Kiwibot will add intellectual property from AUTO Mobility Solutions to its delivery robot portfolio. Source: Kiwibot

Consolidation among mobile robot providers is not limited to warehouses. Kiwibot today announced that it has acquired AUTO Mobility Solutions Co.

“This strategic collaboration marks a significant milestone in both companies’ journeys towards innovation and safeguarding privacy in the robotics industry, particularly for intelligent robots sourced from China and deployed in the Western markets,” Kiwibot stated.

“The acquisition of AUTO is a game-changer for us, bringing a wealth of technological innovation and a strong patent portfolio that will significantly enhance our cybersecurity measures for AI-powered robotics,” asserted Felipe Chavez, founder and CEO of Kiwibot. “This move not only strengthens our position in the market, but also connects the manufacturing expertise from Asia with the AI development in the West securely.”

Kiwibot develops delivery robots

Berkeley, Calif.-based Kiwibot has developed autonomous robots using artificial intelligence. The company claimed that it is a market leader of robotic deliveries on U.S. college campuses.

Since 2017, Kiwibot said it has successfully deployed robots across the U.S., Dubai, and Saudi Arabia. In 2020, it raised pre-seed funding and was an early guest on The Robot Report Podcast. It raised $10 million for deliveries as a service (DaaS) in December 2023.

“Kiwibot is actively exploring opportunities to expand our robotic delivery services beyond college campuses,” Chavez told The Robot Report. “We will soon announce customers in two different categories.”

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AUTO brings cybersecurity expertise

“Becoming a part of Kiwibot opens up new avenues for our technologies and patents,” noted Sming Liao, CEO of AUTO Mobility Solutions. “Together, we are poised to redefine the landscape of autonomous delivery services, ensuring greater security and efficiency.”

The Taipei, Taiwan-based company was incubated by ALi Corp. and develops integrated circuit (IC) chips for AI, self-driving vehicles, robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), and cybersecurity. Its systems feature advanced path planning, positioning, and obstacle-avoidance technology.

AUTO Mobility Solutions has built a patent portfolio in AI, IoT, and cybersecurity in Taipei. Source: Kiwibot

AUTO said its team will add more than 100 licensed patents to Kiwibot’s offerings.

“Our decision to join forces was solidified after recognizing the complementary nature of our technologies and the potential for a synergistic relationship,” said Chavez. “One of our investors from Taiwan introduced us, and we started the relationship as a customer for a custom cybersecurity chip.”

“The acquisition strategically positions us to bolster our cybersecurity infrastructure, especially considering the rising interest in AI and its associated vulnerabilities,” he added. “Together, Kiwibot and AUTO are looking to develop enhanced capabilities in autonomous navigation, AI-powered decision making, and advanced cybersecurity measures.”

Acquisition to expand global presence

The companies also said the acquisition will help the merged entity deliver leading systems globally and meet the evolving needs of both businesses and consumers.

“AUTO’s established presence in Taiwan and Shenzhen [China] will play a crucial role in helping Kiwibot navigate geopolitical and supply chain challenges,” explained Chavez. “Their expertise and strategic locations will aid in diversifying our supply chain and providing stability in our manufacturing and development processes, ensuring Kiwibot’s continued growth and scalability.”

Felipe Chavez, CEO of Kiwibot (left), and Sming Liao, CEO of AUTO (right). Source: Kiwibot

Kiwibot is still evaluating consolidation and rebranding, he told The Robot Report.

“The Taipei team will maintain a high degree of autonomy to leverage their specialized expertise and local knowledge effectively. While we are unified in our mission and strategy, we recognize the importance of fostering innovation through autonomous operations,” Chavez said. “We are currently evaluating how best to integrate our brands to reflect our unified strength while honoring the established identity and contributions of AUTO’s team.”

What are Kiwibot’s plans for the near future?

“Looking forward, Kiwibot’s roadmap includes the continuous improvement of our autonomous delivery robots, the expansion of our service areas, and the integration of AUTO’s technological advancement,” Chavez replied. “We are committed to pioneering the future of robotic services and ensuring a seamless and secure experience for our users. Stay tuned for exciting updates as we progress on this journey.”

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The Intelligent Surgical Unit powers the Senhance surgical robot system. | Source: Asensus Surgical

Asensus Surgical Inc. today announced that it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent for medical device company Karl Storz SE to acquire it.

The agreement enables Karl Storz to engage in due diligence and negotiations over a potential acquisition of the surgical robot maker. Asensus and Karl Storz began ollaborating on plans for development and marketing just over a year ago.

Entry into the letter of intent (LOI) follows an extensive period of consideration of strategic alternatives, stated Asensus. That included potential collaborations and licensing transactions, a “go-it-alone” strategy reliant upon significant fundraising, a sale of the company, or additional development transactions.

Instead, the company’s board approved the LOI with Karl Storz, which includes a proposal to acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Asensus common stock at 35¢ per share in cash. That represents a 66.7% premium to the closing price of Asensus stock on April 2, 2024. Karl Storz said that the proposed price represents its “best and final offer.”

Asensus developing Senhance, Intelligent Surgical Unit

Research Triangle Park, N.C-based Asensus is developing the Senhance surgical robot. It has also developed the Intelligent Surgical Unit (ISU) for Senhance.

The company said it designed ISU as a real-time intraoperative surgical image analytics platform. It uses “augmented intelligence” to help reduce surgical variability.

Asensus unveiled its the next-generation LUNA robot in February 2023. The integrated digital system features a next-generation surgical platform and instruments, plus real-time intraoperative clinical intelligence. Its final component, a secure cloud platform, applies machine learning to deliver clinical insights.

The company suggested last year that it targeted 2025 for U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for LUNA. In November, Asensus inked a manufacturing deal for its platform.

In January 2024, the company showed LUNA off to surgeons, conducting an in vivo lab evaluation of the next-generation surgical robot. 

More details on the LOI

The letter of intent provides that, during an exclusivity period of up to 10 weeks, Asensus won’t engage in negotiations for alternative transactions. During that period, Karl Storz intends to conduct diligence as the companies negotiate a merger. Both companies have the right to terminate pursuit of the proposed transaction.

In connection with the LOI, Asensus entered into a fully secured promissory note or bridge loan with Karl Storz. This allows the company to receive a loan of up to $20 million from Karl Storz to support operations through the exclusivity period and beyond.

The companies said they plan to work during the exclusivity period to negotiate and finalize a merger agreement. If agreed, Asensus said it would then plan to quickly secure stockholder approval.

Asensus said it can’t provide any assurances of a final agreement with Karl Storz.

Asensus Surgical to speak at Robotics Summit

Dustin Vaughan, vice president of robotics research and development at Asensus, will be speaking at the Robotics Summit & Expo, which takes place on May 1-2 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

His talk, “Leveraging Real-Time Data Insights in the Operating Room” will explore the development and introduction of cutting-edge technologies, sensing modalities, and real-time data collection capabilities of the LUNA Surgical Platform and the practical implementation of those capabilities.

The Robotics Summit & Expo focuses on the design, development, and scaling of commercial robots. WTWH Media, which also produces The Robot Report, said it expects a record 5,000 attendees and more than 200 exhibitors. The event will be co-located with DeviceTalks, an event focused on medical devices, and the inaugural Digital Transformation Forum. Registration is now open for the event.

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Editor’s Note: This article was syndicated from MassDevice, a sibling site to The Robot Report.

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Titan Medical’s Enos system can assist surgeons. | Source: Titan Medical

Titan Medical announced today that it entered into a definitive amalgamation agreement to combine with Conavi Medical.

