Ties to Pittsburgh help attract robotics startup — and its robot — to Bloomfield

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

An Oregon robotics company working on technology that might help deliver groceries or help in disaster recovery has signed on to open a second office in Bloomfield.

The move of a West Coast startup into Pittsburgh seems a little less unusual when all the ties to the Steel City become apparent.

CEO and co-founder Damian Shelton and Steve DiAntonio, vice president of business development, call Pittsburgh home. Mr. DiAntonio has been working on robotic activity in the city since 1999, where he was head of business development at the National Robotics Engineering Center at Carnegie Mellon University for 16 years.

“We opened up the new office because we looked at Pittsburgh as the primary base of sales, sales support and an application engineering center for the company,”Mr. DiAntonio said.

Agility Robotics executives hope the expertise available in Pittsburgh can contribute to the development of projects like their commercial bipedal robot, “Cassie.” The bipedal robot uses a spring-mass model to walk and run, even on different types of terrain.

The company’s second location will go into 1,800 square feet in the 45,000-square-foot former carpet warehouse that housed the Empire Furniture Co. on Liberty Avenue. The building, now called Empire on Liberty, took nearly a year for Bridgeville developer RDC Inc. to convert into a functional space able to accommodate retail, office, tech, living space and parking.

In the new space, the 14-person robotics firm is planning to expand staff rapidly over the next year, said Mr. DiAntonio.

“Some of the engineers we need to get, there are going to be more of those types in Pittsburgh than, in say, Oregon,” he said. “People strong in computer vision, applying our mobility platform through applications, you tend to find more pure roboticists in the Pittsburgh area.”

John R. Deklewa, president of RDC Inc., said the developer targeted tech companies in its plans for the building.

“Bloomfield is very well positioned,” Mr. Deklewa said. “You have the burgeoning tech neighborhood in East Liberty and your central business hub in the city. Bloomfield is really a bridge between the East, Downtown and of course Lawrenceville, which is booming.”

RDC also is developing District Fifteen in the Strip District for similar clients.

“The technology and robotics industries have slightly different demands than your traditional corporate tenants,” Mr. Deklewa said. “Loading dock doors, access to bring in robotics parts and pieces of equipment are important. Higher ceilings, increased HVAC and power, infrastructure; those are all important things we’ve recognized from feedback we’ve received.”

Agility has other Pittsburgh connections, too.

Another Pittsburgh-based company, Coal Hill Ventures’ for-profit “Robotics Hub,” helped the firm get off the ground through venture capital investments.

“[Coal Hill Ventures] were one of the seed investors for the company. In fact, they participated in our Series A round that closed in February,” Mr. DiAntonio said.

Series A rounds are investments following the initial funding, or “seed capital.” Agility announced in March it had raised $8 million for development, headed by Playground Global.

Mr. DiAntonio said the Empire on Liberty location should be able to fully accommodate the company’s growth over the next two to three years.