The warehousing industry has ramped up its automation efforts considering the increased order volume and labor shortages fueled by the pandemic. In addition to technology solutions such as Augmented Reality (AR) powered smart glasses and handheld devices with enhanced capabilities, autonomous, collaborative, and mobile robots are proving to be the most popular and fastest-growing productivity-enhancing solution in the warehouse workspace. According to ABI Research, a global tech market advisory firm, worldwide commercial robot revenue in warehouses will have a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of over 23% from 2021 to 2030 and exceed US$51 billion by 2030.

“Mobile robots are at the heart of the warehouse robotics market and account for most shipments and revenue. These robots, made up of Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs), are being used to move goods within the warehouse and being integrated within wider automated or manual workflows,” states Adhish Luitel, Industry Analyst, Supply Chain Management and Logistics at ABI Research.

Commercially speaking in the warehouse sector, robotics has moved from the early exploration phase to a more mature market in which early adopters are benefitting from live implementations of fully capable technical solutions. As a sign of the growing maturity of the market, a wide number of vendors such as Advantech, Brochesia, Kontakt.io, and RightHand Robotics now offer compelling products and solutions. The surrounding ecosystem of software vendors and systems integrators is also maturing, as software and integration capabilities become increasingly important factors for commercial differentiation. ABI Research has assessed fulfillment and warehousing processes of dominant operators such as Penske, A. Duie Pyle, Amazon, and JD.com to evaluate the efficacy of deploying solutions and friction points that might arise. These companies have been reaping the benefits of enhanced key performance metrics such as shorter dock-to-stock cycles and improved inventory accuracy thanks to successful deployment of various automation and vision-based solutions in their day-to-day operations.

“In addition to robots, warehouse operators should be seeking to combine the value of multiple solutions across the fulfillment workflow to achieve desired results. There is also a need for operators to look beyond productivity and assess how technologies affect worker satisfaction and safety, worker comfort, energy consumption, distance traveled, and error rates,” Luitel explains.

For example, “Pick-by-vision” solutions from augmented reality vendors such as Picavi demand a mere 15-minute training time and can boast up to 30% efficiency gains and up to 60% in time savings for training. In addition, order storage and automated order dispenser solutions from Alert Innovation help grocery retailers enhance their Return on Investment (ROI) by over 50% versus traditional automated picking systems.

“We can also expect intelligent automation solutions to influence processes across the supply chain. In the future, operators will be venturing further into solutions like Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and mobile warehousing,” Luitel concludes.

These findings are from ABI Research’s Modern Fulfillment Trends: Warehouse Robotics, Handheld Devices and Wearables technology analysis report.

Normally, the process of producing a brand-new drug can take several years and billions of dollars for everything to come together perfectly. In fact, success is not a guarantee even when large amounts of money are pumped into such programs. On the other hand, the inclusion of robotics in drug discovery brings a level of speed and certainty to big pharma projects.

One can liken the process of drug discovery to finding a needle in a roomful of haystacks. It is a time-consuming, difficult, expensive and often hopeless path filled, at every turn, with prospects of failure. Using conventional methods, discovering a new drug can take anywhere between five to ten years. If the formulation is a success, pharma organizations still need to spend billions of dollars to get it released to the market.

As we know, the involvement of robotics in healthcare is not a particularly novel concept. Now, robotics is increasingly making its presence felt in the pharmaceutical industry too. Using robotics in drug discovery offers a greater number of solutions to medicine-makers worldwide.

Here, we will see how robotics, along with components such as machine learning and AI, speeds up the process of drug discovery: 

1)   Finding the “Right” Drug Molecules

Discovering a new drug involves the process of identifying a target—a protein or a pathway in our body that plays a major role in the working mechanism of a given disease—so that the ‘right’ drug molecules can be aimed at it. For finding the right compound molecule, pharma companies use a High-Throughput Screening (HTS) process that involves the screening of thousands of different compounds against the target. The process uses a complex robot-based automation system. The HTS process provides useful “negative” results to be considered too.

