CCTY Bearing will discuss how its technologies can help humanoid robots at the Robotics Summit & Expo. Source: CCTY

To help robot developers make humanoid robots that emulate the mobility and flexibility of human limbs, CCTY designs and manufactures bespoke parts tailored to the unique requirements of each project. At the Robotics Summit & Expo this week, the global motion-control supplier will highlight how its state-of-the-art bearings can enable robots to move articulating joints with lifelike grace.

These critical joints must replicate the natural range of motion found in the human body while remaining lightweight and durable, according to CCTY. The company today said its customized approach overcomes the limitations of conventional, off-the-shelf products.

“The development of humanoid robots has garnered significant attention,” stated Yaman Obaid, robotics engineer at CCTY. “Their seamless motion is enabled by a complex interplay of precision engineering, advanced materials, and cutting-edge technology, with bearings serving as the base that enables these movements.”

CCTY builds bearings to suit

CCTY specializes in custom bearing engineering and development. The company has a 1.8 million sq. ft. (167,000 sq. m) production facility in China and offices in Lake Zurich, Ill.; Schwebheim, Germany; Tokyo; and Gujarat, India.

For the robotics sector, CCTY designs motion-control components and assemblies specific to humanoid and industrial robot applications. They include rod ends, spherical plain bearings, COM bearings, bushings, and roller bearings that enable articulating joints to rotate freely and smoothly.

“At the forefront of innovation, CCTY collaborates closely with our customers to design, develop, and test application-specific humanoid robotic bearing solutions,” said Nik Jerinic, strategic account manager at CCTY. “We’re not like other bearing suppliers. We are problem-solvers who work side-by-side with our clients to create a custom design that meets an application’s precise requirements.”

In addition to custom bearings, CCTY said it develops full assemblies that yield customer benefits such as cost savings, streamlined products, and simplified vendor management. With its ability to manufacture small batches, the company said it is as a trusted engineering partner to businesses in the fast-paced robotics industry.

Learn more at the Robotics Summit & Expo

At Booth 234 in Hall C at the Robotics Summit & Expo on May 1 and 2, CCTY said it will demystify the process of bearing design and assembly for robotic applications. It said its expertise and customer partnerships have resulted in systems that will advance the future of humanoid robots.

During the event, CCTY experts will also discuss key robotics industry trends and themes, including the importance of:

• Seals in robotics applications
• Finding the right balance for minimizing torque and clearance
• Backlash and its impact on humanoid movement

“When speaking with new and potential customers, our engineers often find that they’re able to present or share a new idea or enhancement, for example a new design idea or material selection, that improves upon the customer’s existing idea,” said Jerinic. “This is the type of partner CCTY wants to be for our robotics customers: Someone who helps them raise the bar in this high potential and fast-growing industry.”

Registration is now open for the Robotics Summit & Expo, which will be at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The summit will also feature keynotes and sessions with industry experts, more than 200 exhibitors, a MassRobotics Engineering Career Fair, and several networking opportunities.

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HowToRobot is combining its marketplace with Gain & Co.’s expert advice. Credit: Adobe Stock

HowToRobot.com ApS, a provider of a global automation market platform, and Gain & Co., a robotics and automation advisor, announced a merger last week. The newly formed company has also received an investment from Sagitta Ventures, which will be taking a seat on its board. 

Now operating under the name “HowToRobot,” the combined company said that while the need for robotics is stronger than ever, most businesses still struggle to automate. By combining its automation market and vendor-independent advice, HowToRobot said it will support businesses with every aspect of their automation journeys.  

“Businesses need automation and robotics like never before to make up for labor shortages and supply chain disruptions and simply to protect them in the long run,” stated Søren Peters, now co-CEO of HowToRobot. “But without help, only few are able to fully take advantage of the technology. The merger and investment allow us to extend that help to every business that needs it.”

Founded in 2017, HowToRobot said it offers companies with an overview and easy access to automation and robotics suppliers globally. It also offers advisors that give guidance on everything from getting started with automation to technology selection and implementation.

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HowToRobot to help companies keep up with innovation

Global robot installations have more than tripled over the past decade, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). This demand has resulted in more innovation, making it difficult for prospective customers to keep up with the industry, said Peters. 

“Robotics is developing so fast that it can easily seem overwhelming,” he said. “What most need is often just someone to talk to who knows the market and who they can trust for reliable and impartial advice. By letting our two companies join forces, we can now provide all that in one place.”

The Copenhagen, Denmark-based company claimed that the new HowToRobot provides the support that businesses need when looking to automate. At the R-24 event earlier this year in Odense, Denmark, Gulshan Akhtar Din, a senior advisor then at Gain & Co., explained how it worked with hospitals to properly integrate automation with both physical infrastructure and business processes.

Despite global robot installations hitting a record high in 2022, according to the IFR, HowToRobot said it has found that the average business has explored only about 5% of its addressable potential for automation. Peters asserted that this is mainly due to limited expertise and knowledge about automation. 

“Most businesses have still only scratched the surface of what is possible and makes sense to automate,” he said. “With the right guidance and easy access to potential solutions, robot adoption can reach a whole new level.”

Inside the merger

With the merger, Peters, the former CEO of HowToRobot, and Søren Pap-Tolstrup, the former CEO of Gain & Co., will serve as co-CEOs. The company did not disclose financial details of the merger or investment from Sagitta Ventures. 

“The world of robotics is still new to many, and most need help to some extent – from technical advice to finding solutions and building the business case or simply finding the best place to start,” noted Pap-Tolstrup. “When combined, our platform and advisory have the depth, reach, and flexibility to support businesses where and when they most need it.”

HowToRobot said its latest investment will enable it to expand its platform, advisor team, and partner network across the world, adding expertise and the capacity for conducting on-site automation screening. The company said it also plans to broaden its market understanding of robotics and automation to better provide expert advice.

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Custom user interface for Flexiv Rizon 4 sanding robot. Source: Flexiv Robotics

By integrating sensing, robotics, and artificial intelligence, Flexiv Robotics Inc. claimed that it can improve multiple industrial processes, from sanding to sortation. It develops and manufactures general-purpose, adaptive robots.

Founded in 2016, Flexiv produces the Rizon arm with seven degrees of freedom and the Moonlight force-controlled parallel robot. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company has offices in China, Taiwan, and Singapore.

Last month, Red Bluff, Calif.-based systems integrator DOCO Engineering partnered with Flexiv to further expand its presence in North America. More recently, Flexiv shared a case study and Earth Day initiatives.

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EsVata Shutter chooses, quickly installs Rizon 4

Flexiv Robotics recently helped Rosemead, Calif.-based EsVata Shutter automate sanding of window blinds. The company said its adaptive technology sped up the sanding process by 80% and increased the quality and consistency of surface finishing.

“Our commitment to quality led us to select the Rizon 4 from a sea of competitors,” stated Paul Hsieh, founder of EsVata. “Its exceptional precision, powered by advanced force sensors in each of its seven joints, made it the ideal solution for our sanding needs.”

Flexiv said it combined its robotic arm and sensing technology with an OnRobot Sander to free employees for more value-added tasks.

