Kinisi

Summary

About

About Kinisi

Kinisi Robotics developed KR1, a wheeled humanoid mobile manipulator for boxes, totes, irregular objects and line-side materials. The system combines a two-arm upper body with Bear Robotics' production navigation stack and uses demonstration-based learning, vision-language-action modelling and a robot foundation model for manipulation development.

Bear Robotics announced an agreement to acquire Kinisi in June 2026 and now presents Kinisi within its physical-AI product catalogue. Bear's current product surface describes picking, placing, sorting and moving in indoor logistics, manufacturing and commercial facilities, while payload and reach remain listed as pending launch confirmation. The profile therefore records Kinisi as an acquired developer and KR1 as an early platform, without treating every marketed workflow as a scaled deployment.

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Articles

21 JUL 2025

Kinisi builds KR1 around practical warehouse humanoids

Team

  • Bren Pierce - Founder

Timeline

Events

  • 2026-06-22 - Acquisition - Bear Robotics signs definitive agreement to acquire Kinisi Robotics

    Kinisi is the Bristol-based startup behind KR1, a wheeled humanoid for pick, place, sort and object-moving workflows. The acquisition adds manipulation AI, including VLA and Robot Foundation Model work, to Bear’s deployed service-robot platform. The companies remain separate until closing; Brennand Pierce is expected to lead combined engineering as Chief Robotics Officer after close.

    Source
  • 2026-03-09 - Capability - Kinisi KR1 demonstrates learning-based handling through towel-folding task

    Kinisi Robotics demonstrated KR1 performing a towel-folding task using learning-based handling rather than a fixed industrial routine. The demonstration showed the robot manipulating deformable household material, a harder class of task than rigid pick-and-place. Kinisi Robotics demonstrated KR1 performing a towel-folding task using learning-based handling.

    Source
  • 2025-12-22 - Demonstration - Kinisi demonstrates learned towel folding with KR1

    An operator guided the compliant robot while it logged RGB images, arm movements and gripper actions. Training demonstrations varied the towel’s starting position so the policy learned beyond a single fixed arrangement. The learned policy mapped camera input to subsequent movements without explicit labels for towel corners or edges.

    Source
  • 2025-11-25 - Deployment - Kinisi Robotics deploys KR1 wheeled semi-humanoid for glass bottle sorting in the UK

    Kinisi Robotics deployed its KR1 wheeled semi-humanoid at a UK customer site to sort glass bottles for reuse. The robot operates on a sorting line and uses computer vision and machine learning to classify bottles by shape, size and material. Kinisi said the system was performing consistently but remained slower than a human operator, with plans to increase throughput after more field operation.

    Source
  • 2025-11-25 - Deployment - Kinisi Robotics Deploys Wheeled Humanoid for Glass Sorting

    Kinisi Robotics deployed its first mobile manipulation system into a commercial glass recycling facility. The deployment marks the first time the Kinisi 01 (KR1) is performing live production work inside a customer site. The robot uses computer vision and machine learning to classify bottles by shape, size, and material.

    Source
  • 2025-11-25 - Deployment - Kinisi deploys KR1 for glass-bottle sorting in the UK

    Vision and machine learning classify randomly oriented bottles by shape, size and material before choosing a grasp. The robot works at the sortation stage, away from crushing machinery; Kinisi added joint bands to reduce dust ingress. Kinisi said throughput remained below a human operator’s pace and planned to increase speed through further field operation.

    Source
  • 2025-07-14 - Product Launch - Kinisi introduces KR1 for warehouse manipulation

    The demonstration showed shelf picking into totes, obstacle avoidance and transport of loaded totes to a designated area. Kinisi described teaching tasks through operator demonstrations rather than coding each movement. Onboard processing was designed to keep the system operating in low-connectivity environments.

    Source
  • 2025-07-14 - Product Launch - Kinisi Robotics unveils KR1 wheeled humanoid for warehouse and industrial tasks

    Kinisi Robotics introduced KR1 as a wheeled humanoid-style robot for warehouse and industrial manipulation tasks. The platform was positioned for pick-and-place, loading, transporting and handling workflows in dynamic environments. KR1 uses a wheeled base rather than legs, with the company framing mobility speed and task efficiency as core design advantages.

    Source

Relations

Relationships

  • Bear Robotics

    Acquirer - Bear Robotics agreed to acquire Kinisi Robotics, adding KR1 humanoid manipulation and Physical AI model work.

Context

Comparable profiles

Context tags

  • Warehouse humanoid OEM - Stack Layer
  • Wheeled warehouse humanoid builder - Peer Group
  • Warehouse humanoid material handling - Workflow
  • Wheeled dual-arm manipulation - Capability
  • Wheeled humanoid OEM - Stack Layer
  • Wheeled humanoid robot builder - Stack Layer
  • Wheeled humanoid navigation - Workflow
  • Warehouses - Customer Environment