Tutor Intelligence Trains Humanoid Robots in Boston Warehouse

A warehouse in Watertown, Massachusetts, that once produced sailcloth for the USS Constitution now houses roughly 100 humanoid robots operated by Tutor Intelligence. The robots, all named Sonny, perform tasks including placing items in boxes, stacking objects, and folding clothes.

Most have been on site for less than two months. Each success or failure is recorded and used to update the machine-learning model that controls the robots.

Intelligence co-founder and CEO Josh

Gruenstein said the company focuses on building a single robot capable of performing the same task for many customers rather than custom solutions for individual clients. The firm manufactures robots in-house and maintains vertical integration across model development, hardware assembly, and customer deployment.

A separate robot called Cassie, built on the same architecture, is already operating at Productiv, a third-party logistics company. Productiv CFO Paul Baker said the firm measures robot performance by SKU coverage, the percentage of product types a robot can handle.

Baker stated that reaching 25 to 40 percent SKU coverage would be meaningful for warehouse operations. No Sonny units have been shipped to customers yet. Gruenstein said the company hopes to begin pilot deployments before the end of this month.