The companies aim to combine in an all-stock transaction, focusing on commercializing Conavi’s Novasight Hybrid system. Conavi designed Novasight Hybrid to guide common minimally invasive coronary procedures.

This merger comes after more than a year of uncertainty around the future at Titan Medical. In late 2022, Titan suspended a special meeting of shareholders meant to vote on a share consolidation plan. Management decided to begin a strategic review, with a sale of the company considered a possibility. Titan also announced cost-cutting measures that included the furloughing of 40 employees.

In a news release, the company said it conducted outreach to more than 40 potential counterparties and halted the development of its ENOS surgical robot in February 2023. To avoid insolvency, the company began selling assets and licensed its IP. It struck deals on that front in May, June and August 2023, including licensing surgical robotics IP to market leader Intuitive Surgical.

Titan said it determined that merging with another surgical robotics company was “not a viable option.” It expanded its search and landed on Conavi.

“This merger is the result of a thoughtful and careful review of strategic options and reflects the continued commitment of our management team and board of directors to deliver value to shareholders,” said Paul Cataford, Titan’s interim CEO and board chair. “Conavi is an exciting commercial-stage company with groundbreaking technology and an accomplished management team. We are confident in their ability to continue to drive adoption of the Novasight Hybrid system.”

More about Conavi Medical

Conavi Medical designs, manufactures and markets imaging technologies for guiding minimally invasive cardiovascular procedures. Novasight Hybrid combines both intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) to enable simultaneous and co-registered imaging of coronary arteries.

The Novasight Hybrid system has FDA 510(k) clearance and regulatory nods in other geographies like Canada, China and Japan.

With Titan Medical, Conavi expects the combined company to become a commercial-stage leader in hybrid intravascular imaging.

“This planned merger comes at a pivotal moment in the evolution of our company as we continue to advance the Novasight Hybrid system, which provides simultaneous and complementary data with which to better inform patient care, while offering providers a more cost- and space-effective option when purchasing intravascular imaging equipment,” said Conavi CEO Thomas Looby. “Gaining access to the public capital markets will enhance our financial strength and fuel our growth strategy, enabling us to unlock the full potential of our hybrid imaging technology in the United States and globally.”

More details on the Titan Medical-Conavi Medical merger

Under the terms of the agreement, Titan plans to acquire all issued and outstanding shares of Conavi. In exchange, Conavi shareholders, receive common shares of Titan. The deal constitutes a reverse takeover of Titan. In connection with the merger, Titan expects to delist its common shares from the Toronto Stock Exchange. Instead, they will be listed on the TSX Venture Exchange.

The companies expect the transaction to close on or around July 15, 2024.

Titan plans to effect a consolidation of its shares. As a condition to the completion, Conavi plans to complete a concurrent financing of subscription receipts. The companies anticipate minimum gross proceeds of $15 million with a maximum of $20 million.

Following the consolidation and concurrent financing, a wholly-owned Titan subsidiary will amalgamate with Conavi. Oustanding post-consolidation Titan shares then go to Conavi shareholders. The companies value Conavi at $69.84 million and the deal includes an allocation of $5 million in the pre-transaction valuation of Titan.

Titan plans to hold a special and annual meeting of shareholders to approve a number of conditions within the deal. That includes the change of the name from Titan Medical to Conavi Medical, or such other name as approved by their boards. Other conditions include the consolidation and a new equity incentive plan.

Editor’s Note: This article was syndicated from The Robot Report’s sister site MassDevice. 

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An affiliate of private investment firm Angeles Equity Partners has acquired Acieta, a Midwest industrial robotics manufacturer and integrator, from Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.). Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

This marks Angeles’ fourth acquisition in the robotics integration sector; it previously acquired RōBEX, Mid-State Engineering, and +Vantage. Angeles said the acquisition of Acieta expands the business’ equipment tending, welding, and palletizing capabilities across a broader set of end markets including agriculture, foundry and die, welding and fabrication, and construction and building products.

Waukesha, Wisc.-based Acieta is a full-service automation solutions provider with systems, controls, and software engineering capabilities developed since its inception in 1983. Acieta said it has installed more than 5,500 robots since it was founded. It is a FANUC Authorized System Integrator employing FANUC Robotics Certified Service Engineers and FANUC Robotics Master Certified Service Engineers.

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“Our team is eager to help build what we believe is the country’s most technically capable and experienced automation systems integrator,” said Acieta CEO Robby Komljenovic. “This combination is designed to provide our customers an expanded reach, additional resources, and what we view as unmatched industry experience to advise on optimizing all processes to maximize returns on their robotic equipment investments.”

This transaction represents another key step in Angeles’ strategy to build a scaled robotics integration platform with an expanded manufacturing footprint within critical domestic markets and a broader focus on providing a robust array of robotic applications to a more diverse group of customers. Acieta’s combined 67,000 square-foot manufacturing capacity, located in Council Bluffs, Iowa and Waukesha, Wisc. will continue to operate. Combined with the business’ existing 140,000-square-foot manufacturing operations, the integrated company offers customers significant capacity, products, and services.

“We are excited about the combination of these two great companies and believe in the ongoing growth trajectory of this industry,” said Sam Heischuber, managing director at Angeles Equity Partners. “As the manufacturing and logistics sectors continue to face labor shortages, higher wages, intensifying global competition, and increased manufacturing complexity, the need for a sophisticated, robotics automation systems integrator with a national presence should only increase.”

For more information about acquisitions and investments, head over to The Robot Report‘s financial section.

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Synopsys says its acquisition of Ansys will help developers of complex electronics and software systems. Source: Synopsys

Synopsys Inc. today said it will acquire Ansys Inc. for about $35 billion to combine Ansys’ simulation and analysis portfolio with its semiconductor electronic design automation, or EDA. The companies claimed this will “create a leader in silicon to systems design solutions.”

“The megatrends of AI, silicon proliferation, and software-defined systems are requiring more compute performance and efficiency in the face of growing, systemic complexity,” said Sassine Ghazi, president and CEO of Synopsys, in a release.

“Bringing together Synopsys’ industry-leading EDA solutions with Ansys’ world-class simulation and analysis capabilities will enable us to deliver a holistic, powerful, and seamlessly integrated silicon-to-systems approach to innovation to help maximize the capabilities of technology R&D teams across a broad range of industries.” he added. “This is the logical next step for our successful, seven-year partnership with Ansys.”

Synopsys provides tools and services for electronic design automation (EDA), semiconductor intellectual property (IP) integration, application security, and quality testing. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based S&P 500 company claimed that its technologies enable innovations including autonomous vehicles, smart machines, and high-quality code and communications.

Ansys to add simulation to Synopsys testing

“For more than 50 years, Ansys has enabled customers to design, develop, and deliver cutting-edge products that are limited only by imagination,” stated Ajei Gopal, president and CEO of Ansys. “This transformative combination brings together each company’s highly complementary capabilities to meet the evolving needs of today’s engineers and give them unprecedented insight into the performance of their products.”

“The combined company will accelerate the development of our joint portfolio and deliver an increased level of innovation, which will benefit Ansys’ traditional customers,” he said.

Canonsburg, Pa.-based Ansys said its simulation software helps predict the performance of systems ranging from advanced semiconductors to sustainable transportation, satellite systems, and medical devices. It recently partnered with NVIDIA to test sensors for autonomous vehicles.

“At least once a year since 2000, Ansys has acquired and/or announced a major technology sharing partnership with another company,” wrote Shawn Wasserman, a former Ansys employee, on Engineering.com, a sibling site to The Robot Report. “Today, however, the script has been flipped.”

