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Locus Robotics is moving beyond autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) into robotic manipulation, targeting one of the field’s hardest problems. The company, which says its AMRs have aided in more than 6 billion picks, unveiled Array in March 2025, a mobile manipulator with a custom vision-guided picking arm. A year later, it acquired Nexera Robotics, known for its NeuraGrasp gripping technology, to expand the system’s ability to handle a wider range of items.
Nexera had spent years refining its soft end effectors before meeting Locus, going through at least six product generations. Roy Belak, senior vice president of robotic grasping at Locus and former CEO of Nexera, said the companies met at MODEX in 2025, when Locus was planning Array’s early market release. At that time, Array had a standard suction-cup gripper, and the teams worked to integrate Nexera’s technology late in the development process.
NeuraGrasp can grasp a wide range of items, from small containers to porous polybags and cloth items.
Belak emphasized the desire to see the technology deployed at scale, noting that the timing was ideal for both companies: Locus wanted to handle more SKUs, and Nexera was ready to scale. The acquisition brings NeuraGrasp’s capabilities to Array, potentially expanding the range of items the system can pick in real-world facilities.
Source: The Robot Report