Jennifer Apicella (left) of the PRN and Fady Saad (right) of Cybernetix Ventures have announced a strategic partnership. | Source: Pittsburgh Robotics Network

Cybernetix Ventures yesterday announced a strategic partnership with the Pittsburgh Robotics Network. The early-stage venture capital firm said it is part of its long-term robotics cluster engagement efforts. 

The partnership is a joint initiative to set Pittsburgh’s robotics startups up for success, and bring more of the cluster’s investable robotics opportunities to global markets. The Pittsburgh Robotics Network (PRN) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering innovation and growth in southwestern Pennsylvania. 

“The Pittsburgh Robotics Network is one of the top robotics clusters in the U.S., with a powerhouse team and strong robotics innovators emerging,” stated Fady Saad, founder and general partner of Cybernetix Ventures. “Like our firm, the PRN is focused on markets-driven, actionable, scalable use cases for robotics. We are excited to amplify their efforts and connect the cluster further with the larger investment community.”

Founded in 2021, Cybernetix focuses on robotics, automation, and industrial AI investments. The venture capital firm works with robotics clusters around the world to elevate the most promising robotics founders and startups to the global stage. 

Cybernetix expands robotics focus

Cybernetix aims to connect the PRN’s startups with the firm’s diverse ecosystem of potential customers, later-stage investors, financial institutions, and acquirers. The company will join forces with the PRN as a Leader Premier Partner to provide advice to startups. 

“Cybernetix Ventures is a premier investment firm for robotics, and this partnership represents a unique opportunity for not only robotics companies, but for accelerating the commercial adoption of robotics solutions overall,” added Jennifer Apicella, executive director of the PRN.

“Both Cybernetix Ventures and the PRN share a set of aligned values that promise to bring significant benefits to robotics companies on the path to commercialization,” she said. “We admire their unique expertise and understanding of how robotics will directly contribute to the advancement of specific industries, both now and into the future.”

The partners announced their collaboration at the Agriculture & Robotics Summit, where the PRN welcomed innovators, investors, and industry to Pittsburgh to explore the future of smart agriculture. Cybernetix, which has focused on vertical robotics applications in manufacturing, logistics, construction, and healthcare since its inception, participated in the event as a launchpad for its expanded focus on agriculture and climate robotics.

“The new use cases and overall necessity for robotics innovation in agriculture have accelerated the sector’s investment potential, and we will explore investments in agriculture and climate robotics to add to our solid portfolio,” Saad said.

PRN head to speak at the Robotics Summit

Apicella will be taking part in a panel discussion at the 2024 Robotics Summit & Expo, which takes place on May 1 and 2 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. She will be joined by Stephen M. Muck, executive chairman of Advanced Construction Robotics; Brandon Contino, CEO of Four Growers; and Andy McMillan, chair of the board of directors at Cirtronics.

During the session, “Paving the Road to Success in Robotics Commercialization,” attendees can learn how the four industry leaders have conquered obstacles, scaled operations, and transformed ideas into viable products. 

This will be the largest Robotics Summit ever. It will include more than 200 exhibitors, various networking opportunities, a Women in Robotics breakfast, a career fair, an engineering theater, a startup showcase, and more! The PRN is also a sponsor of the Robotics Summit. Registration is now open for the event.

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The Phoenix humanoid robot is being developed to enable embodied AI and support general-purpose applications. | Credit: Sanctuary AI

Humanoid robot developer Sanctuary Cognitive Systems Corp., or Sanctuary AI, is entering a new strategic partnership with automotive components supplier Magna International Inc. Through this expanded partnership, Sanctuary plans to equip Magna’s manufacturing facilities with general-purpose AI robots.

The Vancouver-based company also plans to engage Magna to manufacture the Sanctuary Phoenix robots under contract in the future. Aurora, Ontario-based Magna has been an investor in Sanctuary AI since 2021, and it acquired autonomous vehicle startup Optimus Ride in 2022.

Yesterday’s announcement with Magna follows Accenture’s recent investment in Sanctuary for an undisclosed amount.

Phoenix includes human-like design, AI

“We founded Sanctuary AI with the goal to become the first organization in the world to create human-like AI,” stated Geordie Rose, co-founder and CEO of Sanctuary AI. “World-changing goals like these require world-changing partners.”

“Magna’s position as a world leader in the use of robots today makes this partnership an essential advancement for our mission,” he added. “We’re privileged to be working with Magna, and believe they will be a key element in the successful global deployment of our machines.”

Sanctuary Phoenix includes human-like dexterous hands and arms. Since it launched the robot in May 2023, the company has invested heavily in the development of manipulation capabilities, perception features, and artificial intelligence models that control the humanoid robot.

In December 2023, Sanctuary secured patents for numerous technologies developed both internally and through strategic acquisitions from external sources. The company acquired the latest assets from Giant.AI Inc. and Tangible Research.

Sanctuary is iterating on humanoid design by perfecting hand-eye coordination and AI model training. | Credit: Sanctuary AI

Sanctuary AI builds relationship with Magna

“The intent of the relationship [with Magna International] has always been threefold,” Rose told The Robot Report. “One is that they were an investor.”

“Another would be they would participate in manufacturing the robots at some point,” he said. “And the third would be there could be a consumer of the robots as a customer. So all of those three things are obviously related to each other. All of them are good for both parties.”

“So we’ve continued to impress [Magna] with our velocity and acceleration in terms of developing the technology from something that was a twinkle in our eyes six years ago to something that can actually perform real-world work tasks,” Rose noted.

The workflow opportunities for an agile humanoid at Magna are endless, according to Rose. “The key to getting a good fit in the short term is understanding how to overlap that type of analysis with the type of capability that you can deliver,” he said. “So this is a difficult thing for companies that are early stage, including us, because of the ‘drinking your own Kool-Aid’ phenomenon.”

“A lot of companies will release a whole bunch of hype both to their customers, their investors, and internally in themselves — they start to believe that they can do things they can’t, and they make bad decisions about how they position their technology,” Rose continued. “So we have to be clear-eyed about what’s actually possible with our [robot] and then be very diligent in trying to understand the details of how the workflow actually works in practice, and then overlap the two.”