Companies combine complementary capabilities

“Since inception 37 years ago, Synopsys has been an innovation pioneer, central to world-changing semiconductor advances in computation, networking, and mobility, and now enabling the new era of ‘pervasive intelligence,’” said Aart de Geus, founder and executive chair of Synopsys. “Our board and management team carefully evaluated our top strategic options to lead and win in this fast-growing new wave of electronics and system design.” 

“The trends towards electrification, smart devices, AI, and larger computational resources are all cited as major factors bringing Ansys and Synopsys together,” said Wasserman. “All these trends will lead to more complex products and complicated development. In essence, everything will become more complex as mechanical and electrical tools combine in more innovative ways.”

Synopsys and Ansys said their combination will offer the following benefits:

• Combining capabilities to meet customer demand: “The complexity of today’s intelligent systems demands the integration of semiconductor design and simulation and analysis to ensure interconnected systems function properly in real-world settings,” said Synopsys. It said innovators in the semiconductor industry and beyond will be able to benefit from the combination of Ansys’ simulation and analysis capabilities with its EDA technology. 

• Accelerates strategy and growth in adjacent areas: Synopsys said the combination will enhance its silicon-to-systems strategy both across the core EDA segment and in markets such as automotive and aerospace, where Ansys has an established presence and go-to-market experience.

• Complementary fit: Synopsys and Ansys have collaborated since 2017, and they said an integrated suite of software tools will help customers solve their most difficult design challenges. They can also gain valuable insights through model-based analysis of complex systems, the partners said. 

• Expands total addressable market: Synopsys said the deal will increase its total addressable market (TAM) by 1.5x to approximately $28 billion. This combined TAM could expand at a 11% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), driven by trends such as automation accelerating the need for the fusion of electronics and physics across industries, it said.

“Currently, the duo offers engineers multiphysics design tools for the development of products from chips and systems via Ansys RedHawk-SC and Synopsys’ Fusion Compiler, 3DIC Compiler and PrimeTime signoff Platforms,” Wasserman explained. “The linking of these tools helps engineers find design weaknesses early, perform in-design analysis, optimize voltage timing, ensure thermal reliability and perform final sign off on advanced SoCs, 2.5D and 3DIC.”

“For a use case example, an engineer can use Ansys RedHawk-SC Electrothermal analysis to assess the electrical and thermal interactions of a 2.5D or 3DIC system,” he said. “Synopsys’ 3DIC Compiler can then assess system integrations and end-to-end heterogeneous implementations for 2.5 or 3DIC multi-die and multi-node designs. In other words, engineers can perform multiphysics signoff all the way down to the transistor level and all the way up to a full system analysis.”

Synopsys expects to quickly pay down debt

Under the terms of a definitive agreement, Ansys shareholders will receive $197 in cash and 0.345 shares of Synopsys common stock for each Ansys share. This represents an enterprise value of approximately $35 billion based on the closing price of Synopsys common stock on Dec. 21, 2023.

The implied per share consideration of $390.19, based on the closing price of Synopsys common stock of $559.96 as of Dec. 21. Synopsys said this is a premium of about 29% over Ansys’ closing stock price and approximately 35% to Ansys’ 60-day volume-weighted average price for the period ending on the same date. Under the terms of the agreement, Ansys shareholders would own 16.5% of the combined company on a pro forma basis.

Synopsys added that it plans to fund the $19 billion of cash consideration through a combination of its cash on hand and $16 billion it has obtained in fully committed debt financing. The company said it expects the acquisition to help it continue double-digit growth, which it said should outplace TAM market growth.

In addition, Synopsys said the combined company will generate enough cash flow to enable rapid de-leveraging of its debt and to deliver as much as $400 million in cost and revenue synergies by the fourth year after closing. The companies said they expect the transaction to close in the first half of 2025, subject to approval by Ansys shareholders, the receipt of required regulatory approvals, and other customary closing conditions.

Evercore is serving as financial advisor to Synopsys, and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is serving as legal advisor. Qatalyst Partners LP is serving as financial advisor to Ansys, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Goodwin Procter LLP are serving as legal advisors.

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Sevensense said its VSLAM technology can improve mobile robot navigation. Source: ABB

After a challenging year for autonomous mobile robot, or AMR, providers, industry leaders are continuing to consolidate. ABB today announced that it has acquired Sevensense, which combines artificial intelligence and 3D vision to enable AMRs to differentiate between fixed and mobile objects in dynamic environments.

“Offering more autonomy and cognitive intelligence, ABB’s unique market-proven technology paves the way for a shift from linear production lines to dynamic networks,” stated Marc Segura, president of ABB’s Robotics Division, in a release. “Intelligent AMRs autonomously navigate to production cells, tracking stock inventory as they go and sharing this information with other robots, while collaborating safely side by side with humans.”

Spun out of ETH Zurich in 2018, Sevensense’s Visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (VSLAM) technology enables mobile robots to create maps for fully autonomous operations, reducing commissioning time from weeks to days. This allows AMRs to operate independently in complex factories and warehouses alongside people, it said.

A fleet can constantly update and share maps, allowing for scalability without interrupting operations and with greater flexibility than other navigation technologies, claimed the company.

Sevensense acquisition evolves from partnership

ABB has invested in innovation for more than 50 years, Segura told The Robot Report. It has partnered with universities such as ETH Zurich and built a partner ecosystem and startup accelerators to keep up with rapidly developing technologies, he said.

ABB had invested in Sevensense in 2021, the same year it acquired ASTI Mobile Robotics for $190 million. The industrial automation provider had added the startup’s VSLAM technology to its AMRs over the past few years, so why acquire it now?

“The decision to transition from partnership to ownership of Sevensense fulfills part of ABB Robotics’ investment strategy, which focuses on innovative AI solutions with the power to transform industries such as logistics and manufacturing,” said Segura. “Through ownership, we are able to fully integrate Sevensense’s pioneering navigation technology into our AMR portfolio and explore new markets and opportunities together.”

ABB did not disclose how much it paid for Sevensense.

ABB expects mobile robot demand to grow 

“There is also an increasing demand for this technology from our customers,” Segura said. “ABB’s analysis estimates the market for mobile robots to grow at 20% CAGR [compound annual growth rate] through 2026, from $5.5 billion to $9.5 billion. This acquisition fortifies our position as a global leader in next-generation, AI-enabled mobile robotics and allows us to address our customers’ needs for greater flexibility and intelligence.”

ABB also cited labor shortages as a driver of demand for more flexible automation.

“This marks a significant step towards our vision of a workplace where AI-enabled robots assist people, addressing our customers’ needs for greater flexibility and intelligence amidst critical skilled-labor shortages,” stated Sami Atiya, president of ABB Robotics and Discrete Automation.

“Each mobile robot, equipped with vision and AI, scans a unique part of the building,” he said. “Collectively, these robots complement each other’s view to form a complete map, enabling them to work autonomously in a rapidly changing environment.”

Ford and Michelin trialed ABB AMRs using Sevensense VSLAM. Source: ABB

ABB sees pilots as path to multiple markets

ABB had already conducted pilot projects with customers in the automotive and logistics industries.

“In automotive, trials with Ford have resulted in efficiency gains in production sites in the U.S., and Michelin has also reported efficiency gains at its site in Spain,” said Segura. “Other automotive manufacturers will roll the technology out at sites in Finland, the U.K., and Germany.”

ABB is also looking to apply the “unprecedented combination of speed, accuracy, and payload” to other markets.

