Kiva inventors inducted into National Inventors Hall of Fame

In partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is honoring is 2022 class of inductees May 5 at The Greatest Celebration of Innovation event. 

"As a nation, we innovate and we grow. Advancing innovation and entrepreneurship is critical to the future of our country, and the National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees inspire a culture of invention," said Gina M. Raimondo, secretary of commerce. "The Department of Commerce congratulates, and celebrates, NIHF's 2022 class of inductees." 

The event will also celebrate 2020's class, honoring a total of 27 inductees. 

Among the 2020 class are Mick Mountz, Peter Wurman and Raffello D'Andrea for the Kiva system, a mobile robotic material handling solution for order fulfillment. According to the NIHF's inductee information, Kiva utilizes mobile robots and control software to bring inventory shelves to workers, improving fulfillment operations from both safety and productivity to cycle time and throughput.

The company’s first customer was Staples, followed by dozens of others including Walgreens, whose fulfillment center used over 1,000 robots. In 2012, Amazon purchased Kiva and renamed the enterprise Amazon Robotics. At that time, Kiva had systems in more than 30 warehouses in North America and Europe.