“When you do that with this type of technology, what you find is that the first use cases all fall into the following categories: There is an aspect of mobility, that’s best treated with wheels, where the robot has to move from place to place within an environment. And then there’s the aspect of manipulation,” he explained.

Magna also said its team is excited about the possibilities for intelligent mobile manipulation. It said it expects to automate various tasks and to improve the quality and efficiency of its manufacturing and logistics processes.

“Magna is excited to partner with Sanctuary AI in our shared mission to advance the future of manufacturing,” said Todd Deaville, vice president of advanced manufacturing innovation at Magna. “By integrating general-purpose AI robots into our manufacturing facilities for specific tasks, we can enhance our capabilities to deliver high-quality products to our customers.”

Learn from Agility Robotics, Amazon, Disney, Teradyne and many more.

A key success factor for robotics startups

As Sanctuary AI begins the process of commercializing Phoenix, it plans to contract with Magna for the production of part or all of the robot going forward. Sanctuary asserted that finding the right manufacturing partner to build its robots at high volumes is best outsourced and that manufacturing should be non-core for any robotics startup.

Many robotics startups often fail when they attempt to manufacture their systems in-house, observed Rose. He said he has sought to find the right production partner since the inception of the company.

Sanctuary employs embodied AI and foundation models

Embodied AI is core to the future of Sanctuary AI, which said it is spending all of its intellectual energy on engineering and training the smartest models for these robots. Rose said he is amazed at the evolution of embodied AI over the past decade.

The real race, according to Rose, is to find a way to gather the immense amount of data needed and put the robot into the necessary training situations for the AI models to learn and grow in confidence.

This is where the enhanced relationship with Magna comes in. The product roadmap for the Sanctuary over the next year is to deploy all of the production runs of Phoenix robots into real-world manufacturing environments at Magna facilities. In simple terms, Phoenix will learn by executing tasks every day and gathering training data.

“In the run that we’re about to begin with Magna, we’ll be able to collect data in a commercial environment of the sort that will train a production robot,” Rose said. “So the progression of this, from our perspective, is the ability to collect training data to generate autonomous behaviors. The systems that we’re building this year are going to be consumed in data collection.”

In 2025, Sanctuary said it will iterate on a version of the robot for broader use and sale. Similar to the model used at Rose’s prior company, Kindred, there will be a human in the loop to help robots resolve edge cases while minimizing any impact on day-to-day operations.

Rose summed up the current state of development: “We can go from data collection to a trained policy in less than 24 hours now, where the train policy does as well or better than the people who are doing the task for simple tasks. So that is an amazing thing that I was not expecting — these new transformer-based models are spectacularly good at moving robots, way better than I thought they would be.”

“I think it’s an echo of my surprise that how well large language models can generate text; who would have thought that predicting the next token would allow you to be a coherent understander of the world?” he said. “But it seems like that’s the way they work. And in the space of moving robots, if you’ve got enough data, what can’t you do? You can just talk to the robot and say, ‘Do this thing,’ and it will just do it. It’s magical.”

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The FoxBot ATL moves pallets in loading docks for Walmart. Source: Fox Robotics

The word’s biggest retailers are continuing to add automation. Walmart Inc. today announced that it has entered into a multiyear agreement with Fox Robotics Inc. In addition to its initial rollout of 19 FoxBot autonomous forklifts, Walmart has invested growth capital for a minority stake in Fox Robotics.

“At Walmart Distribution Center 6020 in Brooksville, Fla., we’re used to pioneering new technology,” wrote Maurice Gray, general manager for the Walmart distribution center, in a blog post. “In fact, 6020 was Walmart’s first high-tech DC. Once again, innovation is afoot in our facility, where associates have been working alongside a new autonomous forklift system that’s bolstering their skills and bettering their jobs while building our business.”

“After a 16-month proof of concept, I’m proud to announce Walmart is taking another step into the future, rolling 19 autonomous forklifts across four high-tech DCs, with the potential for more as we evaluate the benefits to our associates and operations,” he said. “As our facility has worked with Fox Robotics, the developer of autonomous forklifts, we’ve learned a lot. But I can sum it up easily: Automation isn’t just good for business – it’s good for our associates too.”

Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart is the largest private employer in the U.S., according to Statista. The company has worked with other robotics suppliers, and it acquired grocery fulfillment provider Alert Innovation in 2022.

Walmart deploys FoxBots to unload pallets

When trucks arrive at the Brooksville distribution center, Fox Robotics’ Autonomous Trailer Loader/Unloaders (ATLs) use artificial intelligence, machine vision, and dynamic planning to safely and accurately unload pallets, said Gray. The forklifts then move the pallets to be inducted into an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS).

Gray likened the warehouse associates’ evolving role to playing Tetris. “Instead of unloading the pallets manually, associates become conductors – considering the best, most efficient way to unload trailers based on their own experience,” he said.

For example, Jose Molina, a 26-year associate, has received training to shift from unloading trucks to managing autonomous lifts and tripling productivity, added Gray.

Walmart said that it could roll out more systems from Fox Robotics, pending the continued performance of the FoxBots.

Fox Robotics pulls ahead in dock robot race

“As the leader in autonomous trailer loading and unloading, Fox Robotics is pleased to deepen its relationship with Walmart as a key customer and investor,” stated Marin Tchakarov, president and CEO of Fox Robotics. “We see this collaboration as the latest massive validation point of our technology and product capabilities, solidifying our leadership position in the warehouse shipping and receiving dock automation space.”

In January, Fox Robotics said its autonomous forklifts had autonomously pulled 2.5 million pallets. Founded in 2017, the company said at the time that its installed fleet had doubled in the prior 12 months and that its revenue nearly tripled between 2022 and 2023.

Austin, Texas-based Fox Robotics also has financial backing from BMW i Ventures and Zebra Technologies Corp., raising $20 million in 2022. Its customers include DHL Supply Chain.