“In retail and logistics, we have found that this visual SLAM technology has made it possible for a large fashion chain to use AMRs, as they can now navigate through complex and dynamic environments, automating the company’s intralogistics,” Segura explained. “Trials have found the AMRs are particularly adept at delivering supplies upstream of a production line, handling finished goods further downstream, and carting pallets around busy factories and warehouses.”

“But this is just the beginning,” he added. “This technology will enable mobile robots to work in new sectors like healthcare and life sciences. It will lower existing entry barriers for robotics, making automation more accessible, while opening up new applications.”

ABB expects its robots using VSLAM to serve the manufacturing, logistics, and service markets. Source: ABB

AI and data to add value, says Segura

In addition to collecting data for navigation, mobile robots and AI can provide more value over time, Segura noted.

“The integration of robotics and AI creates opportunities for significant productivity gains for companies of all sizes and sectors,” he asserted. “While robots are ideal for strenuous, monotonous, repetitive, or dangerous tasks; work around the clock; and can be easily adapted to different production conditions, AI enables robots to fulfil these tasks better. Robots become more adaptive as they learn through experience, and [human] workers can devote themselves to other, higher-value tasks.”

“With Sevensense and VSLAM, we firstly acquire large amount of data through 360-degree cameras,” explained Segura. “A map is created using AI to qualify the features, and then, again using AI, we enable autonomous, flexible robust navigation that can detect humans or other obstacles and navigate around them smoothly.”

“Beyond that, we will be able to fully semantically map the environment, enabling even more intelligent and autonomous decision making,” he said. “Visual SLAM is the gateway to leverage generative AI and large language models [LLMs] in mobile robotics.”

Not only can AI and LLMs help robots move more easily, but they could also improve make them more responsive to users and operators, according to Segura.

“In the past, humans had to learn the language of robots,” he said. “Today, thanks to AI, robots will learn our language. We are already conducting first experiments in collaboration with Zhejiang University in China.”

“In the future, AI-enabled robots will eventually be able to carry out tasks using voice commands, which offers enormous advantages for small and medium-sized companies that do not have programmers in their own ranks,” he said.

“AI takes robotics to the next level, enhancing human-machine interaction [HMI], equipping robots with a wider skillset, generating insights and optimizing processes,” he said. “This lowers entry barriers for applications in various industries, making automation accessible for everyone. 

ABB plans further integration of Sevensense VSLAM

ABB plans to integrate Sevensense’s technology throughout its AMR and software portfolio.

“In collaboration with Sevensense, ABB has already started to implement the Visual SLAM technology into the AMR T702V and the AMR P604V,” said Segura. “These will be followed by other AMR products incorporating VSLAM that will be rolled out in the next three years.”

ABB said that Sevensense’s approximately 35 employees will remain at its headquarters in Switzerland, and it will continue to serve customers besides ABB. 

“Sevensense is part of ABB and will become a global product center for Visual SLAM AMRs, based in Zurich,” Segura told The Robot Report. “It will continue to run its business with other customers as normal, and the technology will also continue to be sold across segments including material handling, cleaning, and other service robotics fields under the product name ‘Sevensense.'”

“This is a significant moment in our shared journey, as we introduce our home-grown technology to a wider range of markets and sectors,” said Gregory Hitz, CEO of Sevensense. “ABB is the ideal home for us to continue scaling our versatile platform for 3D visual autonomy, serving OEMs across the automated material handling and service robotics industries. Together, we will redefine the limits of AI-enabled robotics.”.

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We covered 25 acquisitions in 2023, which was down significantly from the 50 we covered in 2022. Below are eight robotics acquisitions, in chronological order, that stood out to us in 2023. Here’s a look back at the notable acquisitions of 2022 and 2021.

Note that there’s one major acquisition still pending from 2022. Amazon announced in August 2022 its intent to acquire iRobot for $1.7 billion. The deal was quickly put on hold in September 2022, when the U.S. Federal Trade Commission officially started an antitrust investigation. In late November 2023, the European Commission shared an update on its investigation into the deal. Its preliminary view is the acquisition may restrict competition in the market for robot vacuum cleaners. The European Commission’s concerns with the merger center around Amazon’s ability to throttle iRobots’ competition in its online marketplace. A final decision on the deal is expected by Feb. 14.

Subscribe to The Robot Report Newsletter or listen to The Robot Report Podcast to stay updated on the robotics stories you need to know about. For all the mergers and acquisitions, check out our special section.

John Deere acquires SparkAI

Date Announced: March 6
Amount: Undisclosed

John Deere acquired SparkAI, a New York-based startup that develops human-in-the-loop technology to help robots resolve edge cases in real time. John Deere, which has developed autonomous tractors, was a SparkAI customer for a few years before the acquisition. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

SparkAI’s role in the workflow is not to take over control and remotely pilot the autonomous tractor. SparkAI provides contextual cues that the autonomous tractor is sometimes missing to make confident decisions.

“Spark is going to expedite everything we do. We’re going to be able to ship products sooner and at higher quality with less work,” said Willy Pell, VP of autonomy and new ventures at Blue River Technology, a company John Deere acquired in 2017. “When we automate away the chunks of human intervention, we will do so with great datasets that characterize the problem across many situations and environments. And all the while we will be delivering value to the customers and learning more about our technology and the environment. And then we will apply that cognition to the next area of growth.”

Berkshire Grey joins Softbank

Date Announced: March 27
Amount: $375 million

Softbank has made several robotics investments over the years that didn’t pan out. In 2023, however, it made at least two warehouse automation-related acquisitions that appear to be safer bets. The first deal came in March when it acquired Berkshire Grey for $375 million in cash. Berkshire Grey produces a variety of robots that address use cases in retail, eCommerce, grocery, 3PL, and package handling companies. Berkshire Grey had struggled financially after going public via a SPAC in 2021.

Before the acquisition, the two companies were familiar with one another. In January 2020, Softbank participated in Berkshire Grey’s $263 million Series B financing round.

Details on the second important acquisition for Softbank can be found further down in this story.

Shopify offloads 6 River Systems to Ocado

Date Announced: May 4
Amount: $12.7M

News of UK grocer Ocado acquiring 6 River Systems broke on the morning of May 4. This came as a surprise to most in the industry. But shocking details of the acquisition were made public in Ocado’s mid-year report.

Ocado revealed it paid Shopify a measly $12.7 million for 6 River Systems, which makes autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for logistics applications. For context, Shopify paid $450 million to acquire 6 River Systems in September 2019. Ocado paid roughly 2.8% of what Shopify paid for 6 River.

6 River Systems’ Chuck autonomous mobile robots. | Source: 6 River Systems

Suffering a $437.3 million loss can’t be good, even if you’re trying to offload a business that’s no longer part of future plans. In its mid-year report, Ocado said the 6 River business “has a good client list, is debt-free, cash flow positive, and generates positive EBITDA.” Shopify offloaded 6 River as part of a shift in strategy.

The 6 River acquisition adds a new type of robot to Ocado’s portfolio – AMRs. Ocado has developed its own ASRS for years for its online grocery business. Ocado recently won a lawsuit against fellow ASRS developer AutoStore, in which AutoStore must pay Ocado a $256 million settlement over two years.

Softbank acquires Balyo

Date Announced: June 16
Amount: $13M

Softbank acquired a controlling stake in Balyo for about $13 million. Based in France, Balyo has nearly 20 years of robotics experience. Balyo now has access to SoftBank’s global network of over 470 technology-led companies, allowing it to develop new commercial relationships.