2)   Eliminating the Likelihood of Human Error

Robots typically eliminate the element of human error present in the process of drug production. As we know, humans may make proportional mistakes during the mixing of different solutions or chemicals in novel drugs. A robot would mix the right proportions countless times a day without the need for breaks, day-in and day-out during drug production. Additionally, robots also prevent contamination of any drug during the various phases of discovery.

3)   Improving the Quality of Clinical Trials

Smart robots can be used to speed up clinical trials by being actively involved in the testing, research, and analysis phase of the process. AI assists such systems with product strategy, regulatory assessment directions, document creation, and two-way communication with health experts during the trials. Smart robots are particularly useful for handling cognitive tasks that are time-consuming, structured, and repetitive, while the health experts handle data collection, regulatory submission, and compliance-related tasks.

Moving forward, the field of robotics has huge potential in the pharmaceutical industry. What we have seen here, and what we know today about the prospective benefits of involving robotics in drug discovery, is just the tip of the iceberg.

Despite the increase in the autonomy of robots everywhere, there are still certain situations where a human being would need to control one either manually or with the help of various mechanized tools. The amalgamation of AR, VR, and robotics promises greater control even in this age of autonomy.

Today’s robots are highly intelligent and autonomous in their operations. The near-continuous improvements in the field of robotics mean that such machines can now execute more than just mundane and repetitive tasks in organizations. As a result, there is a growing number of areas in which autonomous robots can be used to get critical work done. Glitch-free autonomous robots are a blessing for any organization as they reduce the need to have wage-taking, error-committing humans employed for tasks that a machine can do with much greater precision. While organizational robots may have their limitations for now, the future of technology certainly looks bright for businesses.

However, we haven’t reached the stage wherein robots are completely autonomous just yet. So, the need for human beings to control certain functionalities of robots still exists today. Additionally, there is a need for the tools or technologies used to control robots to be easy to operate to minimize the amount of training required for their users. There are more than a few tools that are used for controlling robots, and we will take a look at three of them here.

AR Applications to Control Robotics

Augmented Reality, or AR, is a technology that creates an interactive simulation on a screen in which real-world surroundings are superimposed with computer-generated imagery. The wildly famous Pokémon GO game is a good example of an AR application. In the game, AR, with assistance from your smartphone camera, is used to display cartoon creatures amidst real backgrounds on your phone screen. As the technology merely ‘augments’ graphic imagery on a real-world background (as opposed to VR), users do not necessarily need expensive consoles to enjoy AR-based applications.

There are multiple existing instances of AR being used to control the movement and actions of robots for various operations. In 2017, a New York University engineer named Jared Frank and his team created an AR-powered robot control interface that can be operated using a smartphone or tablet. Like Pokemon GO, the system uses the smartphone camera to capture the surroundings and overlay virtual objects in it. Using the app, users can tap or swipe on the screen to direct swarms of robots to move, lift and displace objects and perform similar tasks.

The app uses an Apple-created web development platform named Xcode to detect, monitor, and maneuver digitally connected robots that appear on the smartphone screen. The application allows users to manipulate several robots at one go via Wi-Fi signals. Specific reference tags on the robots as well as the objects that need to be moved by the machines allow users to visually correlate with their surroundings on their device screen.

Another live example of AR usage for robotic control is an application designed by Professor Billo and Daniel Riehm from the Notre Dame University.

This application necessitates the use of an AR headset to control the various software and hardware tools included in the package. The application was mainly researched and developed to control the movements and tasks of a six-axis universal robotic arm. The headset allows for objects around a user to be superimposed with 3D graphical objects. Users can pre-program the steps that need to be performed via the robotic arm and the AR application will ensure precision in the task. As stated earlier, users do not need to have in-depth technical knowledge of robotics or hold AI-related university degrees to use the application for robot control. Robotic control is achieved by the application through the recognition of the wearer’s hand gestures and head orientation.