“Fox Robotics has unlocked the final step of the fully end-to-end automated warehouse of the future with its FoxBot autonomous loader/unloader capabilities,” added Till Reuter, board member of Fox Robotics and former CEO of Kuka Robotics. “The logistics space is the single biggest market for automation for the next five to 10 years, and the shipping and receiving dock — the gateway to the warehouse — will see a disproportionate share of that growth due to its virtually entirely unautomated present state.”

Other companies working on automating loading-dock operations include Boston Dynamics, Dexterity, Gideon, Honeywell, Mujin, Pickle Robots, and 2024 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award winner Slip Robotics. See the RBR50 honorees at the RBR50 pavilion and RBR50 Gala at the Robotics Summit & Expo.

Learn from Agility Robotics, Amazon, Disney, Teradyne and many more.

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Collaborative Robotics has been developing a system for trustworthy operations. Source: Adobe Stock, Photoshopped by The Robot Report

Collaborative Robotics today closed a $100 million Series B round on the road to commercializing its autonomous mobile manipulator. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said it is developing robots that can safely and affordably work alongside people in varied manufacturing, supply chain, and healthcare workflows. In many cases, this is the same work that humanoid robots are jockeying for.

Brad Porter, a former distinguished engineer and vice president of robotics at Amazon, founded Collaborative Robotics in 2022. The Cobot team includes robotics and artificial intelligence experts from Amazon, Apple, Meta, Google, Microsoft, NASA, Waymo, and more.

“Getting our first robots in the field earlier this year, coupled with today’s investment, are major milestones as we bring cobots with human-level capability into the industries of today,” stated Porter. “We see a virtuous cycle, where more robots in the field lead to improved AI and a more cost-effective supply chain. This funding will help us accelerate getting more robots into the real world.”

The Robot Report caught up with Porter to learn more about the company and its product since our last conversation in July 2023, when Cobot raised its $30 million Series A.

Nothing to see here

Collaborative Robotics has been secretive about the design of its robot. You won’t find any photos of the cobot on the company’s site or anywhere else on the Web yet.

However, Porter told The Robot Report that it is already in trials with several pilot customers, including a global logistics company. He described the machine as a mobile manipulator, with roughly the stature of a human. However, it’s not a humanoid, nor does it have a six degree-of-freedom arm or a hand with fingers.

“When talking about general-purpose robots versus special-purpose robots, we know what humanoids look like, but with a new morphology, we want to protect it for a while,” he said. “We’ve been looking at humanoids for a long time, but in manufacturing, secondary material flow is designed around humans and carts. Hospitals, airports, and stadiums are usually designed around people flow. A huge amount of people is still moving boxes, totes, and carts around the world.”

The new cobot’s base is capable of omnidirectional motion with four wheels and a swerve-drive design, along with a central structure that can acquire, carry, and place totes and boxes around the warehouse. It is just under 6 ft. (2 m) tall and can carry up to 75 lb. (34 kg), said Porter.

The robot can also engage and move existing carts with payloads weighing up to 1,500 lb. (680 kg) around the warehouse. How the robot engages carts remains part of the mystery. But by automating long-distance moves and using existing cart infrastructure, Porter said he believes that the Collaborative Robotics system is differentiated from both mobile robot platforms and humanoid competitors.

“We looked at use cases for humanoids at Amazon, but you don’t actually want the complexity of a humanoid; you want something that’s stable and could move faster than people,” Porter added. “There are orders of magnitude more mobile robots than humanoids in day-to-day use, and at $300,000 to $600,000 per robot, the capital to build the first 10 humanoids is very high. We want to get robots into the field faster.”

Collaborative Robotics has kept its actual robot out of public view. | Source: Adobe Stock image Photoshopped by The Robot Report

Robots must be trustworthy

Porter said that he “believes that robots need to be trustworthy, in addition to being safe. This philosophy is driving the design and user-interface decisions that the company has made so far. Users need to understand what the robot should do by looking at it, unlike some of the existing designs of mobile robots currently on the market.”

In addition to a human-centered design approach, Collaborative Robotics is using off-the-shelf parts to reduce the robot bill of materials cost and simplify the supply chain as it begins the process of commercialization. It is also taking a “building-block” approach to hardware and plans to adjust software and machine learning for navigation and learning new tasks.

“The robot we’ve designed is 70% off-the-shelf parts, and we can design around existing motors, while every humanoid company is hand-winding its own motors to find advanced actuation capabilities,” Porter noted. “We designed the system digitally, so we don’t have to hand-tweak a bunch of things. By using 3D lidar, we know the state of the art of the technology, and it’s easier to safety-qualify.”

With large language models (LLMs), Porter said he sees the day when someone in a hospital or another facility can just tell a robot to go away. “It’s about user interaction rather than just safety, which is table stakes,” he said. “We think a lot about trustworthiness.”

Learn from Agility Robotics, Amazon, Disney, Teradyne and many more.

Collaborative Robotics preps for commercialization

General Catalyst led Collaborative Robotics’ Series B round, with participation from Bison Ventures, Lux Capital, and Industry Ventures. Existing investors Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Mayo Clinic, Neo, 1984 Ventures, MVP Ventures, and Calibrate Ventures also participated.

Since its founding in 2022, Cobot said it has raised more than $140 million. The company plans to grow its headcount from 35, adding production, sales, and support staffers.

In addition, Collaborative Robotics announced that Teresa Carlson will be joining it as an advisor on go to market at scale and industry transformation. She held leadership roles at Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Splunk, and Flexport.

“I’m super-excited to be working with Teresa,” said Porter. “We’ve kept up since Amazon, and she thinks a lot about digital transformation at a very large scale — federal government and industry. She brings a wealth of knowledge about economics that will elevate the scope of what we’re doing.”

Paul Kwan, managing director at General Catalyst, is joining Alfred Lin from Sequoia on Collaborative Robotics’ board of directors. 

“In our view, Brad and Cobot are spearheading the future of human-robot interaction,” said Kwan. “We believe the Cobot team is world-class at building the necessary hardware, software, and institutional trust to achieve their vision.”

Editor’s note: Eugene Demaitre contributed to this article.

