For Nexobot, additive manufacturing isn’t just a prototyping tool. It’s the reason the business exists.

If Melbourne startup Nexobot succeeds in bringing affordable automation to regional logistics centres across Australia and beyond, additive manufacturing (AM) will have played a central role.

Founder and CEO Dominic Lindsay believes low-cost, reliable 3D printing has unlocked a sweet spot in robotics manufacturing — enabling a lean startup to develop faster, manufacture and continuously improve autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) without the costs and constraints of traditional production methods.

The Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) company, now in its third year, has already deployed its technology at a logistics facility in Mildura, with a second installation underway at a third-party warehousing operation.

According to Lindsay, none of this would have been possible five years ago.

You might assume advances in artificial intelligence or computing power were the missing piece. Instead, he points to something far more accessible: desktop additive manufacturing.

“We use around 30 printed parts in every robot,” Lindsay explained. “Without low-cost, reliable 3D printing, I simply couldn’t have built this business.”

Nexobot focuses on bringing automation within reach of regional logistics hubs that have traditionally struggled to justify large capital investments. Its robots are designed to make commercial sense for facilities sorting as few as 1,000 parcels a day.

A lean startup powered by AM

The Melbourne-based company won the 2025 Propel-AIR Accelerator program, a sprint for robotics startups hosted by Brisbane’s ARM Hub, and is currently seeking $2 million in venture funding to support its next phase of growth.

Despite developing sophisticated robotics systems, Nexobot operates with a team of just three.

“I’ve got a hardware robotics engineer, a software and AI engineer, and I’m the one that does all the 3D modelling and 3D printing,” said Lindsay.

“That’s something I taught myself because I realised very early on that this was the right technology to enable us to develop the product.”

After starting with a Creality Ender Pro printer, Lindsay quickly adopted Bambu Lab systems as they became available.

“The Bambu X1 Carbon was a complete game changer,” he said.

Today, Nexobot operates six Bambu printers and is capable of building a robot shell a day. Each shell uses around eight kilograms of PLA filament, reinforced with extruded aluminium and takes approximately two hours to assemble.

Solving regional logistics challenges

Lindsay’s experience as a Supply Chain Solution Architect at Australia Post exposed him to large-scale parcel automation systems costing hundreds of millions of dollars. Later consulting work with Border Express highlighted the challenges facing regional operators.

Many depots still rely on manual parcel sorting processes, where packages travel along conveyor systems while drivers stand in a row, scan labels and identify items destined for their delivery runs.

“By the time it gets to the end of the roller, every single driver has looked at that shipping label,” Lindsay said.

Nexobot’s solution automates this labour-intensive process. Packages are placed on top of an AMR, which uses ‘an AI-powered camera” to read the shipping label, matches it to a delivery route and directs the parcel to the appropriate chute. A patent-pending unloading mechanism enables the robot to complete the task autonomously.

Manufacturing where it makes sense

As Nexobot prepares to scale, Lindsay remains convinced that fused deposition modelling (FDM) offers the right balance of performance, flexibility and cost.

Alternative technologies such as stereolithography (SLA) would significantly increase material costs, while injection moulding would require production volumes far beyond Nexobot’s current needs.

“We’d have to do an astronomical number of these robots,” he said.

Just as importantly, conventional tooling would limit the company’s ability to iterate and improve its product, and tie up significant capital.

The first prototype robot shell took six months to design. A “market-ready version” followed 12 months later. The next iteration took three months. The latest version took just two weeks to design and develop.

“The cost of injection moulding these parts in China and shipping them all over the world would never offset the benefits of 3D printing as close as possible to the end user of the robot,” Lindsay explained.

Instead of importing 40ft shipping containers full of completed robots, Nexobot receives a small number of components, completes assembly locally and ships robots to customers within days.”

The approach reduces inventory, lowers working capital demands and allows the company to respond quickly to customer needs.

“Manufacturing locally with additive means you don’t have to chose between holding large amounts of stock and delivering quickly to customers, Lindsay said.

The economics of equipment investment also favour additive manufacturing. Unlike injection moulds, which are purpose-built for a single product, 3D printers can be redeployed as business needs change.

“An injection mould can last for decades, but unless you’re producing very high volumes, it’s a depreciating asset with limited flexibility”, Lindsay said.

“With a 3D printer, if you want to upgrade or no longer need it, you can sell it, repurpose it or pass it on to somebody else. Printers that are obelete for use in our factory can be used in education and maker spaces for years after they are no longer commercially fit for our operations.”

For Nexobot, additive manufacturing is more than a production method. It enables a leaner supply chain, lower capital investment and continuous product improvement while scaling production.

Lindsay hopes to manufacture thousands of robots in Melbourne before expanding internationally using the same distributed production model.

“I want to have 1,000’s of robots manufactured in Melbourne and shipped around the country,” he said.

“Then take that knowledge overseas and start manufacturing in other markets using 3D printing.”

In doing so, Nexobot could become a powerful example of how additive manufacturing can help Australian businesses build more agile supply chains, reduce barriers to growth and scale production closer to customers.