David Millard
| David Millard | |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur, roboticist |
|---|---|
| Known for | Co-founder and CEO of Azalea Robotics Corporation |
| Education | University of Southern California (Ph.D., Computer Science) University of Georgia (B.S., Mathematics and Computer Science) |
| Alma mater | University of Southern California, University of Georgia |
David Millard is an American entrepreneur and roboticist who is the co-founder and CEO of Azalea Robotics Corporation, a company that develops robotic systems for automating airport baggage handling. The company was part of Y Combinator's Summer 2024 batch and is based in Berkeley, California.[1]
Early life and education
Millard attended the University of Georgia, where he earned a Bachelor of Science with a double major in mathematics and computer science in 2014. During his undergraduate studies, he was awarded the Foundation Fellowship, described as the university's top academic undergraduate scholarship, and was recognized as the Computer Science Outstanding Undergraduate with Distinction.[2]
He subsequently earned a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Southern California, where he studied from 2018 to 2023 under the supervision of Professor Gaurav Sukhatme. His doctoral research focused on robotic manipulation, including work on deformable objects and granular materials. He received a NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship for his proposal on interpretable robotic manipulation of deformable objects. During his graduate studies, he published multiple papers at conferences including Robotics: Science and Systems and the IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation.[2]
Career
Prior to founding Azalea Robotics, Millard worked as a software engineer at Google X.[3]
Millard co-founded Azalea Robotics Corporation with John B. Stroud, a fellow University of Georgia alumnus. The company develops autonomous robotic systems designed to automate airport baggage handling operations, including loading and unloading bags between belts, carts, and unit load devices (ULDs), as well as sortation and fleet management. The company's website describes its team as including alumni of NASA, Google X, and United Airlines.[4]
According to the company, the global airport baggage handling systems market exceeds $20 billion. Azalea Robotics positions its products as addressing challenges in the industry including the physical demands placed on baggage handling workers, operational inefficiency, and bag mishandling. The company's first product, the ARC 1, is a vision-guided robotic system for baggage operations.[4]
In a 2025 interview published by the University of Georgia's School of Computing, Millard and Stroud discussed how their academic backgrounds at UGA's Franklin College contributed to their work in AI-driven robotics.
References
- ↑ "Azalea Robotics Corporation". 'Y Combinator}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "David Millard". 'davidmillard.info}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ↑ "David Millard". 'Crunchbase}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Azalea Robotics". 'Azalea Robotics Corporation}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.