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Here are the top 10 most popular stories on The Robot Report this past month. Subscribe to The Robot Report Newsletter or listen to The Robot Report Podcast to stay updated on the latest technology developments.

10. Robotics Engineering Career Fair to connect candidates, employers at Robotics Summit

The career fair will draw from the general robotics and artificial intelligence community, as well as from attendees at the Robotics Summit & Expo. Past co-located career fairs have drawn more than 800 candidates, and MassRobotics said it expects even more people at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center this year. Read More

9. SMC adds grippers for cobots from Universal Robots

SMC recently introduced a series of electric grippers designed to be used with collaborative robot arms from Universal Robots. Available in basic and longitudinal types, SMC said the LEHR series can be adapted to different industrial environments like narrow spaces. Read More

8. Anyware Robotics announces new add-on for Pixmo unloading robots

Anyware Robotics announced in March 2024 an add-on for its Pixmo robot for truck and container unloading. The patent-pending accessory includes a vertical lift with a conveyor belt that is attached to Pixmo between the robot and the boxes to be unloaded. Read More

7. Accenture invests in humanoid maker Sanctuary AI in March 2024

In its Technology Vision 2024 report, Accenture said 95% of the executives it surveyed agreed that “making technology more human will massively expand the opportunities of every industry.” Well, Accenture put its money where its mouth is. Accenture Ventures announced a strategic investment in Sanctuary AI, one of the companies developing humanoid robots. Read More

6. Cambrian Robotics obtains seed funding to provide vision for complex tasks

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

5. Mobile Industrial Robots launches MiR1200 autonomous pallet jack

Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are among the systems benefitting from the latest advances in AI. Mobile Industrial Robots at LogiMAT in March 2024 launched the MiR1200 Pallet Jack, which it said uses 3D vision and AI to identify pallets for pickup and delivery “with unprecedented precision.” Read More

4. Reshape Automation aims to reduce barriers of robotics adoption

Companies in North America bought 31,159 robots in 2023. That’s a 30% decrease from 2022. And that’s not sitting well with robotics industry veteran Juan Aparicio. After working at Siemens for a decade and stops at Ready Robotics and Rapid Robotics, Aparicio hopes his new startup Reshape Automation can chip away at this problem. Read More

3. Mercedes-Benz testing Apollo humanoid

Apptronik announced that leading automotive brand Mercedes-Benz is testing its Apollo humanoid robot. As part of the agreement, Apptronik and Mercedes-Benz will collaborate on identifying applications for Apollo in automotive settings. Read More

2. NVIDIA announces new robotics products at GTC 2024

The NVIDIA GTC 2024 keynote kicked off like a rock concert in San Jose, Calif. More than 15,000 attendees filled the SAP Arena in anticipation of CEO Jensen Huang’s annual presentation of the latest product news from NVIDIA. He discussed the new Blackwell platform, improvements in simulation and AI, and all the humanoid robot developers using the company’s technology. Read More

1. Schneider Electric unveils new Lexium cobots at MODEX 2024

In Atlanta, Schneider Electric announced the release of two new collaborative robots: the Lexium RL 3 and RL 12, as well as the Lexium RL 18 model coming later this year. From single-axis machines to high-performance, multi-axis cobots, the Lexium line enables high-speed motion and control of up to 130 axes from one processor, said the company. It added that this enables precise positioning to help solve manufacturer production, flexibility, and sustainability challenges. Read More

The post Top 10 robotics news stories of March 2024 appeared first on The Robot Report.

Sanctuary’s Phoenix humanoid is being developed to support a variety of tasks. | Credit: Sanctuary AI

In its Technology Vision 2024 report, Accenture said 95% of the executives it surveyed agreed that “making technology more human will massively expand the opportunities of every industry.” Well, today Accenture put its money where its mouth is. Accenture Ventures announced a strategic investment in Sanctuary AI, one of the companies developing humanoid robots.

The Robot Report reached out to Sanctuary to learn more about the investment but hadn’t heard back at press time. This article will be updated if more details are learned. Financial details of the investment were not disclosed.

Vancouver, Canada-based Sanctuary was founded in 2018 by Geordie Rose, Suzanne Gildert, Olivia Norton, and Ajay Agrawal. In December 2023, the company announced the acquisition of intellectual property from Giant.AI Inc. and Tangible Research to improve its touch and grasping technologies.

Humanoids are generating a lot of interest these days. Figure recently raised $675 million and is piloting its humanoid with BMW. Agility Robotics has piloted its Digit humanoid with Amazon and GXO Logistics. Apptronik recently announced a partnership with BMW. NVIDIA also announced a foundation model for humanoids, called GROOT, that is designed to bring robotics and embodied AI together.

Sanctuary focused on dexterous manipulation

While other humanoid developers have focused much of their energy on bipedal locomotion, Sanctuary has taken a different approach with its Phoenix robot. It believes object manipulation is the key to humanoid success in the market and has put most of its energy into hand-eye coordination and AI intelligence to support dexterous manipulation.

Sanctuary has published a series of videos of its robots “doing stuff” on YouTube (see video at the bottom of the story). These videos illustrate the development path of the two-armed humanoid as well as the AI behind the robots’ decision-making.

Powered by Carbon, Phoenix is now autonomously completing simple tasks at human-equivalent speed. This is an important step on the journey to full autonomy. Phoenix is unique among humanoids in its speed, precision, and strength, all critical for industrial applications. pic.twitter.com/bYlsKBYw3i

— Geordie Rose (@realgeordierose) February 28, 2024

“AI-powered humanoid robots are essential to reinventing work and supporting human workers as labor shortage is becoming an issue in many countries and industries,” said Joe Lui, Accenture’s global advanced automation and robotics lead. “Sanctuary AI’s advanced AI platform trains robots to react to their environment and perform new tasks with precision in a very short time. We see huge potential for their robots in post and parcel, manufacturing, retail, and logistics warehousing operations, where they could complement and collaborate with human workers and automate tasks that traditional robotics can’t.”