Howard Huang, operations director for North America at Flexiv, replied to the following questions from The Robot Report:

What was required to integrate Flexiv and EsVata’s systems?

Huang: The integration of Flexiv’s Rizon 4 sanding solution within EsVata’s production facility required a customized approach due to EsVata’s lack of a PLC [programmable logic controller] or an existing automated production environment.

Understanding that EsVata is a smaller manufacturer that values modularity and customizability, we implemented a standalone system to boost EsVata’s production capabilities that didn’t necessitate a comprehensive revamp or modification of their current infrastructure, enabling a smooth, trouble-free integration.

How long did it take to set up?

Huang: Integrating Flexiv’s technology into EsVata’s manufacturing operations was achieved in a relatively brief period. The initial setup, which included the installation, configuration, and calibration of the robotic system, was completed in about three days.

This quick deployment reflects the system’s inherent useability and ease of programming, as well as the effective collaboration between Flexiv’s and EsVata’s technical teams. With the installation completed over a long weekend, starting on the Saturday, production was able to resume on Tuesday.

Rizon has automated shutter sanding at EsVata. Source: Flexiv Robotics

System reduces staff effort, production time

What do the people who previously did this sanding do now? Do they supervise the robots, or what other tasks can they do?

Huang: With the sanding solution incorporated into the production line, some staff members have transitioned into supervisory roles to monitor the automated processes or have been assigned to specialized sanding tasks that require a human touch, such as fine corner sanding, which the robot is not programmed to handle.

This redistribution of labor has safeguarded jobs by increasing production efficiency and improved job satisfaction by reducing the physical strain and the monotony associated with manual sanding tasks.

How long did it take for EsVata to realize the time savings on the shutter sanding?

Huang: EsVata recognized the time savings immediately, as the efficiency gains were apparent from the onset of the system’s initiation. With the massive reduction in the time taken to sand a shutter, it was clear that our sanding solution could not only replicate the human sanding process, but also do it far quicker and to a higher standard.

To get consistency of output with manual labor requires a time investment, whereas for a robot, replicating a precise set of actions to achieve a predetermined outcome is simple. As the robot never tires or makes a mistake, it was obvious that the automated system would be faster, but both EsVata and ourselves were surprised at the 80% time decrease.

What are the next steps in this deployment?

Huang: While the current project is complete, EsVata is contemplating installing further adaptive automation solutions within its factory to boost production capacity. This decision is being carefully considered, taking into account a return-on-investment [ROI] analysis, prevailing market conditions, and EsVata’s strategic expansion goals.

An EnVata worker supervises the Rizon sanding robot. Source: Flexiv Robotics

Flexiv Robotics gripper, cleaning station to aid recycling  

Last week, Flexiv Robotics said it has modified the Grav Enhanced robotic gripper to be cleaned in its Grav Enhanced Automated Cleaning Station. The company said this helps the gripper retain its effectiveness in picking up objects weighing up to 5 kg (11 lb.) and those covered with dust.

For Earth Day today, Flexiv showed off a combination of its Grave Enhanced Gecko Gripper, a Rizon 4 adaptive robot, a 3D depth camera, and its AnyGrasp algorithm to identify and sort household waste for recycling (see video below). The company added that the new cleaning station has helped expand its product capabilities.

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MDA Space’s Canadarm2 onboard the ISS in 2021. | Source: MDA Space

MDA Space this week announced that it has received a $250 million contract extension from the Canadian Space Agency. The contract will allow the company to continue supporting robotics operations on the International Space Station, or ISS, from 2025 to 2030. 

Brampton, Ontario-based MDA Space specializes in satellites, Earth and space observation, and space exploration and infrastructure. The company said it has 55 years of experience as a mission partner to the space industry, and it has completed more than 450 missions. 

MDA Space said it will add the contract extension to its backlog in the second quarter of fiscal year 2024.

Robot to fulfill flight-controller duties

As part of the contract, MDA Space will fulfill robotics flight-controller duties to support mission operations on the ISS. The company has worked alongside the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and its international partners since 2001 to provide operational readiness for the Mobile Servicing System (MSS). 

“Robotic flight controllers are the pilots in the control room who make real-time decisions and plan exactly how robotics on the ISS are utilized and executed to support immediate and long-term mission plans,” stated Mike Greenley, CEO of MDA Space.

“We’re honored to be taking on this important role,” he added. “This further solidifies MDA Space as a trusted mission partner and global leader in mission-critical space robotics operations and strategically positions our team to offer mission operations as a commercial service to customers globally.”

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MDA Space co-developed Canadarm2, MSS

Canadarm2, the first key part of the MSS, is a 57.7-ft. (17.6 m)-long robotic arm that MDA Space developed with the CSA. Each end of the arm features an identical manipulator known as a Latching End Effector (LEE).

The LEEs contain cables that tighten to ensure strong grip. This allows the robotic arm to firmly grasp objects to latch itself to the station. Either end of Canadarm2 can be used as an anchor point, while the other end remains free to carry out tasks. 

The next part of the system is Dextre, or the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator. The robotic hand performs maintenance on the ISS, like changing batteries and replacing cameras outside of the station. 

Dextre is equipped with lights, video equipment, a tool platform, and four tool holders. It has a dual-arm design, reducing the need for spacewalks. 

The last part of the system is the Mobile Base System (MBS), which provides a movable work platform for Canadarm2 and Dextre. MBS moves along the Mobile Transporter rail car along truss rails covering the space station. This allows it to traverse the main trusses to access the eight workstations that have power connections for the base. 

Earlier this month, MDA Space released its MDA Skymaker product line. The company said this latest release is a line of space robotics purpose-built to meet the diverse needs of its customers. 

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The MOTOMAN NEXT series, which is powered by NVIDIA Jetson Orin and Wind River Linux. | Source: Yaskawa Electric

Wind River Systems Inc. this week announced that Yaskawa Electric Corp. is using Wind River Linux in the development of its new product MOTOMAN NEXT. The company said its software will enable Yaskawa’s industrial robots to autonomously adapt to their environment and make judgments with advanced artificial intelligence. 

MOTOMAN NEXT is powered by NVIDIA Jetson Orin and Wind River Linux. Yaskawa claimed that these systems will help the robot “realize new levels of intelligence and autonomy.”

Founded in 1915, Yaskawa Electric said it has transformed from a motor manufacturer and an automation company to a mechatronics company. The Katakyushu, Japan-based business provides servo motors, controllers, AC drives, and industrial robots.

AI opens new possibilities, says Wind River

“AI is opening exciting new pathways,” stated Amit Ronen, chief customer officer at Wind River. “We are pleased to support the next generation of AI-capable robotics from an industry leader such as Yaskawa in combination with Wind River Linux and NVIDIA Jetson.”

“Together with Yaskawa and NVIDIA, we can help teams rapidly innovate in machine learning and AI to deliver more intelligent systems,” he added.

Wind River Linux helps teams develop, deploy, and operate robust, reliable, and secure embedded systems running on a purpose-built Linux operating system, according to Wind River. The Alameda, Ca.-based company said it offers high stability and security to meet high-performance needs for mission-critical applications.