More importantly, Balyo’s portfolio of robotic forklift technologies strengthens SoftBank’s existing investments in logistics automation. In addition to the aforementioned acquisition of Berkshire Grey, Softbank in April 2021 bought a 40% stake in ASRS maker AutoStore for $2.8 billion. AutoStore generated $149.2 million in revenue during the first quarter of 2023. That represented 21.1% growth year-over-year.

Softbank’s logistics robotics portfolio includes AutoStore, Balyo, and Berkshire Grey. Not a bad start.

Rockwell Automation buys AMR developer Clearpath Robotics

Date Announced: September 6
Amount: $600M

Rockwell Automation buying Clearpath Robotics, and its OTTO Motors division, for more than $600 million is arguably the most significant acquisition of 2023. The sticker price is certainly memorable, but this is also noteworthy because of how important Rockwell Automation is in the industrial automation space. This deal is a major endorsement of AMRs.

Ontario, Canada-based Clearpath develops AMRs for research and development purposes. OTTO Motors, a division of Clearpath, develops AMRs for manufacturing and logistics applications. When announcing the deal, Rockwell Automation said AMRs “are the next frontier in industrial automation and transformation, and this acquisition will supercharge Rockwell’s lead in bringing the connected enterprise to life.”

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“The combination of autonomous robots and PLC-based line control has long been a dream of plant managers in industries as diverse as automotive and consumer packaged goods,” said Blake Moret, chairman and CEO, Rockwell Automation. “With Clearpath, Rockwell is uniquely positioned to make that dream a reality across virtually all discrete and hybrid verticals, optimizing planning, operations, and the workforce.”

Agile Robots acquires Franka Emika

Date Announced: November 13
Amount: $32M

Agile Robots swooped in and saved Franka Emika from insolvency in November. Agile said it will take over Franka Emika’s operations, keeping its approximately 100-person staff with plans to grow the company. Two months before this deal, Franka Emika cited “irreconcilable shareholder differences” as the reason it filed for insolvency.

Both companies are based in Germany and develop collaborative robot arms for research and education and industrial uses. Agile Robots was founded at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in 2018.

“This transaction allows us to accelerate the implementation of our international growth strategy,” Rory Sexton, vice president of operations at Agile Robots, said. “The combination of strong AI and software expertise with leading robotics technology strengthens our innovation power and our ability to develop demand-driven and market-ready products. This is good for our location, for the teams, and for the customers of both companies.”

LIG Nex1 acquires quadruped maker Ghost Robotics

Date Announced: December 8
Amount: $240M

LIG Nex1, a South Korean aerospace manufacturer and defense company, is acquiring a controlling stake in Ghost Robotics for $240 million. Philadelphia-based Ghost Robotics develops quadrupeds for the U.S. military and its allies, as well as industrial customers.

Despite ethical debates, robots in military and homeland security applications promise to improve efficiency and save lives. In March 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense specified policy, assigned responsibilities and provided procedures for automated weapons platforms.

About a year ago, Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against Ghost Robotics, which replied at the time that its systems are based on original research. That case is still pending.

Robot lawnmower maker Electric Sheep Robotics buys landscaping companies

Amount: Undisclosed

Electric Sheep Robotics made perhaps the most interesting acquisitions of 2023. San Francisco-based Electric Sheep Robotics launched in 2019 as a developer of robot lawnmowers for commercial landscapers. In 2023, it acquired four commercial landscaping businesses – Caliscapes, Complete Landscaping, Phenix Landscape and Westar Landscaping. Financial terms of the deals weren’t disclosed.

This is part of a long-term strategy for Electric Sheep. It wants to acquire profitable landscaping businesses and increase their profitability and efficiency by adding robot lawnmowers into their existing workflows.

“The ESR [Electric Sheep Robotics] business model of acquiring landscaping businesses and improving their margins by augmenting workers with automation is radically innovative, and a sustainable, rapidly scalable way to build moonshot robotics,” said Pieter Abbeel, professor in AI and Robotics at UC Berkeley, co-founder and chief scientist at Covariant, and long-time scientific advisor to Electric Sheep. “As this model scales, ESR is poised to build an RL factory to train AI agents for sustainable outdoor work. I’m excited to support their mission.”

“Our intent is to roll this up to hundreds of millions, to almost a billion dollars, in revenue and deploy at the scale of tens of thousands of robots because we believe that the next shift in robotics will have to happen with this progressive automation and reinforcement learning done up to that scale,” Murty told The Robot Report in October.

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Electric Sheep Robotics, an outdoor maintenance company, has acquired two more landscaping businesses. Westar Landscaping and Caliscapes are the newest additions to Electric Sheep’s landscaping portfolio.

With these new acquisitions, San Francisco-based Electric Sheep Robotics has acquired four landscaping businesses in recent months. In October, it acquired Phenix Landscape and Complete Landscaping. These acquisitions are part of the company’s long-term strategy to consolidate the landscaping industry. Electric Sheep plans to acquire traditional landscaping companies and progressively transform their operations to include its autonomous lawn mowers and other robots.

Since implementing this model, Electric Sheep said it has grown revenue eight times. And it doesn’t plan on slowing down anytime soon. The company said it has a growing pipeline of interested businesses that could enable it to grow by 10 times in 2024.

“Electric Sheep is at a critical point in its growth; acquiring Westar and Caliscapes builds on our successful business model of injecting advanced AI and robotics into traditional landscaping companies and significantly increasing their value,” said Nag Murty, CEO and co-founder of Electric Sheep. “We’re bringing a new business model to an industry that is ripe for innovation; by acquiring these businesses first and incorporating this full data and AI deployment engine, we are creating a fully scalable and sustainable business that is really a first in the outdoor services market.”

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Electric Sheep Robotics built to scale

Electric Sheep Robotics’ autonomous mower working alongside a landscaper. | Source: Electric Sheep Robotics

Electric Sheep’s acquisition strategy is a key aspect of its long-term business plan. Acquiring already profitable businesses, and maintaining that profitability as Electric Sheep starts to introduce robotics to their operations, means that the company can be profitable from day one.

“The ESR [Electric Sheep Robotics] business model of acquiring landscaping businesses and improving their margins by augmenting workers with automation is radically innovative, and a sustainable, rapidly scalable way to build moonshot robotics,” said Pieter Abbeel, professor in AI and Robotics at UC Berkeley, co-founder and chief scientist at Covariant, and long-time scientific advisor to Electric Sheep. “As this model scales, ESR is poised to build an RL factory to train AI agents for sustainable outdoor work. I’m excited to support their mission.”

The company considers a few factors when it’s picking landscaping companies to acquire. The first is that it’s looking for a diverse set of data, which can include a diversity of workflows and sites. Jarrett Herold, Electric Sheep’s co-founder and COO, also said company culture is a large factor when picking companies to acquire. 

“Our intent is to roll this up to hundreds of millions, to almost a billion dollars, in revenue and deploy at the scale of tens of thousands of robots because we believe that the next shift in robotics will have to happen with this progressive automation and reinforcement learning done up to that scale,” Murty told The Robot Report in October.

Full stack approach

Electric Sheep uses machine learning models it designed to automate various physical tasks. These tasks can include anything from mowing and sweeping to knowledge work like inventory management, customer success, and marketing.

The company’s robots explore, map, navigate, and manipulate the physical world around them. They’re deployed in places like HOAs, parks, university campuses, and more. Electric Sheep is developing a full stack data channel that its robots are continually trained on.