Building an AI brain

Phoenix is powered by Sanctuary’s AI control system, Carbon, which attempts to mimic subsystems found in the human brain. The approach taken by the company also seeks to make the AI actions explainable, as well as editable.

“Robots with human-like intelligence will completely transform the workforce of the future,” said Rose, chief executive officer and co-founder of Sanctuary AI. “By combining Accenture’s expertise in disruptive technology with Sanctuary AI’s industry-leading robotics, we can help some of the biggest companies in the world manage this change and provide the best solutions for its clients.”

Accenture’s growing robotics portfolio

The investment in Sanctuary is the latest move by Accenture to build out a robotics strategy. In January 2024, Accenture and Mujin created a joint venture to help bring robotics to the manufacturing and logistics industries. Called Accenture Alpha Automation, the new venture is owned 70% by Accenture and 30% by Mujin. The new company, called Accenture Alpha Automation, combines Mujin’s industrial robotics expertise with Accenture’s digital engineering and manufacturing service, Industry X.

Accenture Alpha Automation is located in Japan, which is a robotics powerhouse. Japan had the fourth-highest robot density of any country in 2022, according to the International Federation of Robotics. Robot density measures the number of operational industrial robots per 10,000 employees in a country.

Accenture has also built out robotics integration capabilities in recent years. In early 2021, Accenture acquired Pollux, a provider of industrial robotics and automation. This was Accenture’s first acquisition of the kind. At the time of the deal, Pollux had implemented more than 1,000 projects for manufacturing companies, primarily in Brazil. It said it has deployed 150-plus collaborative robots successfully throughout Brazil.

In 2022, Accenture acquired Eclipse Automation, a provider of custom automation and robotics solutions for manufacturing applications. Eclipse Automation creates automated manufacturing systems for life sciences, industrial equipment, automotive, energy and consumer goods companies.

The post Accenture invests in humanoid maker Sanctuary AI appeared first on The Robot Report.

Viam is a tool for developing software that comes with the cloud services necessary to prototype and build robots quickly. | Source: Viam

Viam, which offers a software platform for smart machines, yesterday announced that it has raised $45 million in Series B funding. This latest round brings the company’s total funding to date to $87 million.

Eliot Horowitz, co-founder and former chief technology officer of MongoDB, founded Viam in 2020. The New York-based company said the latest investment will enable it to accelerate enterprise partnerships, drive commercial innovation, and further develop its open-source platform.

“This investment affirms Viam’s commitment to innovation and strengthens our vision to empower developers with intuitive, powerful, and flexible tools that help transform the way software powers hardware,” stated Eliot Horowitz, founder and CEO, Viam. “Whether you’re in IoT [Internet of Things], robotics, smart home, or industrial automation, we’re empowering the next generation of startups, developers, and enterprises to move quickly and build better.”

Learn from Agility Robotics, Amazon, Disney, Teradyne and many more.

Viam provides platform for scalable development

Despite recent advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning and the prevalence of cloud and edge computing, software made to manage hardware has only made moderate gains, according to Viam.

This kind of software has been stymied by proprietary systems specific to individual machines, sensors, and equipment, the company asserted. This has led to complex constraints that frustrate developers, impede growth, and stifle progress, it said. 

Horowitz has experience in enterprise cloud computing from MongoDB, which is a source-available, cross-platform, secure, high-availability cloud database solution. That company said it is integrated into a number of enterprise applications used every day by millions of people.

Horowitz said he established Viam with the intent of establishing a similar platform for robotics development. He foresaw the need for software based on safe and performant cloud-computing principles as robotics progressed from point solutions to connected swarms of mobile robots and cloud-monitored systems.

Viam is a modular, interoperable, and open-source software platform that works across all hardware and any fleet of machines. In addition, its open architecture can remove costly and complex barriers to working with physical devices, the company claimed.

All of these features can speed up developer velocity and democratize access to open data. Viam added that this data can be used to inform AI and accelerate innovation in critical sectors such as industrial manufacturing, energy, and climate. 

Startup to invest in partnerships

Viam’s platform became generally available in May 2023. Since then, the company said it has been working with global enterprises and startups of all sizes to substantially accelerate time to market, decrease risks, increase developer velocity, improve operational efficiency, and craft modern end-user experiences.

Viam said it can help improve customer satisfaction and deliver increased revenue. Its Series B round included participation from previous investors Union Square Ventures and Battery Ventures. 

“Viam’s open architecture represents a paradigm shift that will bring the promises of robotics to the devices we use every day,” said Albert Wenger, partner at Union Square Ventures, in a release. “We’re thrilled to continue partnering with Viam in this exciting next chapter.”

This funding followed Viam’s announcement that it is working with the Whale and Vessel Safety Taskforce (WAVS). The partners will establish an open-source data-collection program and AI system for North Atlantic Right Whale conservation efforts.

They said the project showcases how the platform can be used for open data to drive collaboration and transparency. It will also demonstrate how Viam brings AI and actuation to the edge.

In addition, the company works with industrial, automation, and innovation teams to keep machines running smoothly on the edge. Viam said it’s working to enable device-to-cloud data pipelines to help manufacturers with real-time data monitoring, predictive maintenance, and remote diagnostics. 

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LG Electronics is making a strategic investment move to expedite the advancement of Bear Robotics capabilities in service robotics, a key new business area of the company. | Credit: Bear Robotics

LG Electronics Inc. is strategically investing in development of service robots. Bear Robotics Inc. this week said that it has received $60 million in Series C funding led by LG.

The company said this will add to LG’s portfolio for sustained growth, rather than focusing on immediate gains. After finalizing the stock purchase, LG will be the largest single shareholder of Bear Robotics.

“In the service robotics market, we’re focusing primarily on areas such as delivery and logistics,” stated William Cho, CEO of LG. “However, we are carefully considering future directions, keeping open the possibility of equity investments or mergers and acquisitions.”

Bear Robotics focuses on restaurants

Founded in 2017, Bear Robotics produces AI-powered indoor delivery robots that serve the U.S., South Korea, and Japanese markets. CEO John Ha is a former Google technical lead and senior software engineer.