Yaskawa MOTOMAN NEXT gains perception, judgement 

Wind River and Yaskawa Electric said that MOTOMAN NEXT can handle challenging tasks in unstructured environments. This allows it to drive automation into new application areas that were previously challenging because of the need for human-level perception and judgment capabilities. 

MOTOMAN NEXT can execute tasks based on its understanding of changes in its surrounding environment and the system’s status, claimed the companies. This includes accounting for other robots and peripheral devices.

The robot can perform complex tasks, like navigating an optimal path to avoid obstacles or sorting and boxing items of varying color and shape. Yaskawa and Wind River said the robot can also handle tasks with many variables and uncertain elements. 

MOTOMAN NEXT’s autonomous control unit uses Wind River Linux and runs on NVIDIA Jetson Orin, a platform for edge AI, embedded intelligence, and robotics applications. 

NVIDIA said Jetson provides scalable software, a modern AI stack, production-ready ROS packages, and application-specific AI workflows. The company added that it can share AI software and cloud-native workflows while delivering the power-efficiency required for building software-defined autonomous machines and edge AI systems.

The companies added that the combination of Wind River Linux and the NVIDIA Jetson platform enables advanced AI edge applications. 

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Chinese and U.S. companies led March 2024 robotics investments. Credit: Eacon Mining, Dan Kara

Thirty-seven robotics firms received funding in March 2024, pulling in a total monthly investment of $642 million. March’s investment figure was significantly less than February’s mark of approximately $2 billion, but it was in keeping with other monthly investments in 2023 and early 2024 (see Figure 1, below).

California companies secure investment

As described in Table 1 below, the two largest robotics investments in March were secured by software suppliers. Applied Intuition, a provider of software infrastructure to deploy autonomous vehicles at scale, received a $250 million Series E round, while Physical Intelligence, a developer of foundation models and other software for robots and actuated devices, attracted $70 million in a seed round. Both firms are located in California.

Other California firms receiving substantial rounds included Bear Robotics, a manufacturer of self-driving indoor robots that raised a $60 million Series C round, and unmanned aerial system (UAS) developer Firestorm, whose seed funding was $20 million. For a PDF version of Table 1, click here.

March 2024 robotics investments

Drones get fuel for takeoff in March 2024

Providers of drones, drone technologies, and drone services also attracted substantial individual investments in March 2024. Examples included Firestorm and Gather AI, a developer of inventory monitoring drones whose Series A was $17 million.

In addition, drone services provider Preneu obtained $11 million in Series B funding, and DRONAMICS, a developer of drone technology for cargo transportation and logistics operations, got a grant worth $10.8 million.

Companies in U.S. and China received the majority of the March 2024 funding, at $451 million and $100 million, respectively (see Figure 2, below).

Companies based in Japan and the U.K. were also well represented among the March 2024 investment totals. Four companies in Japan secured a total of $34.7 million, while an equal number of firms in the U.K. attracted $13.5 million in funding.

Nearly 40% of March’s robotics investments came from a single Series E round — that of Applied Intuition. The remaining funding classes were all represented in March 2024 (Figure 3, below).

Editor’s notes

What defines robotics investments? The answer to this simple question is central in any attempt to quantify them with some degree of rigor. To make investment analyses consistent, repeatable, and valuable, it is critical to wring out as much subjectivity as possible during the evaluation process. This begins with a definition of terms and a description of assumptions.

Investors and investing

Investment should come from venture capital firms, corporate investment groups, angel investors, and other sources. Friends-and-family investments, government/non-governmental agency grants, and crowd-sourced funding are excluded.

Robotics and intelligent systems companies

Robotics companies must generate or expect to generate revenue from the production of robotics products (that sense, analyze, and act in the physical world), hardware or software subsystems and enabling technologies for robots, or services supporting robotics devices. For this analysis, autonomous vehicles (including technologies that support autonomous driving) and drones are considered robots, while 3D printers, CNC systems, and various types of “hard” automation are not.

Companies that are “robotic” in name only, or use the term “robot” to describe products and services that do not enable or support devices acting in the physical world, are excluded. For example, this includes “software robots” and robotic process automation. Many firms have multiple locations in different countries. Company locations given in the analysis are based on the publicly listed headquarters in legal documents, press releases, etc.

Verification

Funding information is collected from several public and private sources. These include press releases from corporations and investment groups, corporate briefings, market research firms, and association and industry publications. In addition, information comes from sessions at conferences and seminars, as well as during private interviews with industry representatives, investors, and others. Unverifiable investments are excluded and estimates are made where investment amounts are not provided or are unclear.

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The fourth installment of the Automated Warehouse research series captures market sentiment about stationary robots. | Credit: WTWH Media

Warehouse operators are grappling with a formidable challenge in the fast-paced logistics world: a severe shortage of available labor. With the increasing demand for operational efficiency, the optimization of warehouse processes has become an imperative rather than simply an objective.

In this fourth session of our Automated Warehouse webinar series, we will explore the current state of stationary robotics, specifically examining how these systems are being integrated with human workers through smart controls. Attendees will learn valuable insights derived from recent bespoke research conducted directly with warehouse operators.

Stationary robots can be found in various workflows, performing a diverse array of tasks. To better understand what kinds of systems are being used in fulfillment operations, distribution centers, and warehouses, we asked respondents about their stationary robot setups. The responses from these participants provide a snapshot of the state of the market.

The session is targeted at robotics OEMs, systems integrators, and warehouse operators. This webinar will be the last in this initial series of research projects that started with mobile robotics and then dug into the digitization of warehouse workflows, and how fixed conveyance is being used today.

The webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, April 10, at 2:00 p.m. EDT and will share approaches and examples with warehouse operators seeking to modernize and gain better control over workflows. Attendees will learn more about the following:

Insights from market research: Our experts have conducted a fresh market survey, uncovering the latest trends and developments in warehouse technology. By attending this webinar, you’ll gain exclusive access to this research, providing you with a competitive edge in the industry.

Q&A: You will have an opportunity to have your burning questions answered live.

Register now to save your spot and stay current on the market trends.

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NEURA has developed cognitive robots in a variety of form factors. Source: NEURA Robotics

Talk about combining robotics and artificial intelligence is all the rage, but some convergence is already maturing. NEURA Robotics GmbH and Omron Robotics and Safety Technologies Inc. today announced a strategic partnership to introduce “cognitive robotics” into manufacturing.

“By pooling our sensor and AI technologies and expertise into an ultimate platform approach, we will significantly shape the future of the manufacturing industry and set new standards,” stated David Reger, founder and CEO of NEURA Robotics.

Reger founded the company in 2019 with the intention of combining sensors and AI with robotics components for a platform for app development similar to that of smartphones. The “NEURAverse” offers flexibility and cost efficiency in automation, according to the company.

“Unlike traditional industrial robots, cognitive robots have the ability to learn from their environment, make decisions autonomously, and adapt to dynamic production scenarios,” said Metzingen, Germany-based NEURA. “This opens new application possibilities including intricate assembly tasks, detailed quality inspections, and adaptive material handling processes.”