This application uses a local TCP connection to send command signals to the robotic arm. The coordinates in the headset are calibrated in such a way that the user’s gestures can be replicated by the robotic arm. The arm can be deployed for a number of operations.

VR and Robotic Control

Virtual Reality, or VR, takes the make-believe abilities of AR to the next level. Quite simply, where AR creates a partial simulation that includes a person’s actual background, VR creates a completely made-up world through consoles and headsets. As a result, VR offers a more immersive experience to users while being slightly more expensive compared to AR applications as additional hardware components are also involved in the process. The amalgamation of VR and robotics offers a greater quality of performance.

VR tools used to control robots allow users to carry out the task remotely through the internet. As a result, from a convenience or multitasking point of view, VR offers much more than even the most advanced AR-based robotic control applications. A VR-based controller involves a few components apart from headsets, such as handheld motion controllers, to direct a robot effectively despite being at a completely different location to the machine. Additionally, with all the connected hardware components in hand, such tools allow users to ‘step into a robot’s ‘skin’ to control it in a more ‘hands-on’ way despite the distance between the two entities. One of the main requirements while using VR and robotics together is a strong data connection for uninterrupted functionality.

One such application was designed by students and researchers at Brown University, Rhode Island. VR-based systems are highly useful for operational situations and surroundings where the presence of humans is impractical or downright dangerous—such as a nuclear fusion reactor involving robots or at a site where explosive weapons are being assembled by mechanical robotic arms. In such situations, the VR-based controller will allow human operators to implement the processes perfectly by accurately making the robots perform various actions with minimum lag.

Brown University’s application uses a Baxter research bot coupled with an HTC Vive VR system. Apart from that application, VR-based controlling applications can also be used for controlling multiple robots at the same time. For now, the amalgamation of VR and robotics is fairly limited and undergoing developments at a rapid pace. As a result, many of these applications are still in a concept stage and it may take a few years until the combination of VR and robotics goes mainstream for daily business functions in organizations.

Brain Impulses for Robotic Control

One of the most futuristic concepts for controlling robots remotely is the use of brain signals for the purpose. Such a concept has been developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) division has created the project that “aims to let people correct robot mistakes with nothing more than their brain signals”.

The project, which intends to improve the existing human-robot interface, uses receptors to receive brain signals so that robotic operations can be carried out with minimum lag and the highest accuracy. Using brain impulses to create a “feedback loop”, the application enables robots to attain a higher degree of intuitiveness and, thereby, improve the quality and speed of business operations. The receptors attached to a user’s head can detect and absorb electroencephalogram (EEG) signals before converting them into followable commands for a robot.

Apart from speed and precision, effective human supervision is vital for robots to perform work operations. So, the project enhances the aspect of human intervention by combining two types of signals for robot control—EEG and EMG (Electromyography, muscle-generated signals). Once the signals are received, they are verified for errors and then interpreted for robot movement. This process was largely created to eliminate robot mistakes made during multiple-choice tasks.

MIT’s project focuses “not only on safety purposes (during the robot control operations), but to properly convey information, coordinate activities and minimize cost of collaborative operations.”

The system is designed and implemented, and the “results are presented in real-time closed-loop and open-loop experiments as well as offline analysis of both primary and secondary brain signals.”

As we have seen, the involvement of brain signal-based applications, AR, and VR in robotics come with their own set of advantages and disadvantages for effective controlling of robots. While AR is the cheapest of the three advanced methods and requires the least amount of hardware components, VR offers greater practicality for remote operations. MIT’s project is in an early stage of development and is among many that promise to add another layer of finesse to the way modern robots can be controlled.

Robotics roundup: Warehouse funding, university accelerators and how to avoid putting your eggs in one basket

As I’m typing this, I’ve just finished my second panel for our big TC Sessions: Mobility event. The write-ups will be ready in time for next week’s roundup, but a couple of things worth thinking about in the meantime.