Bear Robotics’ co-founder and chief technology officer also have engineering experience at prominent software companies. Its product features include fleet management software, cloud-based control systems, and evolving platforms for service robots.

The Redwood City, Calif.-based company introduced a larger autonomous mobile robot (AMR) with Servi Plus in March 2023.

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LG leads the shift to software-defined robotics

LG said it is embracing a transition to software-defined robotics (SDR), which emphasizes software more than hardware, similar to what has been seen in the mobility business. To prepare for future growth, the company said it is dedicated to creating scalable service robots on an open-design software platform that can work in a range of settings.

Seoul, South Korea-based LG said that it understands the importance of standardizing AI-based AMRs and that its investment in Bear Robotics is an opportunity to grow its robot business. The company has already installed service robots in airports, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, retail outlets, museums, smart warehouses, and golf courses.

At LG Future Park in Gumi, South Korea, LG said it produces service robots with “world-class” quality, supply chain, and customer-service capabilities.

By combining Bear Robotics’ research and development and software expertise with its own strengths, LG said it will lead efforts to standardize robot platforms to significantly reduce market-entry costs, This will enhance operational efficiency and foster synergies, it asserted.

“Just as Android revolutionized the smartphone era, standardized open platforms are essential for the activation of the robot market,” remarked Ha.

Looking for growth in the service robotics market

LG said that market trends and has led to a business strategy to reallocate resources to high-growth industries in recent years. It claimed that its investment in Bear Robotics shows its commitment to advancing the service robot industry.

Since deploying guide robots at Incheon International Airport in 2017, LG has introduced systems tailored to diverse commercial applications such as delivery and disinfection. The company noted that it has actively pursued expansion into international markets including the U.S., Japan and Southeast Asia.

LG announced its Future Vision 2030 last year to become a “smart life solution company” that connects and expands client experiences across residential, commercial, transportation, and virtual worlds. LG’s “Triple Seven” target is an average growth rate and operating profit of 7% or higher, together with an enterprise value and EBITDA ratio of 7.

“As the service robot market enters a period of growth, this equity investment will significantly contribute to securing a ‘winning competitive edge’ for the company,” said Lee Sam-soo, chief strategy officer at LG Electronics. “From a mid- to long-term perspective, we will seek to develop our robot business into a new growth engine, exploring various opportunities through the integration of cutting-edge technologies such as embodied AI and robotic manipulation.”

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RIOS works with NVIDIA Isaac Sim and serves the wood-products industry. Source: RIOS Intelligent Machines

RIOS Intelligent Machines Inc. this week announced that it has raised $13 million in Series B funding, co-led by Yamaha Motor Corp. and IAG Capital Partners. The company said it plans to use the investment to develop and offer artificial intelligence and vision-driven robotics, starting with a product for the lumber and plywood-handling sector.

Menlo Park, Calif.-based RIOS said its systems can enhance production efficiency and control. The company focuses on three industrial segments: wood products, beverage distribution, and packaged food products.

RIOS works with NVIDIA Omniverse on factory simulations. It has also launched its Mission Control Center, which uses machine vision and AI to help manufacturers improve quality and efficiency.

RIOS offers visibility to manufacturers

“Customers in manufacturing want a better way to introspect their production — ‘Why did this part of the line go down?'” said Clinton Smith, co-founder and CEO of RIOS. “But incumbent tools have not been getting glowing reviews. Our standoff vision system eliminates a lot of that because our vision and AI are more robust.”

The mission-control product started as an internal tool and is now being rolled out to select customers, Smith told The Robot Report. “We’ve observed that customers want fine-grained control of processes, but there are a lot of inefficiencies, even at larger factories in the U.S.”

Manufacturers that already work with tight tolerances, such as in aerospace or electronics, already have well-defined processes, he noted. But companies with high SKU turnover volumes, such as with seasonal variations, often find it difficult to rely on a third party’s AI, added Smith.

“Mission Control is a centralized platform that provides a visual way to visualize processes and to start to interact with our robotics,” he explained. ‘We want operators to identify what to work on and what metrics to count for throughput and ROI [return on investment], but if there’s an error on the data side, it can be a pain to go back to the database.”

Smith shared the example of a bottlecap tracker. In typical machine learning, this requires a lot of data to be annotated before training models and then looking at the results.

With RIOS Mission Control, operators can monitor a process and select a counting zone. They can simply draw a box around a feature to be annotated, and the system will automatically detect and draw comparisons, he said.

“You place a system over the conveyor, pick an item, and you’re done,” said Smith. “It’s not just counting objects. For example, our wood products customers want to know where there are knots in boards to cut around. It could also be used in kitting applications.”

RIOS is releasing the feature in phases and is working on object manipulation. Smith said the company is also integrating the new feature with its tooling. In addition, RIOS is in discussions with customers, which can use its own or their existing cameras for Mission Control.

Investors express confidence in automation approach

Yamaha has been an investor in RIOS Intelligent Machines since 2020. The vehicle maker said it has more than doubled its investment in RIOS, demonstrating its confidence in the company’s automation technologies and business strategy.

IAG Capital Partners is a private investment group in Charleston, S.C. The firm invests in early-stage companies and partners with innovators to build manufacturing companies. Dennis Sacha, partner at IAG, will be joining the RIOS board of directors.

“RIOS’s full production vision — from automation to quality assurance to process improvement to digital twinning — and deep understanding of production needs positions them well in the world of manufacturing,” said Sacha, who led jet engine and P-3 production for six years during his career in the U.S. Navy.

In addition, RIOS announced nearly full participation from its existing investors, including Series A lead investor, Main Sequence, which doubled its pro-rata investment. RIOS will be participating in MODEX, GTC, and Automate.

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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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Glacier’s recycling sorting robot is able to sort up 45 items a minute. | Source: Glacier

Amazon.com Inc.’s Climate Pledge Fund recently invested in Glacier, an artificial intelligence and robotics company that aims to help the recycling industry work toward a world without waste. The investment firm said the funding is part of its ongoing commitment to support entrepreneurs and female-led companies in climate tech.