While the company’s acquisition model does help it to maintain profitability, it also plays an important role in building its full-stack data channel. Murty said that acquisitions are a good way for the company to acquire crucial data it can use to build its AI models. Electric Sheep’s goal is to build a foundational model similar to large language models like ChatGPT, but for the physical world instead of for language.

“Today, AI models really understand language, but they still have no sense of physical reality,” Herold said. “If you take a cat, it navigates the physical space effortlessly, you don’t have to train a cat to go around your house and do X, Y, Z. In the same way, I think the model that we’re building at its core is fundamentally semantically aware of its surroundings.”

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LIG Nex1 and a PE firm have offered to acquire 60% of quadruped maker Ghost Robotics. Source: Ghost Robotics

LIG Nex1 Co. has declared in a regulatory filing its interest in acquiring a controlling stake in Ghost Robotics Corp., which develops quadruped robots for the U.S. military and its allies, as well as industrial customers.

“We’ve been experiencing incredible growth over the past few years,” Gavin Kenneally, co-founder and CEO of Ghost Robotics, told The Robot Report. “We believe LIG Nex1 will be a great partner to help us grow domestically and internationally. This proposed partnership will also be positive for the national security interests of the U.S. and our close allies such as South Korea.”

Kenneally and co-founder Avik De both completed their Ph.D.s in Daniel Koditschek’s legged robotics lab at the University of Pennsylvania. They then co-founded Ghost Robotics in 2015 and were joined shortly thereafter by their first CEO, Jiren Parikh, until his untimely passing in March 2022.

The Philadelphia-based company said it has been building Q-UGVs (uncrewed ground vehicles) with customer partners for specific environments and government and enterprise uses. Its offerings include the Vision 60 UGV.

LIG plans to acquire share of Ghost Robotics at $400M valuation

Korea JoongAng Daily reported that LIG Nex1 plans to spend 187.7 billion won ($143.3 million U.S.), which reflects its 60% of the contemplated transaction value. A private equity investor would provide the remaining 40% of the total $240 million deal. 

That $240 million is 60% of Ghost Robotics’ $400 million enterprise valuation, explained Kenneally. LIG Nex1, an aerospace and defense manufacturer previously owned by LIG Group, is required to declare its intent as a public company in Korea, he said. LIG plans to conduct the purchase through a special-purpose acquisition company, said Korea JoongAng Daily.

“We’re actively negotiating definitive agreements at the moment and look forward to achieving consensus and signing soon,” Kenneally said. “We’ll be going through the appropriate regulatory review steps and anticipate closing sometime in the second quarter of next year.”

He said Ghost Robotics will have more news to share about its technologies and market outreach after the deal closes.

About a year ago, Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against Ghost Robotics, which replied at the time that its systems are based on original research. That case is still pending.

Defense demand for ground robots market to grow

Despite ethical debates, robots in military and homeland security applications promise to improve efficiency and save lives. In March 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense specified policy, assigned responsibilities, and provided procedures for automated weapons platforms.

The global market for military robotics could expand from $22.78 billion in 2023 to $31.9 billion by 2028 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.97%, according to Mordor Intelligence. The market research firm said it expects demand for ground robots to be especially strong in defense and security applications.

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An edited image showing an iRobot roomba with Amazon branding. | Source: iRobot, Amazon

The European Commission shared an update on its investigation into Amazon.com Inc.’s $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot Corp. The EC informed Amazon yesterday that its preliminary view is that the acquisition may restrict competition in the market for robot vacuum cleaners. 

iRobot shares have had a volatile week. On Friday, its shares were up 34% when Reuters reported that the EC was set to give unconditional approval for the acquisition. Reuters cited three people familiar with the matter in its reporting. 

However, the company’s shares dropped 17% on Monday when the EC made its preliminary statement. The commission first opened its investigation into the acquisition in July and is expected to rule on the deal by Feb. 14.

Amazon first announced its plans to purchase iRobot in August 2022. The deal was quickly put on hold in September 2022, when the U.S. Federal Trade Commission officially started an antitrust investigation.  

In the past few months, the European Commission has conducted a wide-ranging investigation to better understand the robot vacuum market and the potential impact of the deal. This investigation has included analyzing internal documents provided by Amazon and iRobot.

The EC has also gathered views from market participants, including suppliers of robot vacuums and other smart home devices, as well as providers of online sales channels. 

The EU specifies antitrust concerns

The European Commission’s concerns with the merger center around Amazon’s ability to throttle iRobots’ competition in its online marketplace. The commission said it is concerned that Amazon could hamper rival robotic vacuum makers’ ability to effectively compete with iRobot in the European Union or national markets. 

In particular, the EC said that “Amazon may have the ability and incentive to foreclose iRobot’s rivals.” It could do this by engaging in several strategies aimed at making it more difficult for rivals to sell robotic vacuums on Amazon. The company could do this by: 

• Delisting rival robot vacuum makers
• Reducing the visibility of rival vacuum makers in both non-paid and paid results
• Limiting access to certain widgets, such as the “other products you might like” widget, or certain commercially attractive product labels, like “Amazon’s Choice” or “Works with Alexa”
• Directly or indirectly raising the costs of iRobot’s rivals 

The commission found that Amazon was a particularly important channel for selling robotic vacuums in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Consumers in these countries rely on Amazon for product discovery and to make their final purchasing decisions, it said. 

Does Amazon has a financial incentive to limit iRobot competition?

Not only did the European Commission say that Amazon has the ability to throttle iRobot’s competition in its marketplace, but it noted that it may have a financial incentive to do so. 

The commission said that after the merger, Amazon could gain more from additional sales of iRobot’s vacuums than it would lose from fewer e-commerce sales of iRobot’s rivals and other related products. The EC said these gains could include additional data gathered from iRobot’s users. 

Any throttling of competition on Amazon’s marketplace could lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less innovation for consumers, said the EC.

The global market for robotic vacuum cleaners could experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.9%, expanding from $6.41 billion in 2023 to $8.37 billion by 2027, according to Research and Markets. It noted that Asia-Pacific and Western Europe are the largest markets.

While the EU hasn’t made its final decision on whether Amazon can acquire iRobot, the situation isn’t looking great for the retail giant. 

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Agile Robots’ Yu 5 collaborative robot arm (left) and Franka Emika’s Production 3 cobot. | Credit: Agile Robots, Franka Emika

Agile Robots AG, a German robotics developer, is acquiring Franka Emika GmbH just two months after it filed for preliminary insolvency. Agile said it will take over Franka Emika’s operations, keeping its approximately 100-person staff with plans to grow the company.

Back in September 2023, Munich–based Franka Emika, the developer of the Panda collaborative robot (cobot) arm, cited “irreconcilable shareholder differences” as the reason behind its filing for insolvency. Since the filing, Matthias Hofmann, Franka Emika’s preliminary insolvency administrator, continued talks with previous investors and worked to open discussions with new ones. 

Franka Emika’s creditors’ committee previously approved the transaction. Franka Emika and Agile Robots did not disclose the financial details of the transaction. However, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported the acquisition was worth more than 30 million euros ($32 million).

Agile Robots is also based in Munich and was founded at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in 2018. The company offers an industrial robot arm, a cobot arm, software, an anthropomorphic robotic hand and more.

“The merger of Agile Robots and Franka Emika is a strong signal for Germany as a robotics and AI location,” Zhaopeng Chen, CEO and founder of Agile Robots, said. “This transaction is an industrial solution that offers a unique opportunity to create a Bavarian technology company with a truly global perspective. We look forward to shaping the future of Industry 5.0 together with the team at Franka Emika.”