Omron has sensor, channel expertise

“We see NEURA’s cognitive technologies as a compelling growth opportunity for industrial robotics,” added Olivier Welker, president and CEO of Omron Robotics and Safety Technologies. “By combining NEURA’s innovative solutions with Omron’s global reach and automation portfolio, we will provide customers new ways to increase safety, productivity, and flexibility in their operations.”

Pleasanton, Calif.-based Omron Robotics is a subsidiary of OMRON Corp. focusing on automation and safety sensing. It designs and manufactures industrial, collaborative, and mobile robots for various industries.

“We’ve known Omron for quite some time, and even before I started NEURA, we had talked about collaborating,” Reger told The Robot Report. “They’ve tested our products, and we’ve worked together on how to benefit both sides.”

“We have the cognitive platform, and they’re one of the biggest sensor, controllers, and safety systems providers,” he added. “This collaboration will integrate our cognitive abilities and NEURAverse with their sensors for a plug-and-play solution, which everyone is working toward.”

Omron Robotics’ Olivier Welker and NEURA’s David Reger celebrate their partnership. Source: NEURA

Collaboration has ‘no limits’

When asked whether NEURA and Omron Robotics’ partnership is mainly focused on market access, Reger replied, “It’s not just the sales channel … there are no really big limits. From both sides, there will be add-ons.”

Rather than see each other as competitors, NEURA and Omron Robotics are working to make robots easier to use, he explained.

“As a billion-dollar company, it could have told our startup what it wanted, but Omron is different,” said Reger. “I felt we got a lot of respect from Olivier and everyone in that organization. It won’t be a one-sided thing; it will be just ‘Let’s help each other do something great.’ That’s what we’re feeling every day since we’ve been working together. Now we can start talking about it.”

NEURA has also been looking at mobile manipulation and humanoid robots, but adding capabilities to industrial automation is the “low-hanging fruit, where small changes can have a huge effect,” said Reger. “A lot of things for humanoids have not yet been solved.”

“I would love to just work on household robots, but the best way to get there is to use the synergy between industrial robotics and the household market,” he noted. “Our MAiRA, for example, is a cognitive robot able to scan an environment and from an idle state pick any known or unknown objects.”

MAiRA cognitive robot on MAV mobile base. Source: NEURA Robotics

Ease of use drives NEURA strategy

NEURA and Omron Robotics promise to make robots easier to use, helping overall adoption, Reger said.

“A big warehouse company out of the U.S. is claiming that it’s already using more than 1 million robots, but at the same time, I’m sure they’d love to use many more robots,” he said. “It’s also in the transformation from a niche market into a mass market. We see that’s currently only possible if you somehow control the environment.”

“It’s not just putting all the sensors inside the robot, which we were first to do, and saying, ‘OK, now we’re able to interact with a human and also pick objects,'” said Reger. “Imagine there are external sensors, but how do you calibrate them? To make everything plug and play, you need new interfaces, which means collaboration with big players like Omron that provide a lot of sensors for the automation market.”

NEURA has developed its own sensors and explored the balance of putting processing in the cloud versus the edge. To make its platform as popular with developers as that of Apple, however, the company needs the support of partners like Omron, he said.

Reger also mentioned NEURA’s partnership with Kawasaki, announced last year, in which Kawasaki offers the LARA CL series cobot with its portfolio. “Both collaborations are incredibly important for NEURA and will soon make sense to everyone,” he said.

NEURA to be at Robotics Summit & Expo

Reger will be presenting a session on “Developing Cognitive Robotics Systems” at 2:45 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, May 1, Day 1 of the Robotics Summit & Expo. The event will be at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, and registration is now open.

“I’ll be talking about making robots cognitive to enable AI to be useful to humanity instead of competing with us,” he said. “AI is making great steps, but if you look at what it’s doing, like drawing pictures or writing stories — these are things that I’d love to do but don’t have the time for. But if I ask, let’s say, AI to take out the garbage or show it a picture of garbage, it can tell me how to do it, but it’s simply not able to do something about it yet.”

NEURA is watching humanoid development but is focusing on integrating cognitive robotics with sensing and wearables as it expands in the U.S., said Reger. The company is planning for facilities in Detroit, Boston, and elsewhere, and it is looking for leadership team members as well as application developers and engineers.

“We don’t just want a sales office, but also production in the U.S.,” he said. “We have 220 people in Germany — I just welcomed 15 new people who joined NEURA — and are starting to build our U.S. team. In the past several months, we’ve gone with only European and American investors, and we’re looking at the Japanese market. The U.S. is now open to innovation, and it’s an exciting time for us to come.”

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Mecademic Absolute Calibration is intended to improve performance, mitigate risk, and shorten robot deployment times. | Source: Mecademic

Mecademic, a developer of compact, high-precision industrial robots, this week announced Mecademic Absolute Calibration, or MAC. It is a service that the company said can enhance its robots’ accuracy “out of the box.” 

The Montreal, Canada-based company claimed that MAC demonstrates its ability to deliver robots that meet critical precision and accuracy requirements and eliminates the need for third-party calibration services. 

“The development of our Absolute Calibration service stems from a commitment to uphold the high quality standards we set for our products and to fully leverage our robots’ capabilities,” stated Ilian Bonev, co-founder of Mecademic and professor of industrial robotics at École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), a public research university in Montreal.

“This advancement reflects our dedication to innovation and excellence,” he added. “It provides our clients with a solution ready to integrate and operate right out of the box without needing external calibration. This capability is a game-changer for industries requiring utmost precision and accuracy in their operations.”

MAC addresses demanding industrial applications

Mecademic said it created MAC to service industries where the slightest deviation can affect the outcome, such as optics, photonics, electronics, medical devices, and aerospace and automotive components. The company said the service ensures that its robots meet the rigorous demands of micro-application automation.

The MAC service enhances robots with advanced calibration techniques. These include the use of coordinate measuring machines (CMM) to meet or exceed the highest standards of accuracy, according to the company. 

By integrating this service in-house, Mecademic asserted that it offers “a seamless, efficient solution that enhances performance, mitigates risk, and shortens deployment times across all applications requiring high-precision automation.”

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Mecademic offers a range of robots, tools

Mecademic offers a range of compact systems for highly precise operations, including:

• MECA500: A small and compact six-axis industrial robot arm, the Meca500 works as a plug-and-work automation component, making it easy into integrate with a computer or programmable logic controller (PLC). The company built it for inspection and testing, as well as laboratory automation. 
• MCS500 SCARA: This SCARA robot is designed for straightforward integration so that it can deliver for maximum efficiency and precision immediately. It said this robot is suitable for pick-and-place, assembly, lab automation, and other applications. 
• End-of-arm tooling (EOAT): Mecademic has designed three different end effectors, two electric parallel grippers, and one pneumatic module. The company said its tools offer nearly universal compatibility, making them easy to integrate with robots. 
• Software: Mecademic has two software offerings. The first is MecaPortal, a Web interface that allows users to interact with its robots in multiple ways. The second is RoboDK for Mecademic Robots. This is a Mecademic-specific version of the simulation and offline robot programming tool. 