“Nearly 70 million tons of recycling are processed annually in the U.S. alone. This is already an immense undertaking, but we can recover so much more material by building accessible automation processes and then scaling it across our country’s recycling infrastructure,” Areeb Malik, co-founder of Glacier, said in a release. “That’s what Glacier is doing.”

The San Francisco-based company uses AI-powered robots to automate the sorting of recyclables. It collects real-time data on recycling streams fore recycling companies and consumer brands.

Glacier has also announced that it will be collaborating with Amazon to enhance traceability and recovery processes for recyclables. Its latest funding round, totaling $7.7 million, also included participation from New Enterprise Associates (NEA), AlleyCorp, Overture Climate VC, and VSC Ventures.

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Glacier aims to help recycling industry reach its full potential

Malik and Rebecca Hu said they co-founded Glacier to make a positive impact on the climate crisis. Despite the potential of recycling as a climate solution, today only 21% of residential recyclables in the U.S. are actually recycled. This is often due to a lack of recycling infrastructure, they said.

“After researching a variety of climate solutions, we discovered that applying novel advances in AI and robotic automation to help the recycling industry run more efficiently is a powerful way to reduce waste, which has a direct link to reducing carbon emissions,” stated Hu.

Glacier said its robots can improve sorting and recycling rates to help prevent valuable materials, like metals and plastics, from ending up in landfills and oceans. The company’s approach to recycling innovation combines two core technologies.

The first is Glacier’s proprietary AI model, which is capable of identifying more than 30 categories of recyclable materials in real time. This includes things as broad as PET plastic and as narrow as a toothpaste tube. The company said the combination of this AI model with its custom-designed robot delivers consistent recyclable sorting power with minimal implementation costs.

Glacier added that its potential impact on the circular economy extends beyond its sorting robot. Its software and AI are generating a recycling data set to help recycling facilities and brands make better-informed decisions.

“We’re constantly looking for ways to improve recycling, and developing robots is just the first step,” said Malik.

“Our recycling AI is a powerful tool for everyone in the circular economy, and it couldn’t come at a more important time,” said Hu. “As we see mounting legislative, economic, and social pressure to recycle better, brands are using our data to measure and improve how their packaging is being recycled, while recycling facilities are using our data to improve their operations and rescue more recyclables from landfill. We’re thrilled to be collaborating with a circular-economy leader like Amazon so that we can accelerate our mission to end waste.”

Keeping plastic out of landfills and oceans

Glacier claimed that just one of its robots can prevent over 10 million items per year from ending up in landfills. In the near term, the company said its technology can help improve the quality of recycling content. This way, more post-consumer material is available for use in new packaging.

In the longer term, Glacier’s founders said they hope to enable recycling for more types of packaging and materials that are not currently recycled. This is why Amazon is collaborating with Glacier to pilot a sortation project for novel biomaterials.

Amazon said its vision is to reduce plastic use and shift toward materials that are bio-based, as well as those that are biodegradable and compostable. This includes testing new biomaterials for applications without other sustainable solutions, such as some flexible plastics, and then recycling them.

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The largest robotics investment in January 2024 was a $100 million round secured by Norway-based 1X, a developer of humanoids (See Table 1 below). Chinese humanoid developer Robot Era raised $14 million in February.

Makers of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for agricultural operations were well represented among February robotics investments. Examples include Bluewhite ($39 million), Burro ($24 million), Saga Robotics ($11.5 million), farm-ng ($10M), and Ant Robotics ($2 million).

January 2024 Robotics Investments

Companies based in China attracted the greatest investment amount ($229 million), the result of 17 rounds (Figure 2, below). The leading investments among Chinese firms included Zhuoyi Intelligent Technology, a developer of drones and other classes of unmanned systems, autonomous truck developer Senior Automation, and GUOZI, a producer of AMRs.

Companies based in the United States raised $154 million in January 2024, while Norway, buoyed by the $100 million 1X investment, placed third among countries with $113 million in funding.

Figure 2: January 2024 Robotics Investment by Country

While Series B rounds attributed for most of the January investments, all funding types were well represented in January 2024 (Figure 3 below).

Figure 3: January 2024 Robotics Funding by Investment Type and Amounts

Editor’s note
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 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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We declared 2023 the year of the humanoid, but 2024 has already said, “Hold my beer.” You likely read leaked reports about this last week, but today Figure AI Inc. confirmed that it has raised $675 million to develop humanoids.

With the Series B funding, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company is now valued at $2.6 billion. Microsoft, OpenAI Startup Fund, NVIDIA, Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, Jeff Bezos (through Bezos Expeditions), Parkway Venture Capital, Intel Capital, Align Ventures, and ARK Invest were among the investors. Qatalyst Partners provided strategic and financial advice to Figure.

Figure has been on a blistering path to market since it exited stealth mode in January 2023. The company was co-founded in 2022 by CEO Brett Adcock, a startup veteran with two successful exits under his belt. Adcock asserted that time to market and hiring the right people are two keys to the success of any startup.

Figure said it plans to use the funding to grow its AI training, manufacture more robots, and hire the engineers necessary to get production units to market in the 2024-2025 timeframe.

“Our vision at Figure is to bring humanoid robots into commercial operations as soon as possible,” Adcock said in a release. “This investment, combined with our partnership with OpenAI and Microsoft, ensures that we are well-prepared to bring embodied AI into the world to make a transformative impact on humanity. AI and robotics are the future, and I am grateful to have the support of investors and partners who believe in being at the forefront.”

Adcock builds on experience, teamwork

Adcock previously founded Vettery and Archer Aviation. Vettery is an online talent marketplace that Adecco Group acquired in 2018 for $100 million. And Archer Aviation is a publicly traded company that is developing electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

Before Adcock started Figure AI, he visited the AMBER bipedal robotics lab of Aaron Ames at Caltech. Ames is one of the early researchers in bipedal walking mechanics and was a student of Marc Raibert, who founded Boston Dynamics in 1992 and is largely responsible for the development of the ATLAS humanoid. Adcock wanted Ames’ advice on how difficult it would be to commercialize a humanoid robot.

