How Dexory’s R&D strategy is shaping the future of logistics

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When the founders of Dexory set out to revolutionise warehouse operations with autonomous technology, they were met with rapidly shifting market demands, prompting a 10x performance boost in under 18 months. This leap is now enabling stocktakes in hours, not days, slashing inventory errors, and unlocking real-time visibility at scale.

So how did Dexory achieve this? By committing to an extensive Research and Development (R&D) strategy.

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Why R&D matters

R&D is the engine that drives business growth, which has been proven by countless studies across industry. It fuels innovation, allowing companies to develop new products and services or enhance existing ones, generating sales. R&D activities can also be a tactic to streamline processes, improving the efficiency of design, testing and manufacturing.

The impact of R&D initiatives on the productivity and profitability of a business is why global R&D spending is now at a record high of US $1.7 trillion [1]. With some of the world’s most influential and successful companies pouring investment into development. Take the likes of SpaceX for example. In 2022, the Californian-based company spent around US $1.3 billion on R&D alone and doubled its revenue to US $4.6 billion [2] that same year.

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Dexory has valued R&D from the outset, recognising the vital role it plays in creating a solution that not only dominates the market, but increases its lead over time. ‘Developing such new technology meant there were some requirements we couldn’t specify until the robots and digital twin platform was fully deployed within the live warehouse environment,’ highlights Andrei Danescu, CEO of Dexory. ‘So we understood early on the need to continuously learn, iterate and adapt our platform to ensure we delivered a revolutionary product to our customers.’

‘This ethos of relentless R&D comes from my previous experience of working in Formula 1,’ continues Danescu. ‘Just like Formula 1 teams chasing every millisecond of performance from their car, we strive to extract every ounce of capability from our robots. This approach has unlocked many breakthroughs over the last two years, which has allowed us to significantly increase the functionality and reliability of our robots way beyond what we first imagined.’

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The key is the customer

The foundation of a successful R&D strategy is a deep understanding of what the customer needs. This steers R&D efforts towards a solution that actually solves the customer’s problem.

Through close collaboration with industry leaders, Dexory identifies the most pressing challenges warehouses face today: lack of real-time visibility, inefficient resource allocation, and the inability to quickly act on operational data. Traditional processes are slow, reactive, and often reliant on outdated information.

Dexory’s AI-powered platform, DexoryView, changes this. By continuously capturing real-time data from across the warehouse, using autonomous robots that scan racks up to 14m high, DexoryView builds a digital twin of operations, offering instant insights into stock levels, space utilisation, and bottlenecks. 

‘The question we continuously ask ourselves is: how can we push the boundaries of our technology to drive even more value for our customers?’says Oana Jinga, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial & Product Officer at Dexory. ‘This means going beyond just tracking inventory. We explore features like predictive analytics for stock movement, automated anomaly detection, and environmental monitoring, helping warehouses make smarter, faster decisions.’

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The importance of investing in infrastructure

The pursuit for highest performance and fastest iteration cycles  demands a comprehensive research development process which encompasses design, prototyping, testing and analysis. Each update for both the autonomous  robots and DexoryView platform  are iterated through this cycle several times to ensure that only optimum developments are deployed in the field.

Establishing high-quality R&D strategies that deliver effective updates but also achieve this in a time and cost-efficient manner can be a major barrier for tech companies. Particularly for industry disruptors who need to innovate fast. Consequently, Dexory has invested in the best equipment, facilities and team, whilst instilling a culture of relentless problem-solving, learning and improving. .

‘We have world-class facilities and the latest equipment to give our engineers and technicians the best environment to work in,’ says Danescu. ‘That doesn’t mean we want to become the world’s largest robot manufacturer, but more importantly,we prioritise speed and agility over size, an approach inspired by the rapid iteration culture of Formula 1. This is what you see in successful Formula 1 teams, they can test a part on a Friday and, in some cases, have a new version on the car on Sunday.’

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‘Of course, having incredible facilities is just part of the story,’ continues Danescu. ‘It ultimately comes down to how you use them. We are racing against ourselves at the moment and keeping up that momentum requires a culture for continuous improvement which we have worked hard to implement across our company.’

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The difference between hardware and software R&D

This impressive R&D capability has allowed Dexory to accelerate the development of both its hardware and software, although each requires a slightly different approach. Software upgrades can be released over the air, just like updates to your computer. So although the actual development  can be complex, particularly when integrating new features, deploying these developments is relatively easy. The challenge comes when upgrading the hardware.

‘Updating the physical design of the robot platform can only be done when launching a new version,’ says Adrian Negoita, Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer at Dexory. ‘Depending on how major the update is, you either have to stagger the hardware releases, or combine them into the next version. Either way, you have to keep production in mind, as ultimately any changes will need to be manufactured and installed in production.’

“Fail fast and adapt faster.” That principle underpins Dexory’s ability to test, refine and release updates quickly across both hardware and software.’ adds Negoita. ‘If it takes a long time to prove an idea then you can waste time and resources very quickly. This rapid R&D ability also allows us to stay on top of all the new technology that is constantly being released, especially when it comes to novel sensors, compute platforms, AI and machine learning models.’

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Driving supply chain efficiency

Dexory robots are now transforming warehouse operations across the globe, providing instant visibility and streamlining workflows. By autonomously scanning inventory, they eliminate the delays and inaccuracies of traditional stock management, enabling companies to make faster, data-driven decisions.

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"Our robots process over 100,000 pallets a day, delivering real-time insights without requiring any modifications to the warehouse," says Andrei Danescu, Co-Founder and CEO of Dexory. "With deployment in as little as five days, businesses can immediately start optimising operations, reducing inefficiencies, and driving smarter, AI-powered decision-making."

‘Dexory’s technology is not even two years old and it is already redefining operational standards in the industry’ continues Danescu. ‘With our solution warehouses can save time, improve accuracy and benefit from intelligent insights, helping them maximise their end-to-end supply chain efficiency.’

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References

[1] 2022. How much does your country invest in R&D? [Online]. UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS).

[2] M.M., C.D., B.J., 2023. A Rare Look Into the Finances of Elon Musk’s Secretive SpaceX [Online]. The Wall Street Journal

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