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Brooke Chalmers, who studies computer science, and Jason Kobrin, who studies mechanical engineering, work on the Mars Rover in the Richards Hall Makerspace. Credit: Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

When the student leaders of the Northeastern University Mars Rover Team decided they were going to participate in the inaugural Winter Canadian International Rover Challenge, they thought it would be good practice more than anything else.

They didn’t expect to win the competition. Yet, that’s exactly what happened.

The Northeastern team took home the gold last month, beating McMaster University for the top spot with a score of 237.71 points to McMaster’s 137.13.

“It was pretty huge for us in terms of team morale,” said Brooke Chalmers, a third-year student at Northeastern and the integration lead and software co-lead for the Mars rover group. “It really felt like all the hours that we put in during the prior weeks paid off in a way.”

It’s the first competition win for the six-year-old club, which is composed of students studying computer science, engineering, and life science.

The university team of about 50 students had been hard at work developing and iterating on its latest robotic rover: the Watney, Mark V. 

Coming in at 50 kg (110 lb.), the rover features a 5052 aluminum alloy chassis, six 3D-printed nylon wheels, a robotic arm with end-of-arm tooling (EOAT), a life-detection module for sample collection, and 14 onboard cameras. 

The Canadian competition was broken up into four challenges designed to put students’ rovers through simulated environments similar to tasks a rover might have to complete while on Mars’ surface. Each challenge was ranked using a 100-point scale.  

In the Arm Dexterity Challenge, for example, students were tasked with controlling the rover’s robotic arm to restore power to a campsite. The challenge involved navigating the robot through four control panels where the robotic arm had to press buttons and flip switches, explained Jason Kobrin, a fourth-year student at Northeastern and a mechanical operations co-lead for the Mars rover group.

The robotic arm on the Northeastern team’s Mars Rover. Credit: Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Northeastern team redesigns robot arm for strength

Of the four teams taking part in the challenge, Northeastern scored the highest for the challenge, with a score of 49.49 points. 

Kobrin said the team has spent the past year completing redesigning the robot’s arm, which used to be one of the rover’s weak points during previous competitions. It’s now one of the rover’s biggest strengths. The robot arm has six degrees of freedom and can carry loads up to about 10 kg (22 lb.). 

“In order to improve that, we redesigned our arm this year to use better motors and to be easier to control overall,” he said. 

It’s by taking part in these competitions and through regular testing where the team was able to narrow in on the rover’s shortcomings and improve its capabilities, Kobrin said. By working on the rover, students are also getting the opportunity to improve their own skills. 

“Every week, it’s continuous improvement,” he noted. “Whether it’s adding a new portion of software code [or] whether designing a new mount for our cameras, every little improvement makes a huge difference.” 

“For everybody to be able to design and build this robot to function well but also to be able to control it in high-pressure situations and to reach the goals we were seeking to reach, is just really impressive,” added Kobrin. 

The team thought the two-day event hosted in Niagara Falls, Ontario, would be a great primer to test out the capabilities of the machine before the team took part in the upcoming annual University Rover Challenge (URC). The URC is the Mars Society’s premier Mars rover student competition held at the Mars Desert Research Center outside Hanksville, Utah. 

The URC competition is old hat for the group, having participated in the challenge in 2019, 2022, and 2023. The competition was canceled in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic.

“We went into this competition thinking, ‘OK, we’re going to use this as an opportunity to prepare for URC. We’re going to test stuff to make sure it all works,’” Chalmers said.

The students will be competing at the University Rover Challenge this spring. Photos by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Difficult terrain and team excitement

The team had its best showing during the Winter Transversal Challenge, with a finishing score of 84.72 points. For the challenge, the rover had to roll through treacherous and uneven terrain while avoiding obstacles.

“All the challenges involved some degree of the rover driving around and moving over difficult terrain, but this challenge was focused entirely on that,” said Chalmers. 

With the overall win, Chalmers said she’s hopeful that new members will be excited to join. 

“Most people on the team have been talking about this with their friends and family and talking about what we are doing, which is really cool,” she said. “I know a few of my friends have expressed interest in joining the team since. It’s very exciting to have something to talk about and have something to show for all the effort we put in.”

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About the author

Cesareo Contreras is a Northeastern Global News reporter and has covered robotics extensively. This article is reposted with permission.

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RightHand Robotics Inc. has hit the ground running in 2024. Earlier this year, it released RightPick 4, an upgraded version of its piece-picking system that can handle items up to 25% larger and 50% heavier than RightPick 3.

The Charlestown, Mass.-based company worked closely with integration partner Vanderlande on many of the new features in RightPick 4. The companies’ close partnership is key to both successful deployments and future technology development, according to David Schwebel, head of sales and strategic business development at RightHand, and Jake Heldenberg, North American head of solution design for warehousing at Vanderlande.

The Robot Report caught up with Schwebel, Heldenberg, and Paul Eyre, RightHand’s director of channel sales, at MODEX last week. They shared insights on industry trends, RightPick’s latest capabilities, and more.

End users approach robotics differently this year

So, how has the show been for you?

Schwebel: This is probably the best-attended MODEX ever, and it’s actually even better than ProMAT last year.

What we’re hearing is that we’ve gone past moments of inspiration and education. We’re in the engagement phase. Quite often, the people that are coming by are saying, “I already trust what I see. I’ve seen the Vanderlande SIR system. I wanted to see the new features and things that you’re doing at RightHand. Now how can I engage further?”

We’re seeing great experiences and great collaborations. So, now it’s all about taking their information, understanding their workflows, and finding the right individuals to bring it across to you.

They sold more than 44,000 rooms in Atlanta this year, which was about 25% larger than it was at MODEX two years ago. And with all that, they’re expecting more than 50,000 to 56,000 people to walk through the halls. 

Eyre: I’m just coming up for air to be honest, which is great. What I’m seeing in my conversations is that customers are now expressing a level of trust in the technology. They’re moving from exploration into engagement with the technology, and they really want to start adopting the technology.

I think they’re also starting to get into the technology, so they can maybe instruct their integrators that “These are the types of technologies we’d like to use and we’d like you to adopt.” So, now they’re becoming far more educated and involved in the decision-making process rather than leaving that to integration partners.

And that’s great for us because they come to us, and we’re able to generate leads and give them to our integrators first. I’ve had conversation after conversation with end users saying, “OK, it’s time to do this. Now show me where this has been installed previously. Show me how I can employ these technologies effectively in my solution.”

Schwebel: We’re often hearing that customers held back on investments over the past three years, and they’re finally at a place where they have to refresh their existing environments.

So, between the availability of the capital, the interest, and the engagement, we’re experiencing trust with the product. They see it’s de-risked. They see going through the integrator environment is absolutely the right thing to do. And they’re replicating what they did about seven to 10 years ago. So, we’re in that great crux of “It’s time to engage and engage fast.”

While Vanderlande doesn’t have a booth, how has it been being all over the show?

Heldenberg: The funny thing is, I’ve actually had more engagement this year without a booth. A lot of times, you bring in your current customers or customers you’re already working with.

Walking the show has been really interesting. The questions I’m getting are more specific, and people are saying, “Hey, I’m ready to invest.”

Last year, it was very exploratory. People came here trying to figure out all these new technologies, what’s going to benefit them. And now, each time I run into a customer it’s like, “Hey, we’re ready. We need to move.”

