory simulation and analytics and was one of the first 50 engineers at the Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada.

All of this led to a singular thought: 'What if I build the floor but it moves?' The load is usually left on the ground to be picked up by forklifts. Smith's idea was to place this payload on robotic floor-like platforms that could move everything at once.

Slip Robotics launched its commercial service in 2023 after three years of development and testing. Today, hundreds of SlipBots are used in facilities at more than 25 facilities ranging from 20,000 square feet to 2 million square feet, Chief Commercial Officer Jordan Sanders told TechCrunch. Its customers include John Deere, GE Appliances, Valeo and Nissan.

Slip Robotics customers pay a subscription licensing fee for the use of SlipBots, including ongoing software updates, hardware service, maintenance and repairs. Sanders said customers often have a "three, three, three" pattern. This means that a customer will always be waiting for three boats at the dock, three in transit and three at the destination.

The bots and business model also attracted investors. Just a few weeks ago, Slip Robotics closed its Series B financing at $28 million, the company announced Tuesday. The round was led by DCVC and included participation from existing investors Eve Atlas, Tech Square Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Overline and Pathbreaker Ventures. DCVC's James Hardiman joins the board, which also includes Slip co-founder and EVE Atlas managing partner Thiago Olson.

The company has raised $45 million to date. Slip did not share its valuation.

The new capital will be used to hire more employees, increase distributions and improve product offerings, Sanders said. He emphasized that Slip Robotics' success so far depends not only on the product but also on how the startup chooses to scale.

“People have come to expect a lot of hype and ‘smoke and mirrors’ from robotics companies about their actual technology development status and actual commercial scale,” Sanders said in an email to TechCrunch. he said. “This expectation and implicit skepticism is unfortunate, but entirely justified based on the hype and failed promises of the last decade.”

He said Slip Robotics didn't try to scale too soon, staying quiet and focusing on improving its robotics platform. This approach seems to work. The company, which once had fewer than a dozen employees, has now grown to nearly 50 employees. More importantly, he noted that Slip Robotics currently has 10 commercial customers and hundreds of bots in the field.

“If you have more engineers in your office than real-world revenue-generating tools, you don't have a real job,” Sanders joked.