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Overlap between Agile and Franka

The two companies both offer robots for research and education and industrial use. Agile Robots could be interested in Franka Emika because of this overlap. While it could be unrelated to the company filing for insolvency, systems integrator Voith Robotics stopped selling Franka Emika’s Panda arm in favor of cobots from Universal Robots in early 2020. 

At the time, a source told The Robot Report the relationship between Franka Emika and Voith was a mismatch from the beginning due to Franka Emika’s focus on education. Voith is a purely industrial integrator, so it didn’t mix well with Franka, according to the source. 

Agile said its education platform, Aini, helps students aged 8 to 15 program and operate robots. It includes an educational framework and an integrated platform. Agile said the platform teaches foundational concepts of logic, computer science, mathematics, and physics by teaching kids to control a robot. 

Franka Emika makes its Research 3 cobot for the robotics research community. The company said it offers a combination of physical interaction features and ease of use to best fit researchers’ needs. 

While Franka gears its arm towards the robotics research community, the companies could integrate Franka’s research cobots with Agile’s Aini platform in the future. Agile is also interested in using Franka to grow its global reach. 

“This transaction allows us to accelerate the implementation of our international growth strategy,” Rory Sexton, vice president of operations at Agile Robots, said. “The combination of strong AI and software expertise with leading robotics technology strengthens our innovation power and our ability to develop demand-driven and market-ready products. This is good for our location, for the teams, and for the customers of both companies.”

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Electric Sheep’s autonomous mower. | Source: Electric Sheep

Electric Sheep Robotics, a provider of autonomous large-scale outdoor maintenance, is acquiring two commercial landscaping businesses, Phenix Landscape and Complete Landscaping. The acquisitions are part of the company’s long-term strategy to consolidate the landscaping industry. 

Tennessee-based Phenix Landscape and California-based Complete Landscaping are both traditional outdoor service providers. Electric Sheep’s plan is to progressively transform these companies’ operations to include its autonomous technology. 

The company sees its strategy to roll up traditional landscaping companies as a profitable way to acquire data. Electric Sheep can use this data in a reinforcement learning operational sandbox, where it bakes the foundation model its building and can apply that data to its robots, according to the company’s co-founder and CEO Naganand Murty. 

“Our intent is to roll this up to hundreds of millions, to almost a billion dollars, in revenue and deploy at the scale of tens of thousands of robots because we believe that the next shift in robotics will have to happen with this progressive automation and reinforcement learning done up to that scale,” Murty said. 

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Electric Sheep’s acquisition strategy

There are a few criteria that the company takes into consideration when picking landscaping companies to acquire. The first is that it’s looking for a diverse set of data, which can include a diversity of workflows and sites. According to the company’s co-founder and COO Jarrett Herold, Electric Sheep takes other factors into consideration as well. 

“Culture is a really big one, making sure that they have the right people in place and the right book of business and customers, and that they are also running a well-run business, obviously,” Herold said. 

The landscaping industry, as a whole, is undergoing a period of consolidation. According to Herold, the typical landscaping business owner is someone who started a small business in high school or college and then continued to grow it up to a business worth millions of dollars. These owners typically reach a point where they’re interested in taking a step back from the business, which is when they start considering selling their business.

It’s also an industry that is well suited to robotics. Landscapers are typically working with low margins and high labor costs, leaving a lot of room for robots to reduce the industry’s labor challenges. 

“We can take what’s one of their biggest labor cost centers, mowing, and begin to eat away at that with our robots,” Herold said. “Just showing that vision and how we think about shaping the industry has really sold a lot of landscapers.” 

Once a company is acquired by Electric Sheep, the team starts the process of gradually introducing robots into existing workflows. 

“We acquire and then we remap workflows because the first challenge in robotics is to introduce a robot without friction into existing workflows,” Murty said. “So we have to be very careful about changing or remapping the workflows without destroying the profitability of the businesses.” 

Maintaining profitability is a core tenet of the company’s strategy. Electric Sheep isn’t interested in waiting years for the company to start turning a profit, instead, it wants to maintain profits while also introducing robots that can reduce labor costs. Once Electric Sheep has revamped workflows to make them compatible with robots, they start rolling them out. 

“[The next step] is to gradually introduce automation in the form of more crews,” Murty said. “For instance, what our transformation looks like is there’s a van with up to six to eight robots that get loaded in, and then they go around and do the mowing at different sites that were previously being manually mowed.”

Building autonomy for unstructured, outdoor environments

While the company is starting with robotic mowing, it has plans to automate more landscaping processes in the future. 

“When we master mowing, turning on other service lines becomes a lot easier, because there are many other services that are also mechanized, meaning there’s a dude on top of a machine driving it around, and then there’s some type of accurate actuation,” Herold said. 

Moving forward, the company plans to work on robots that can move snow, sweep parking lots, blow leaves, fertilize soil, and more. The company’s technology is built for outdoor unstructured environments, and its trying to build a foundational model similar to large language models like ChatGPT, but instead of language, the model would specialize in the physical world. 

“Today, AI models really understand language, but they still have no sense of physical reality,” Herold said. “If you take a cat, it navigates the physical space effortlessly, you don’t have to train a cat to go around your house and do X, Y, Z. In the same way, I think the model that we’re building at its core is fundamentally semantically aware of its surroundings.” 

Electric Sheep is working with a version of model-based reinforcement learning, and it’s building a Large World Model (LWM) that understands the structure of outdoor environments and how to act within them. After every day working in the world, the company’s robots upload real data, and Electric Sheep’s simulation engine runs different permutations of feedback loops at the scale of 1,000 robots. This helps the company’s robots rapidly improve with each day of work.  

Electric Sheep’s business strategy and technology are closely tied together. At the core of the company is a belief that robotics companies need a new kind of business model to best utilize recent advances in machine learning. 

“Collection and reinforcement learning has to happen at scale, which is why I think we’re sort of on this mission to prove how to scale that model as a very deliberate positioning and articulation,” Murty said. “This approach that we want to take is separate from, I’d say, 99.99% of robotics companies in the world who are trying to basically sell a robot to a customer.”  

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Nauticus Robotics’ Hydronaut is a net-zero transport option that can operate with or without a crew. | Source: Nauticus Robotics

Nauticus Robotics, a developer of autonomous vehicles and robots for data collection and intervention services for offshore industries, has announced an agreement to acquire 3D at Depth, Inc. Nauticus is acquiring the company for approximately $34 million in stock, before certain purchase price adjustments and assumption of debt. 

3D at Depth is a leader in commercial subsea laser LiDAR inspection and data services. Founded in 2009, the company’s technology allows customers to map, monitor, and evaluate assets, providing benefits through increased project efficiencies, reduced operational costs, and total asset and environmental awareness. 

Under the terms and subject to the conditions of the acquisition agreement, 3D stockholders will receive 9.9326 shares of Nauticus common stock for each share of 3D common stock equivalent they own. The company will also assume $4.1 million of debt in the transaction. The companies expect the transaction to close during the fourth quarter of 2023. Upon closing, 3D will operate as a division of Nauticus. 

“The future of subsea services lies in autonomy, data gathering, and analytics,” Nicolaus Radford, Nauticus’ Founder and CEO, said. “LiDAR has long since been core to terrestrial autonomy and by adding 3D’s capabilities to the Nauticus Fleet, we enhance autonomous vehicles in the offshore market. This acquisition increases the value of Nauticus’ fleet services and positions the Company to capitalize on data acquisition and analytics for subsea operations.”