The first is partnerships with big companies like Walmart. I get the sense that Walmart really loves to play the field when it comes to partnering with small tech startups. And honestly, why not, right?

There’s a lot of upside and relatively little downside. At the end of the day, a company like Walmart is looking for a competitive advantage against Amazon, the galactic emperor of competitive advantages. Amazon, of course, has invested a ton in robotics, including acquisitions and first-party development.

Image Credits: Veanne Cao/TechCrunch

For startups, there’s tremendous up and downside here. It’s hard not to see a company like Bossa Nova as a kind of cautionary tale on that front. The promising inventory scanning startup took a massive hit when Walmart backed out of a deal the company had invested large resources into. It left Bossa Nova shaken, to say the least.

There’s no easy math on this one. When a company like Walmart knocks on your door with a big contract, you want to jump in with both feet. But how do you avoid putting all of your eggs in that one basket. When it comes to emerging tech, companies like Walmart like to play the field.

Another subject I’ve been thinking a lot about of late is whether universities are doing enough to foster innovation in their own backyard. There are plenty of good and bad examples of this, but as someone who writes about robots, I keep coming back to Carnegie Mellon. Other big robotics schools like MIT and Stanford haven’t had to concern themselves with talent drain, in large part due to location.

Image Credits: Carnegie Mellon University

So, how does a school like CMU both help budding entrepreneurs transition from laboratory to startup and keep that talent in its own backyard? The good news is I’ll be able to take that question directly to the source. I’ll be interviewing CMU President Farnam Jahanian at TC’s upcoming virtual Pittsburgh event on June 29. Here’s a quote from Jahanian to whet your appetite:

Carnegie Mellon’s decades-long leadership in research and education in AI and robotics has catalyzed an innovation ecosystem in the Pittsburgh region where entrepreneurship, creativity and placemaking intersect. These emerging technologies are changing the way we farm, enabling millions to learn a new language, leading the race to develop self-driving vehicles, and even going to the moon. We are committed to empowering citizens across Pittsburgh to take part in the economic benefits of these innovations as they continue to transform our world.

Image Credits: Gideon Brothers

As we head into summer, the investments in the category aren’t coming quite as fast and furiously as they were earlier in the year. But I have it on good authority that we’ll be seeing some more robotics funding announcements in the not too distant future. Of course, for all of the reasons I’ve alluded to before, the warehouse space continues to be hot. And this week a Croatian firm named Gideon Brothers announced a $31 million raise. From a recent piece by Mike, here’s CEO Matija Kopić:

The pandemic has greatly accelerated the adoption of smart automation, and we are ready to meet the unprecedented market demand. The best way to do it is by marrying our proprietary solutions with the largest, most demanding customers out there. Our strategic partners have real challenges that our robots are already solving, and, with us, they’re seizing the incredible opportunity right now to effect robotic-powered change to some of the world’s most innovative organizations.

Kopić and team should clearly all consider changing their last name to Gideon and doing a whole Ramones thing. Of course, they’re the ones who just raised $31 million, so maybe they’re doing something right.

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The round also includes participation from several of Gideon Brothers’ existing backers: Taavet Hinrikus (co-founder of TransferWise), Pentland Ventures, Peaksjah, HCVC (Hardware Club), Ivan Topčić, Nenad Bakić, and Luca Ascani.

The investment will be used to accelerate the development and commercialization of GB’s AI and 3D vision-based ‘autonomous mobile robots’ or ‘AMRs’. These perform simple tasks such as transporting, picking up, and dropping off products in order to free up humans to perform more valuable tasks.

The company will also expand its operations in the EU and US by opening offices in Munich, Germany and Boston, Massachusetts, respectively.

Gideon Brothers founders

Gideon Brothers make robots and the accompanying software platform that specializes in horizontal and vertical handling processes for logistics, warehousing, manufacturing, and retail businesses. For obvious reasons, the need to roboticize supply chains has exploded during the pandemic.