So it has been a very interesting change and shift for me also, just being able to walk and see all the new technologies. If we had a booth, I wouldn’t have a lot of time to walk around. I’ve been able to go take a look at all the different new technologies — some more exciting than others, to be pretty blunt about it. 

What has been some of the more exciting stuff?

Heldenberg: We’ve seen autonomous crane robots, or ACRs, come along, and the AMR [autonomous mobile robot] technology has come up. I see that when it comes to flexibility.

ACR isn’t going to wow you [throughput-wise] yet against a shuttle system. But on a low-capacity system, [it offers] flexibility and the lack of a single point of failure. I see that is really the next technology that’s going to take off as far as ASRS [automated storage and retrieval systems] goes. That’s what I’ve been most impressed by. In years past, you’d see it, and it’d still look a little clunky, there were still stability issues. All of that is getting resolved.

Item-picking issues we saw last year are already getting resolved. So this year, even with RightHand, the new gripper is a lot better and a lot more advanced. All these new technologies that have sprung up over the past five years are becoming more stable and more robust. And for me, I see nothing but opportunity, especially for the customers.

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What potential customers are looking for

When these customers approach you, what kinds of metrics are they really interested in hitting?

Eyre: For me, it’s throughput, throughput, throughput when it comes to robotics. They’re interested in whether the technology available today can match or exceed the performance of a human. I’m not saying that’s always the case, but the technology is improving to a level where it’s coming up to those levels of matching human performance. 

This makes things very, very interesting for them, because it addresses the issues of labor availability and retention, which are causing a lot of heartburn. It’s becoming acute in a lot of geographies.

Heldenberg: Five years ago, the technology and vision systems were not quite where they needed to be. Like 50% of SKUs were inaccessible. But now, that we’ve seen more things, especially when it comes to small boxes or odd-shaped items, can be picked successfully.

The system can prove it can be consistent over a 16-hour shift. So, the business case is clearly there. A robot doesn’t take a break. It doesn’t need to go to the bathroom.

So what we’re seeing as a level of investment now is people saying, “I want to buy one or two or three of these bots. Let’s put them in and have stations that are prepped and ready because once we prove it on those first few booths, I want them into half of the stations.” So performance is important, but it’s also performance that’s sustained through an entire shift.

Eyre: The range has increased substantially. Picking a large range reliably really lends itself to an increase in autonomy. That means a lack of intervention or reduction of human intervention to resolve exceptions within the robot station is increasing and improving substantially year over year.

You need very, very few humans to support a fleet of robots. So autonomy is something that you have to have KPIs [key performance indicators] for earlier on, and something they’re measuring is the level of human intervention or autonomy.

RightHand shows off RightPick 4 at MODEX

What are some of the improvements in RightPick 4, and has RightHand Robotics gotten a lot of interest in it?

Schwebel: So, effectively through collaboration through both our system integrators coming into our roadmap and some work that we did with Staples, we packaged that all together into a full released product.

This newly released platform allows us to handle items that are 50% heavier, so up to 3 kg or 7.2 lb. without a problem. The range of items that we’re able to handle [has grown]. Now, we’re able to do polybags and apparel. This allows us to handle more than 70% of all the different types of items available in omni-retail and e-commerce.

We’re able to expand the size and range of the setup. The new type of cameras that we have allow us to have a greater environment space to work in. So, if I wanted to have more open borders at the same site at the same time, we could. It’s more frictionless for the system integrators. It literally is an idea where you can have it arrive on-site and four hours later, it’s installed.

We asked Vanderlande to join our booth, where we want to show a consistent workflow loop among multiple stations for its customers, from multipack detection to suction-cup swapping, as well as industrial cameras and spacing. We’re hardening our technologies to make them frictionless for customers.

Can you give some insights about RightPick 4 from the integrator side of things?

Heldenberg: So, as far as RightPick 4, we’re excited about it, that’s what I can say. One of the greatest things about working with RightHand in particular is that when we come to RightHand with a challenge, they really step up.

We have fashion customers, and ultimately they were challenging us and saying, “Hey, we need to automate more. We need to figure out how we can improve productivity, we have labor challenges, and we can’t hire enough people, especially during peak season.’

And so we challenged RightHand point-blank and said, “Hey, this is a challenge for us, and we haven’t found anyone who can really successfully complete the task of automating fashion item picking.”

We also came back with bisected totes, and RightHand immediately began working on the problem. We’re looking at unique ways to pair item picking with new technologies and adaptive sequences. For ASRS, software must be able to split orders, sending some to manual stations.

Ultimately, RightHand stepped up to the plate, and you can see a lot of innovation in RightPick 4 and also in the software and vision system improvements across the board. So now we are much more comfortable going into these fashion customers.

With RightPick 4 and a lot of the innovation, we appreciate it because we know it comes from the challenges that we and many others bring to RightHand. And that’s where I saw RightPick 4 is a great example of all of those challenges culminating together into a good solution.

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ABB has expanded production, staff, and training space in Auburn Hills, Mich. Source: ABB

ABB Ltd. today opened its renovated U.S. robotics headquarters and manufacturing facility in Auburn Hills, Mich. The company said the site will support ABB Robotics’ development and production of leading systems in and for the Americas.

ABB added that it is investing in long-term growth in the U.S. market, which it predicted will experience an 8% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). The company, which is based in Sweden and Switzerland, said this is its third global robotics factory expansion in three years across China, Europe, and the Americas and is part of its efforts to strengthen its “local-for-local” footprint.

“The opening of our refitted state-of-the-art U.S. robotics headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich., is a significant part of our global growth story, reaffirming our commitment to industry leadership in the U.S.,” stated Sami Atiya, president of ABB’s Robotics and Discrete Automation Business Area. “Robotics and AI are essential tools for companies in addressing critical labor shortages, localized supply chains, and the need to operate more sustainably.”

“The advances in AI-driven software and hardware make our robots more accessible to a wider range of businesses, enabling them to increase resilience and become more competitive,” he added. “America is now the world’s second-largest robotics market, and our production facility will help ABB support existing customers, as well as new growth sectors across the U.S. and the Americas region.”

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Auburn Hills gets four enhancements

With a 30% increase in space, the $20 million Auburn Hills facility will support ABB’s efforts to be a strategic partner for its growing customer base.

“We had our first manipulator roll off the line in 2016, and ABB is still the first major robotics company to manufacture systems in the U.S.,” said John Bubnikovich, president of ABB’s U.S. Robotics Division. “We want this and our other competence centers to get closer to customers, to understand their needs and requirements from a segment standpoint.”

He told The Robot Report that the expanded facilities include four key parts: a Customer Experience Center, training space, more flexible production, and modernized employee workspaces.

From left: Marc Segura, John Bubnikovich, and Sami Atiya cut the ribbon opening ABB’s new facility. Source: ABB

Customer Experience Center

Bubnikovich said ABB’s new Customer Experience Center will “showcase its latest and greatest technologies.” It will also provide a venue for ABB to collaborate with educational institutions and customers on digital and AI-powered automation.

