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Ultra Robotics has raised $62 million across two funding rounds for its warehouse robot, OP1 Operator, which is designed to sort goods, assemble orders and package them. The raise backs a concrete robotics business: a wheeled machine intended to handle several warehouse jobs, with the company claiming one unit can process up to 1,000 items a day.

What happened SiliconANGLE reported on 9 October that Ultra raised $50 million in a Series A led by Framework Ventures, with its seed round jointly led by Y Combinator and NextView Ventures. The company plans to use the money for engineering and wider adoption of its robots. OP1 Operator uses forklift-prong-shaped grippers and can reach up to 10 feet, according to SiliconANGLE. The report says it can separate mixed shipments into bins, combine items into orders, and package, seal and label them. Workers can roll it between warehouse sections; it plugs into a standard wall outlet and connects to the local network. Why it matters

Discuss: Can a single multi-purpose warehouse robot beat a fleet of specialist machines on flexibility, or does doing several jobs risk doing none of them well?

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