Ex-Uber CEO Travis Kalanick announces robotics startup ‘Atoms,’ targets automation for mining and logistics

Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick announced his robotics startup, “Atoms.” The company was formed to build robots and systems for automating tasks in mining, transport, and food sectors. Atoms appears to be an expanded rebrand of Kalanick’s City Storage Systems, which runs the ghost-kitchen platform CloudKitchens.

The company’s vision page stated that specialised robots, which are designed for specific tasks, can help improve productivity across industries. However, Atoms focuses on three major sectors: 

Atoms Food: The company will be building technology and infrastructure for the food industry, offering greater automation in kitchens, food production, or delivery systems.

Atoms Mining: It will focus on improving productivity in mining operations by building robotics and automation tools.

Atoms Transport: The company describe this sector as a “wheelbase for robots,” a base mobility platform that other robotic systems could be built on, according to a 1,700-word mission statement on the Atoms website.

Kalanick wrote on the company website that he was “heartbroken” when he left Uber in 2017 due to investor pressure. Later in 2019, he also left the company board. 

Now he sees himself returning to his “calling” of building atom-based computers and machines powered by AI technology to automate tasks in the physical world. On the other hand, reports suggest that Uber may be providing major backing for Kalanick’s Atoms.

Kalanick also reveals how he plans to approach real-world problems the same way engineers treat software problems by building structured systems that can compute, process, and automate tasks. On the TBPN podcast on Friday,  Kalanick stated that Atoms has spent eight years in stealth and already has thousands of employees.