CALGARY — Lafayette Systems, a family-owned engineering firm based in Kentucky, has acquired the assets of Calgary’s Attabotics after the warehouse robotics startup filed for creditor protection in July.

Lafayette purchased Attabotics for an undisclosed sum as part of a Sept. 17 deal, according to documents filed with the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta, released on Monday. The acquisition includes “the sale of substantially all of Attabotics’ assets, including all intellectual property, equipment and inventory,” the court filings said.

Lafayette’s was the highest among six bids, according to court documents. 

The deal marks the end of Attabotics’ efforts to disrupt the highly competitive logistics and supply chain market with its unique warehouse robotics technology. Based on the movements of ant colonies, Attabotics technology is a three-dimensional system that uses a fleet of small robots to retrieve and sort inventory within a large cubic structure.  

Before it filed for creditor protection in July, Attabotics was one of the Calgary tech scene’s most promising startups, raising $200 million from high-profile investors that included industrial giant Honeywell and San Francisco’s Forerunner Ventures. It previously counted major retailers like Nordstrom and Canadian Tire among its customers. 

Attabotics was led by co-founder and CEO Scott Gravelle, who launched the company in 2016. 

When it filed for protection, Attabotics announced it was laying off 192 employees and retaining a small workforce as it looked to find a buyer for its remaining assets. 

Last week The Logic published an investigation of Attabotics’ rise and fall, citing court documents, financial filings and interviews with several former employees and other sources with direct knowledge of the company’s operations. Those sources and court documents outlined a host of technical challenges that hobbled the technology’s growth and strained relations with customers. 

In court filings related to Attabotics’ bankruptcy proceedings, the company said that the hangover from the COVID-19 pandemic, including an increasing reluctance among retailers to invest in next-generation warehouse technology, led to a sharp drop in revenue.

Lafayette Systems is a business incorporated last month by Bruce Robbins and his wife Beth, who founded Danville, Ky.-based Lafayette Engineering in 1989 and continue to run the firm. Lafayette Engineering specializes in warehouse automation, sorting and conveyor systems, according to its website, and has installed over 500 systems in various warehouses over the past five years. 

Brad Robbins, Bruce’s son and a project manager at Lafayette, declined to comment on the acquisition when contacted by The Logic.