Figure has hired industry veterans such as Jerry Pratt from Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC). Pratt brings more than 20 years of experience in humanoid development to Figure as chief technology officer. He was also associated with Raibert’s MIT Leg Lab.

Figure said the knowledge and experience of its team of about 80, which also includes veterans from Boston Dynamics, Google DeepMind, and Tesla, have helped accelerate its bipedal walking development. Its stated goal is autonomous, general-purpose humanoid robots to address labor shortages, unsafe or undesirable jobs, and global supply chain needs.

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A startup mature beyond its years

The Robot Report visited Figure AI in October 2023 to meet Adcock and see its humanoid robot for the first time. I was impressed by the organization of the company‘s product prototyping process. What I witnessed was a methodical approach to iterative development that included an in-house CNC metalworking shop and a 3D-printing farm. 

To help accelerate software development and debug all of the electrical control systems, the lab included a completely deconstructed robot. The robot was dissected with all of its electrical systems arranged across a table. For any engineer who has tried to troubleshoot a complex electromechanical system, this is a well-known best practice.

Figure AI timeline

• May 2022: Brett Adcock founds Figure AI.
• January 2023: Figure exits stealth mode.
• April 2023: Figure raises $70 million in Series A funding.
• May 2023: Figure 01 takes first steps; Brett Adcock on The Robot Report Podcast.
• July 2023: Figure raises venture round of $9 million.
• October 2023: First video and images of Figure 01 prototype posted.
• January 2024: BMW announces that it will test Figure 01 at an automotive plant.
• February 2024: Figure raises $675 million in Series B funding for $754 million to date, according to Crunchbase.

Last year, nearly a dozen companies worldwide emerged to pursue the humanoid robot dream. In about 21 months, Figure has been able to go from nothing to a walking humanoid prototype. 

In January 2024, BMW began testing a Figure robot at its automotive factory in Spartanburg, S.C. This milestone made Figure the second company to land a humanoid pilot with a high-profile client. Agility Robotics announced in late 2023 pilots with both Amazon and GXO Logistics.

Note that Figure is also the second humanoid developer to get funding from the Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund. The Amazon investment arm was part of Agility’s Series B in April 2022. 

Figure and OpenAI to collaborate on AI

Figure AI said it will work with OpenAI on the next generation of AI models for humanoids. This will be done by combining OpenAI’s language research with Figure’s robotics hardware and software expertise. 

“We’ve always planned to come back to robotics, and we see a path with Figure to explore what humanoid robots can achieve when powered by highly capable multimodal models,” stated Peter Welinder, vice president of product and partnerships at OpenAI. “We’re blown away by Figure’s progress to date, and we look forward to working together to open up new possibilities for how robots can help in everyday life.”

Back in 2019, OpenAI demonstrated impressive in-hand manipulation skills with the ability to solve a Rubik’s cube using neural networks. In mid-2021, the company abandoned research into robotics hardware in favor of AI research. In addition, OpenAI was among the funders of humanoid developer 1X Technologies.

Figure said it will use Microsoft Azure for AI training, storage, and servers.

“We are excited to work with Figure to speed up research into AI breakthroughs,” said Jon Tinter, corporate vice president of business development at Microsoft. “Through our work together, Figure will have access to Microsoft‘s AI infrastructure and services to support the deployment of humanoid robots to assist people with real-world applications.”

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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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AutonomyOS is designed to help automate manufacturing tasks. Source: Omnirobotic

Omnirobotic Inc. today said it has closed on $500,000 in funding. The Laval, Quebec-based company said it plans to use the financing to commercialize robots using its proprietary AutonomyOS platform for manufacturers struggling with labor shortages in high-mix production environments.

“Building autonomous machines allows Omnirobotic to address the need for skilled labor at scale,” said Francois Simard, co-founder and CEO of Omnirobotic, in a release. “This model has proven to be much more effective at deploying AutonomyOS at scale.”

“We sold in six months more machines than forecast for a year,” he added. “Manufacturers want to buy proven solutions, not automation projects. Developing standard machines that they can try before they buy proved to be the right approach to getting SMEs to adopt new automation technology.”

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Omnirobotic adds hardware, restructures

Since 2016, Simard and Omnirobotic co-founder Laurier Roy have worked to develop AutonomyOS, a platform to train robots to perform manufacturing processes on never-seen-before parts. Until 2022, the company licensed AutonomyOS to users building autonomous machines.

Last year, Omnirobotic changed its business model to become a machine builder, selling robotic equipment built on AutonomyOS. The company restructured to reflect this change in June.

Investissement Québec, as a representative of the government of Québec, supported Omnirobotic in this transition, restructuring the company’s debt, while existing strategic investors, the management, and all the remaining employees injected new liquidities.

In November, Omnirobotic signed a distribution agreement with Würth Baer Supply Co. to commercialize robots for woodworking. Simard noted that Omnirobotic plans to address additional markets with new products. 

“The new products developed by Omnirobotic using AutonomyOS are addressing well-identified skilled labor shortage in the industry,” he said. “We plan to widen our product line in the metal transformation and composite sectors in the near future.”

“Our autonomous sanding robots are already disrupting the cabinet manufacturing industry by allowing companies counting as few as six people to automate one of the hardest tasks in their shop successfully,” said Simard. “That is why we recently moved to a new 6,500 sq.-ft. [603.8-sq.-m] facility that will allow us to build up to 180 machines yearly.”

Génik invests to serve global customers

Strategic investors led Omnirobotic’s round, which also included participation from Genik and Exelpro management, as well as its own employees. It previously raised $5 million in 2020.

Génik is a vertically integrated company that has designed and manufactured automated systems for more than 30 years. The Saint-Jérôme, Québec-based member of the Excelpro Group said it serves customers around the world.

“Genik is serving some companies using autonomy,” stated Patrick Gariépy, co-founder and president of Genik Automation. “We see the future of automation in this kind of technology, which is why we decided to re-invest in Omnirobotic.”

“We are training some of our engineers on using AutonomyOS and are using it to maintain Genik as an automation leader,” he said.

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