Why Locus Bought Nexera to Make a Better End Effector

A year before Array made its debut on the floor at Modex, viewing the robot was an invite-only affair.  

“Back in 2025, Array was a prototype,” says Rick Faulk, “a good prototype, but we knew we had to enhance that. Frankly, the question we got over and over and over as we did demos behind the wall at that show was, ‘will it pick my thing?’ That was the first question that we got. Folks loved the technology, but literally the first question out of their mouth was, ‘will it pick it?’ ” 

The mobile picking system, which represents a punctuated evolution for Locus’ AMR offerings, was the subject of select, behind-the-curtain showcases at major industry tradeshows. The automation firm previewed the robot for select partners, potential customers, and members of the press.  

“We answered them truthfully, saying, ‘yeah, we have a little more, a little more work to do on the grasping side,’ ” Locus’ CEO adds, “and to ‘stay tuned.’” 

The version of Array shown off in previews utilized a fairly traditional suction-based end effector for picking and placing inventory. Ditto for the multiple models that appeared on the Modex show floor a couple of months back. All the while, Locus had what it believed was the ideal solution waiting in the wings.  

Ideally, the Arrays cruising the floor of Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center would have showcased Nexera’s NeuraGrasp technology. But hey, turns out there’s a lot of paperwork involved in buying a startup — particularly in another country (even if that country happens to be our neighbor to the north), and timelines don’t always line up perfectly. The good news, however, is you suddenly have a new opportunity to talk to the press about your cool new robot. 

Locus announced the Nexera acquisition last week, via press release. The seeds of the deal were planted when the two crossed paths at last year’s ProMat.  

“We had heard whisperings that Locus was thinking of this new product,” Nexera CEO Roy Belak says. “It looked like they were getting into manipulation. And we really knew very little about Locus, apart from the fact that they built this fantastic business. We didn't have what they wanted and they didn't necessarily know what they wanted. I think it was a unique thing where the opportunity and the technology align themselves in time. But the reality is we had to prove it out.” 

At the time, Nexera’s product was focused on stationary systems, making it a less than ideal candidate for Array. So Belak and team spent several months converting the company’s core intellectual property — an effector technology midway between grasper and suction — into something better suited to Locus’s needs. Rather than taking a more modular approach to grasping, wherein the system swaps out tools depending on the specific of the SKU, it’s tasked with picking, the company was determined to find a single solution that could address as much of the market as possible.  

“We always knew we wanted to pick almost 100% of the SKUs being shipped over e-commerce,” says Faulk. “We knew pure suction had its limits. It could pick a large portion, but not almost all of them. We always knew we had to enhance it. At that show and other shows we go to, we always keep our eye open for technology that could actually solve that problem. And we looked at many, many, many, many, many, many companies that actually could address the problem and only found one. And that was Nexera.” 

As for why the two companies opted to take the acquisition route, rather than a standard sales route, Belak says the answer is “simple,” explaining, “There’s a lot of work ahead. With the use case and constraints that are present on the Array, there is a lot of work ahead. There's no question that the full force and efficacy of my team or our team needs to be brought to bear on this. Grasping is a hard problem. We have gained very specialized and unique expertise, and now being able to apply that to Array will make Array move much faster.” 

The acquisition means the NeuraGrasp technology will appear exclusively on the Array, along with the product from another undisclosed licensing partner. Faulk adds that the “Neura-” branding will likely appear on additional Locus products, moving forward.