Matija Kopić, CEO of Gideon Brothers, said: “The pandemic has greatly accelerated the adoption of smart automation, and we are ready to meet the unprecedented market demand. The best way to do it is by marrying our proprietary solutions with the largest, most demanding customers out there. Our strategic partners have real challenges that our robots are already solving, and, with us, they’re seizing the incredible opportunity right now to effect robotic-powered change to some of the world’s most innovative organizations.”

He added: “Partnering with these forward-thinking industry leaders will help us expand our global footprint, but we will always stay true to our Croatian roots. That is our superpower. The Croatian start-up scene is growing exponentially and we want to unlock further opportunities for our country to become a robotics & AI powerhouse.”

Annant Patel, Director at Koch Disruptive Technologies said: “With more than 300 Koch operations and production units globally, KDT recognizes the unique capabilities of and potential for Gideon Brothers’ technology to substantially transform how businesses can approach warehouse and manufacturing processes through cutting edge AI and 3D AMR technology.”

Xavier Garijo, Member of the Board of Management for Contract Logistics, DB Schenker added: “Our partnership with Gideon Brothers secures our access to best in class robotics and intelligent material handling solutions to serve our customers in the most efficient way.”

GB’s competitors include Seegrid, Teradyne (MiR), Vecna Robotics, Fetch Robotics, AutoGuide Mobile Robots, Geek+ and Otto Motors.

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Core to the company’s successes are its partnerships (as is the case with any robotics fulfillment company). DHL has been a big (or the biggest) name in the mix since 2017. Amid pandemic lockdowns, the logistic giant signed up for 1,000 robots last year and, as of yesterday, is doubling that number.

Image Credits: Locus Robotics

DHL is really committing to robotics here. At last count, it said it had deployed around 200,000 across the U.S. alone, which puts its right around the same number as Amazon (which admittedly, hasn’t updated that figure lately). Of course, the big difference there is that Amazon is primarily pulling from in-house systems — perhaps Locus is a prime acquisition target?

The robotics company’s CEO shot down that suggestion when I spoke to him earlier this year, stating, “We have no interest in being acquired. We think we can build the most and greatest value by operating independently. There are investors that want to invest in helping everyone that’s not named ‘Amazon’ compete.”

When it comes to companies with deep pockets, though, I never say never.

Image Credits: Realtime Robotics (opens in a new window)

Also out this morning, is a good size round from Realtime Robotics. The Boston-based company is one of a number of startups looking to streamline the process of installing and deploying industrial robotics. The $31.4 million Series A includes participation from (deep breath)  HAHN Automation, SAIC Capital Management, Soundproof Ventures , Heroic Ventures, SPARX Asset Management, Omron Ventures, Toyota AI Ventures, Scrum Ventures and Duke Angels.

Image Credits: E-Nano

There’s no such thing as a small raise, only a small…I’m not sure. Honestly, I didn’t really thing this one all the way through before I started typing. Anyway, here’s an early-stage, pre-seed from a London based startup called E-Nano. The company has developed a modular robotics system for monitoring sports turf.

Per a press release on the £100,000 ($141,000) raise, “These robots will eventually be able to assess agricultural land and contribute to landowners growing more sustainably. The team aims to implement 5G connectivity into their robots and platform, using this raise to deliver more immediate, real-time data with high throughput.”

Some good news for DJI comes courtesy of The Hill, which reports that the Pentagon has effectively cleared the drone giant in an audit. DJI was one of the names caught up in all of the flagging of Chinese companies that’s occurred over the past couple of years (read: during the Trump administration), which has severely kneecapped brands like Huawei and ZTE. DJI was never banned for sale outright in the States, but this is still a pretty massive relief for its ability to operate in such a large market.

The filing notes that it found “no malicious code or intent” from the company, going so far as “recommend[ing] use by government entities and forces working with US services.” Government use is a nice bonus there.