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The strategic acquisition enhances Nauticus’ full spectrum of autonomous underwater maritime capabilities, including integrated sensor systems and data collection and analysis. It also expands Nauticus’ market reach and increases the value and utilization of Nauticus’ fleet assets. 

Some of the strategic and financial benefits of the deal for the company include accelerated commercial market penetration, a broadened IP portfolio, an expanded target market, established operational expertise, and accretive to-per-share metrics. 

“In addition to the compelling strategic and financial benefits of this deal, the acquisition will add momentum to our commercial growth trajectory,” Radford said. “By adding 3D’s technology, offshore inspection and data service, and an experienced team, Nauticus expands our addressable market and accelerates our customer penetration in the offshore energy and renewables industries.”

In August 2023, Nauticus announced it was awarded an additional $2.7 million under its current contract with Leidos Holdings. The funded extension allows continued development of an Aquanaut derivative in preparation for customer adoption decisions and government opportunities expected later this year.

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Clearpath Robotics’ Ridgeback autonomous mobile robot. | Source: Clearpath Robotics

Rockwell Automation is acquiring Clearpath Robotics, an Ontario, Canada-based developer of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for research and development purposes. OTTO Motors, a division of Clearpath, develops AMRs for manufacturing and logistics applications and is also part of the acquisition.

Financial details of the pending acquisition were not disclosed. However, the acquisition will be funded by a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Rockwell’s investment in PTC. It is subject to customary regulatory approval and is expected to close in the first quarter of Rockwell’s fiscal year 2024. At close, Clearpath will report to Rockwell’s Intelligent Devices operating segment.

In a release announcing the deal, Rockwell Automation said AMRs “are the next frontier in industrial automation and transformation, and this acquisition will supercharge Rockwell’s lead in bringing the connected enterprise to life.”

According to Interact Analysis, the market for AMRs in manufacturing is expected to grow about 30% per year over the next five years, with an estimated market size of $6.2 billion by 2027. This acquisition is expected to contribute a percentage point to Rockwell’s fiscal 2024 revenue growth.

“Rockwell and Clearpath together will simplify the difficult and labor-intensive task of moving materials and product through an orchestrated and safe system to optimize operations throughout the entire manufacturing facility,” said Blake Moret, Chairman and CEO, Rockwell Automation. “The combination of autonomous robots and PLC-based line control has long been a dream of plant managers in industries as diverse as automotive and consumer packaged goods. With Clearpath, Rockwell is uniquely positioned to make that dream a reality across virtually all discrete and hybrid verticals, optimizing planning, operations, and the workforce.”

According to the companies, data from Rockwell’s offerings and OTTO Motors’ AMRs will be harnessed in artificial intelligence-powered Software as a Service information management applications, such as those by Rockwell’s Plex and Fiix businesses. With this, Rockwell will deliver a unified solution for manufacturing, enabling autonomous execution and optimization to increase efficiency and allow for traceability and real-time adjustments. The combined technology will also amplify Kalypso’s production logistics consulting practice.

“Industrial customers are under ever-increasing pressure to do more with less. Autonomous production logistics is becoming a necessity to meet targets and stay competitive. We are excited to join Rockwell and help expand their leadership position in advanced material handling,” said Matt Rendall, co-founder and CEO of Clearpath. “Together, we will create safer and more productive workplaces with autonomous technology.”

Founded in 2009, Clearpath got its start offering robotics technology to global research and development markets, and in 2015, launched its OTTO Motors Division.

This is the latest in a string of AMR-related acquisitions. In late August, Jungheinrich, a Hamburg-based intralogistics company, acquired all shares of Magazino. Jungheinrich has had shares in Magazino since 2020, and in 2022 it increased its ownership to 21.7%. The new deal, to acquire all shares of the company, took effect immediately upon signing. Both parties have agreed to not disclose the purchase price. 

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In June 2023, SoftBank Group entered into an agreement to acquire a 41.8% stake of Balyo for about $12.9 million. The companies hope to finalize the deal during the final quarter of 2023. If the deal is finalized, SoftBank wants to “implement a mandatory squeeze-out on the remaining outstanding shares of Balyo” and delist the company, according to a release from Softbank.

In May 2023, Ocado acquired 6 River Systems from Ocado. Ocado paid just $12.7 million to acquire 6 River Systems. For comparison, Shopify paid $450 million to acquire 6 River Systems in September 2019. Ocado paid roughly 2.8% of what Shopify paid for 6 River.

Rockwell Automation also recently made a strategic investment in READY Robotics. READY Robotics’ ForgeOS platform enables operators to control and program the most popular robot brands from a single user-friendly interface with minimal training. Rockwell and READY Robotics have collaborated to integrate ForgeOS with Rockwell’s line of Logix controllers and design and simulation software. The goal is to simplify robot integration and accelerate time-to-market of industrial automation deployments.

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Jungheinrich, a Hamburg-based intralogistics company, has acquired all shares of the robotics company Magazino from the founder and previous co-shareholders. These shareholders include Cellcom, Fiege Logistik, and Körber. 

Jungheinrich has had shares in Magazino since 2020, and in 2022 it increased its ownership to 21.7%. The new deal, to acquire all shares of the company, took effect immediately upon signing earlier this week. Both parties have agreed to not disclose the purchase price. 

Magazino will continue to grow and operate as an independent company within Jungheinrich. It will remain under the management of its co-founders, Frederik Brantner and Lukas Zanger as well as Dr. Moritz Tenorth. The robotics company will now have access to the Group’s global sales and service network. The Magazino brand will be retained, and the company will continue to work with other partners and customers. 

“The need for warehouse automation is growing constantly,” Frederik Brantner, CEO and co-founder of Magazino, said. “By steering robots in this complex environment, we have developed a unique expertise that we want to further expand. We would like to thank our previous investors for the trust they have placed in us and for the many years of successful cooperation. They have supported us strategically and financially to date and have made a significant contribution to the further development of our business. Together we have laid the foundation for the next chapter in Magazino’s success story. With Jungheinrich, we will continue to extend our intralogistics technology leadership and also expand internationally.”

For Jungheinrich, acquiring Magazino is a step towards strengthening its automation expertise. The company has already started to dip its toes into the mobile robot world with its acquisition of autonomous mobile robot (AMR) provider arculus in November 2021. Magazino is also an ideal addition to Jungheinrich’s expansion of its business with automated and autonomous vehicles. 

“We’ve been working closely with Magazino for several years now, we are on par with each other and communicate well. The chemistry is simply right. Now we are taking the next logical step in our cooperation and acquiring Magazino in full”, Dr. Lars Brzoska, Chairman of the Board of Management of Jungheinrich, said. “Magazino is a successful company with very good management and top experts in the market. It has outstanding software competencies and has developed solutions that have the potential to shape the future of intralogistics in the long term. In the Group, we will leverage these competencies to jointly drive the further development of innovative automation and robotics solutions.”

Magazino was founded in 2014, and currently employs around 130 people, meaning it has one of the largest mobile robotics development teams in Europe. The company offers a technology platform that enables logistics robots to operate in a mixed human-machine environment, allowing robots to intelligently navigate in warehouses as well as selectively pick up and transport needed objects. 

Magazino offers two mobile robots, SOTO, a mobile robot for industrial production that can autonomously transport materials directly to the assembly line, and TORU. TORU is a mobile robot that can independently store and retrieve small cartons in shelving racks, like shoe boxes. 

The company’s systems are already in use in warehouses of various industrial customers, online retailers, and logistics service providers. Magazino’s control software for robots in logistics environments is also already integrated in Jungheinrich’s EAEa, a fully automated low-lift truck.

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