“Robots used to be complicated and needed a lot of people to deploy, but it’s now easier,” Bubnikovich said. “Education and outreach are critical factors to growth. An SME [small-to-midsize enterprise] can now effectively apply robots without an army of engineers.”

New training center

While ABB had already trained 5,000 staffers and users to date, the expansion will increase the number of people going through application and robot training, he said.

Complete with a new training center, the Ann Arbor facility will educate more than 5,000 workers and students each year. In addition to capitalizing on the concentration of technical skills in the community, ABB said it will train workers with no prior experience or degree with the skills needed to build a successful career in the robotics and automation industry.

“There will be something for everyone — from basic robot programming to advanced applications like painting,” said Bubnikovich.

ABB expands localized production

The localized production capability will provide flexibility, supply chain resilience, and the opportunity to learn from the experiences of ABB’s units around the world, he added.

“Operations are creating engineering development platforms, or EDPs, in local regions,” said Bubnikovich. “For instance, Mexico recently surpassed China for imports into the U.S., and we can leverage some modular assembly in Mexico for efficiencies of scale.”

“We have three global factories — Auburn Hills, Sweden, and Shanghai — and we’re adding models and autonomous mobile robots [AMRs] for local use,” said Bubnikovich. ABB acquired AMR maker ASTI in 2021. “Our robots will be integrated into production processes throughout the factory. This will help our understanding of how customers apply robots differently, even in the same application space. What better way to demonstrate our products?”

The expanded facility will support ABB Robotics’ specialist centers including its Packaging and Logistics hub in Atlanta; its Life Sciences and Healthcare hub at the Texas Medical Center in Houston; and its AI Research Lab in San Jose, Calif.

“We also opened up a Root-Cause Analysis [RCA] center to increase responsiveness,” Bubnikovich said. “It used to take 60 days to do RCA because we had to send equipment back to Sweden, but now it takes under 10 days. The competence to diagnose a problem and make adjustments — that guarantees quality in addition to local manufacturing,”

The new training center will show that robots have changed manufacturing jobs for the better. Source: ABB

A modern workplace

The workplace modernization is intended to help ABB attract and retain talent, plus build a culture of internal collaboration, said Bubnikovich.

“Jobs in an automated plant are higher-skilled work than just assembly,” said Bubnikovich. “They include doing maintenance on robots, fine-tuning programming, and other things as you evolve production for efficiency and synergy. This investment will be a win-win.”

ABB invests in Michigan manufacturing

ABB noted that the expansion will create jobs with support from a $450,000 Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant.

ABB Robotics has invested $30 million in training since 2019 across four locations, opening its Auburn Hills manufacturing facility in 2015. The latest investment in Auburn Hills is part of the previously announced approximately $170 million that ABB is investing in its electrification and automation businesses across the U.S.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer tours renovated ABB facility. Source: ABB

“ABB’s $20 million investment in Auburn Hills will create more than 70 good-paying, high-skill jobs and build on Michigan’s advanced manufacturing leadership,” said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer during the opening ceremony. “Around the world, ABB’s technology supports the production of electric vehicles, medical devices, electronics, and even pastries.”

“Today’s expansion at their robotics headquarters will tighten the supply chain and cut down on production delays, while building on ABB’s long-standing investments in local workforce development and hands-on education,” she said. “Let’s keep competing to bring more cutting-edge investments home to Michigan.”

“Through our expanded facility, partner ecosystem and comprehensive AI-enabled product portfolio, we are pushing the boundaries of technology to drive performance to new levels,” said Bubnikovich. “We look forward to increasing support for our customers, to expanding our role as an employer, and to energizing the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future.”

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Cambrian is developing machine vision to give industrial robots new capabilities. Source: Cambrian Robotics

Machine vision startup Cambrian Robotics Ltd. this week announced that it has raised $3.5 million in seed+ funding. The company said it plans to use the investment to continue developing its artificial intelligence platform to enable robot arms “to surpass human capabilities in complex vision-based tasks across a variety of industries.”

Cambrian Robotics said its technology “empowers to automate a broad range of tasks, particularly those in advanced manufacturing and quality assurance that demand high precision and accuracy within dynamic environments. The London-based company has offices in Augsburg, Germany, and the U.S.

Cambrian noted that its executive team, led by CEO Miika Satori, has over 50 years of combined experience in AI and robotics. Joao Seabra, chief technology officer, is an award-winning roboticist, and Dr. Alexandre Borghi, head of AI, previously led research teams at a $3 billion AI chip startup.

“We are incredibly excited about the possibilities that our recent fundraising opens up,” said Satori. “Our primary goals are to enhance the scalability of the product and strengthen our sales and operations in our main target markets.”

“In addition, we are bringing new AI-vision-based skills to robot arms, further pushing boundaries in the field of robotics,” he added. “We are equally thrilled to begin collaborating with our new investors, whose support is pivotal in driving these advancements forward.”

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Cambrian Robotics vision already in use

Cambrian Robotics claimed that its AI-driven vision software and camera hardware enables existing robots to automate complex tasks that were previously only possible with manual methods. It said its systems enable robots to execute intricate assembly processes, bin picking, kitting, and pick-and-place operations “with unmatched accuracy in any lighting condition — a true breakthrough compared to current industry-leading AI vision capabilities.”

In addition, Cambrian can be installed in about half a day, works with all major industrial and collaborative robots, and can pick microparts precisely and in less than 200ms, said the company. Cambrian claimed that its technology is unique in that it can pick a wide range of parts, including transparent, plastic, and shiny metal.

Appliance manufacturers globally have deployed Cambrian for monitoring quality assurance and manufacturing defects that were previously unseen to the human eye, the company said. Cambrian is testing and deploying its vision systems to leading manufacturers including Toyota, Audi, Suzuki, Kao, and Electrolux.

“Although in our factories we have a high level of automation, we still have an important quantity of flexible components and manual processes, which add variability,” said Jaume Soriano, an industrial engineer at Electrolux Group. “Cambrian helps us keep moving toward a more automated manufacturing reality while being able to deal with variable scenarios.”

Cybernetix Ventures leads investment

Cybernetix Ventures and KST Invest GmbH led Cambrian Robotics’ seed funding, with participation from Yamaha Motor Ventures and Digital Media Professionals (DMP).

“Machine vision is a crowded space, but Cambrian has strong differentiation with its unique ability to identify small and transparent items with proprietary visual AI software,” said Fady Saad, founder and general partner of Cybernetix, who will join Cambrian’s board of directors. “Miika and his exceptional team have also managed to bring the product to market with active revenue from top brands.”

Boston-based Cybernetix Ventures is a venture capital firm investing into early-stage robotics, automation, and industrial AI startups. It offers its expertise to companies poised to make major impacts in sectors including advanced manufacturing, logistics/warehousing, architecture, engineering and construction and healthcare/medical devices.

KST Invest is a private fund established by one of the owner families of a leading German industrial automation firm. The fund has the objective to invest in robotics and advanced manufacturing among other themes. “Innovation is the livelihood of any business in industrial automation, specifically the combination of vision and robotics,” it said.

Cambrian is also backed by ff Venture Capital (ffVC), which invested in the company’s seed round. ffVC initially seeded Cambrian after the startup graduated from its accelerator, AI Nexus Lab, in partnership with New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering in Brooklyn.