The company took a victory lap in a comment provided to TechCrunch, noting, “This U.S. government report is the strongest confirmation to date of what we, and independent security validations, have been saying for years – DJI drones are safe and secure for government and enterprise operations.”

Starship delivery robots at UCLA campus on January 15th, 2021. Image Credits: Starship/Copyright Don Liebig/ASUCLA

Starship Technologies, meanwhile, snagged a high-profile name to lead the delivery robotics firm. Former Alphabet Loon CEO Alastair Westgarth will be taking the same title at his new company.

Incidentally, Starship is one of a trio of companies I’ll be speaking with during my delivery robotics panel (also Nuro and Gatik) at the upcoming TC Sessions: Mobility. We also just announced my second panel, which will be exploring a pretty vibrant category in automotive.

Image Credits: Ford/Agility Robotics

Max Bajracharya of TRI (Toyota), Mario Santillo of Ford and Ernestine Fu of Hyundai Motor Group will be discussing their respective employers’ approach to robotics beyond manufacturing and autonomy. They’re all doing really interesting stuff, and Hyundai, of course, is getting ready to close its acquisition of Boston Dynamics.

Should be fun. Register here.

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Boston-based Realtime Robotics this morning announced a $31.4 million round The funding is part of the $11.7 million Series A the company announced all the way back in late 2019. Investors include HAHN Automation, SAIC Capital Management, Soundproof Ventures , Heroic Ventures, SPARX Asset Management, Omron Ventures, Toyota AI Ventures, Scrum Ventures and Duke Angels.

Realtime is one of a number of startups building control on top of industrial robotics. Specifically, the startup looks to help companies deploy systems with limited programming and offering adaptable controls that work for multiple systems at once.

This round, which nearly doubles the company’s existing funding, will be used to accelerate it product development and extend its offering to more markets, globally. It comes as interest in robotics have ramped up amid the global pandemic.

“This investment by some of the world’s leading manufacturers and automation providers stands as a testament to our ability to dramatically improve the value proposition for robotic implementations,” CEO Peter Howard says in a release. “Having already realized early deployment success, a broad spectrum of customers and partners are working closely with us to refine features and user experiences, readying our technology for rollouts in their engineering, factory and warehouse operations.”

The company’s offerings serve a wide range of different industrial robotics tasks, including pick and place machines, packaging and palletizing boxes.

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DHL today announced that it will be expanding an ongoing partnership with Locus Robotics. Last year, the logistics giant announced plans to deploy 1,000 of the Massachusetts-based startup’s robots. The number is effectively doubling to 2,000 by 2022 — a deal that would make DHL Locus’ largest customer by a wide margin.

The two have been piloting robotics together since 2021, but interest in automation has picked up significantly during the pandemic. The reasons are myriad, but among them are the fact that robots can help keep things running amid a shutdown and are less likely to serve as a potential vector during a global pandemic.

DHL’s Global Supply Chain COO/CIO Markus Voss breaks down the figures accordingly:

So far, more than 500 assisted picking robots are already in industrial use in our warehouses in the USA, Europe and the UK. By the end of 2021, another 500 robots are to be added in a total of more than 20 locations. The collaborative picking technology has clearly proven its effectiveness and reliability in modern warehousing. More locations have already been identified with concrete implementation roadmaps for the remaining robots, which we will deploy in 2022. However, the overall potential for assisted picking robots in our DHL warehouses is much bigger, so we are confident that we will meet the targets we have set ourselves together with Locus Robotics.

Locus is one of several DHL robotics partners. In late 2018, the company announced a planned $300 million investment in the category, and as of last year, it said it had deployed more than 200,000 robots in warehouses across the U.S. It’s a figure that rivals — or event bests — that of Amazon’s robotics efforts.

In addition to these deals, Locus has seemingly had little issue shoring up cash support. In February, it announced a $150 million Series E that valued the company at $1 billion.

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