Kindred AI

Kindred AI was a Vancouver-based robotics and AI company co-founded by Geordie Rose, who had previously co-founded D-Wave Systems, the quantum computing pioneer. Kindred's mission was to build robots that could learn from human demonstrations — a technique called 'learning from demonstration' or teleoperation-assisted AI. The company's SORT system (Kindred's autonomous robotic sorting system) was designed for warehouse and fulfillment center applications, using AI that improved through human operator guidance. The technology was genuinely innovative, and the company attracted $93 million from investors including Google Ventures and Li Ka-shing's Horizons Ventures. Kindred deployed its systems with several major retailers including Gap and Lululemon. However, the company struggled with fundamental commercial viability. Each robotic installation required significant customization and human-in-the-loop training, making the unit economics challenging. The warehouse robotics space was also increasingly competitive, with well-funded players like Amazon Robotics, Berkshire Grey, and Locus Robotics offering more mature solutions. In 2023, Kindred was acquired by Ocado Group, the UK-based online grocery technology company, in what was widely seen as a fire sale — the acquisition price was reportedly a fraction of the total capital invested. The Kindred team was integrated into Ocado's robotics division. The outcome demonstrates that even technically impressive AI robotics require massive scale, standardized deployments, and competitive unit economics to survive.