Cambrian is already working with major manufacturers. Source: Cambrian Robotics

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While most industrial automation is currently used by large manufacturers such as global automakers, robot developers and providers are building systems to make it more accessible. RobCo GmbH today said it has raised $42.5 million in Series B funding to support its development and growth trajectory.

Three researchers led by Roman Hölzl, the chair of robotics and artificial intelligence at the Technical University of Munich, founded RobCo in 2020. The company currently has more than 50 employees.

It develops flexible robotic hardware kits for applications at small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) including machine loading and unloading, dispensing, palletizing, and welding. In addition to its patented modular hardware, RobCo offers a low-code and remote approach to deploying systems.

The Munich-based startup also said that its “plug-and-play functionality” can help manufacturers address challenges such as skilled-labor shortages, production scalability, and the transition to Industry 4.0.

“We are only at the beginning of an extensive journey in automation and aim to become a leader in modular robot automation for SMEs in Europe,” stated Hölzl in a release. “RobCo is uniquely positioned with its easy-to-implement robots that offer a positive ROI [return on investment] from Day 1.”

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RobCo offers modular robotic arms

For SMEs, machines are worth the investment only if they can be quickly and flexibly reprogrammed for changing tasks and maximum utilization, said RobCo. The company’s robotic arms are made up of seven or eight modular pieces with varying payload capacities and ranges, depending on the use case.

For example, its machine-tending laser system includes eight modules, has a 4 kg (8.8 lb.) payload, and has an 800 mm (31.5 in.) range. Meanwhile, RobCo’s palletizing offering, which also uses eight modules, has an 8.5 kg (18.7 lb.) payload and 1,300 mm (51 in.) range.

These kits enable users to intuitively assemble robots with RobCo Studio, a vertically integrated hardware and software platform, said the company. With RobCo Studio, deployed robots can be configured, implemented, and managed remotely via a digital twin.

This low-code approach eliminates the need for complex programming or specialized personnel on-site, claimed RobCo. It added that the platform includes “future-proof interfaces,” as well as a sensor and software layer to ensure the longevity of the hardware. 

“Through a comprehensive RobCo automation solution in the palletizing area, we can actively address the ongoing shortage of skilled workers with technology and at the same time save costs,” said Martin Matern, plant manager at DE-VAU-GE Gesundkostwerk Deutschland GmbH in Lüneburg, Germany.

RobCo has designed its modular robotic arm and software for small and midsize enterprises. Source: RobCo

Lightspeed leads investment round

Lightspeed Venture Partners led RobCo’s Series B round as a new investor. Former Apple and NVIDIA investor Sequoia Capital also participated in the round, along with Kindred Capital and Promus Ventures. 

This funding brings RobCo’s total to date to $60 million. The company said it plans to invest the capital into expanding its distribution channels and advancing product development.

“The fact that a venture capital powerhouse like Lightspeed supports our next steps with a $42.5 million financing round tells us that we are on the right path – and is an incredible motivational boost for all of us to take our solutions to the next level,” said Hölzl.

“The use of robotics in the industrial setting was previously reserved almost exclusively for large corporations with the corresponding financial and human resources,” noted Alex Schmitt, a partner at Lightspeed. “High costs and enormous complexity made them partly unaffordable and challenging to manage for small and medium-sized enterprises.”

“RobCo has already made a significant breakthrough in this field with its developments,” he said. “We recognize both technological and commercial potential for the German and international markets. It is crucial to optimally foster this potential and make robotic automation solutions accessible to all companies.”

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Olis Robotics error-recovery system will be available with all Kawasaki robot models starting in Q2. Source: Business Wire

Olis Robotics and Kawasaki Robotics Inc. said yesterday that they will jointly offer robots and controls to enable customers to restart production faster, reduce troubleshooting and downtime costs by up to 90%, and gain access to expert support more quickly.

“We’re seeing a growing demand for remote robot monitoring and recovery capabilities,” stated Paul Marcovecchio, director of the General Industries business unit at Kawasaki Robotics, in a release. “Adding Olis to our industrial robots is a game changer for the market.”

“Our new partnership supports the industry gamut, from smaller first-time end users and their integrator partners up to more complex AI-driven applications in larger plants,” he said. “All stakeholders can now easily and cost-effectively monitor, access and recover their robot cells remotely.”

Marcovecchio added that Olis Robotics has taken the time to understand the adaptation barriers. “As a result, they created a powerful tool that also addresses end-user concerns such as cybersecurity or the need to retrofit machines,” he said.

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Olis Robotics offers remote monitoring and control

Olis Robotics claimed that it is a leader in remote error recovery for industrial robots. The Seattle-based company said that by providing the best remote-control user experience, it can “catalyze automation adoption.”

Founded in 2013 as a spinout from the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Lab, Olis said it has built on over a decade of telerobotics research and development conducted with the U.S. Navy and NASA. When robots fail, the company claimed that its flagship Olis system delivers the data needed for remote monitoring, control, and troubleshooting.

The company also said its users can connect directly to their robots through an on-premise device via a secure connection, avoiding the risks and complexities associated with cloud-based systems. To ensure physical safety, Olis is designed to always obey the robot controller’s safety restrictions.

Kawasaki and partners to demo palletizing at MODEX

Wixom, Mich.-based Kawasaki Robotics (USA) Inc. said it has incorporated more than 50 years of experience with industrial automation for a wide range of applications and markets. The company said it provides a set of standard features on all of its robot models.

At Booth C5475 at MODEX 2024 in Atlanta from March 11 to 14, Kawasaki and Olis Robotics plan to showcase their partnership with CRG Automation, a Louisville, Ky.-based integrator. They will demonstrate a “state-of-the-art” robotic corner board system, integrated with a mixed palletizing and depalletizing cell.

The cell will feature a Kawasaki RS007L robot placing corner boards on pallets being wrapped to ensure overall load stability. The system can handle multiple SKUs of unstructured products.

It will be equipped with Olis Robotics remote error-recovery software, so attendees can see how it alerts users when the robot unexpectedly stops or when it fails to pick or place a part. After such a system failure, the attendees can use Olis to run a tool-inspection routine and perform remote error recovery, allowing the robot to resume its cycle and get back to work.

Fredrik Ryden, CEO of Olis Robotics, noted that Kawasaki robots are built to last for decades, giving end users maximum control of a highly customizable product. “Kawasaki’s commitment to a world-class buying experience and quick ROI [return on investment] in a wide range of applications is a perfect match for Olis,” he said.

Ryden asserted that Kawasaki’s extensive integrator network is another key factor in the new partnership, as Olis provides integrators time-saving bandwidth through the remote support capabilities, enabling them to grow up to 25% faster.

“We’re incredibly excited to start working with Kawasaki integrators to deploy and retrofit Olis units with Kawasaki robot arms,” he added. “It’s a win-win for both the integrator and their customers.”

The Olis remote monitoring and error recovery system will be available for any Kawasaki robot model starting the second quarter of 2024.

Learn more about Kawasaki Robotics here, watch robot application videos here and connect on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn

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