In 2010 I wrote that there were three sponsored research projects to solve the problem of safely inspecting and maintaining high voltage transmission lines using robotics. Existing 2010 methods ranged from humans crawling the lines, to helicopters flying close-by and scanning, to cars and jeeps with people and binoculars attempting to scan with the human eye. (2010 article)
In 2014 I described the progress from 2010 including the Japanese start-up HiBot and their inspection robot Expliner which seemed promising. This project got derailed by the Fukushima disaster which took away the funding and attention from Tepco which was forced to refocus all its resources on the disaster. HiBot later sold their IP to Hitachi High-Tech which, thus far, hasn’t reported any progress or offered any products. (2014 article)
Also in 2014 Canada’s Hydro-Québec Research Institute was working on their transmission line robot, LineScout and in America, the EPRI (American Electric Power Research Institute) was researching robots and drones for line inspection.
Now, in 2018, Canada’s MIR Innovations (the product arm of Hydro Québec) is promoting their new LineRanger inspection robot and their LineDrone flying corrosion sensor as finished products while both Hitachi High Tech and the EPRI have been silent about their research progress thus far.
The progress of these three electrical power research projects to solve a very real need shows how deep pockets are needed to solve real problems with robotic solutions and how slowly that research process often takes. This is not atypical. I observed the same kind of delays in two recent visits I made to robot startups where original concepts have morphed into totally different ones that now – after many development iterations – seem close to acceptably solving the original problems yet with no scale-up production plans in sight — again after years of funding and research.
Nineteen different startups were funded in February, raising $377 million; a substantial two-month start for the new year. Five acquisitions were reported during the month, while the IPO front had no activity whatsoever.
CB Insights said that China dominated the funding of AI-related startups during 2017. So far in 2018, the China funding percentage appears to be less than the 48% of 2017.
Robotics Fundings
1. PROCEPT BioRobotics, a Redwood Shores, Calif.-based surgical robotics company, raised $118 million in financing. Viking Global Investors LP led the round, and was joined by investors including Perceptive Advisors and CPMG Inc. More Coverage on The Robot Report
2. AuroraInnovation, a Silicon Valley self-driving vehicle startup, raised $90 million in funding. Investors include Greylock Partners and Index Ventures.
3. Rani Therapeutics, a Silicon Valley medical device startup, raised $53 million raising their total funding to $142 million. The round included Chinese GeneScience Pharmaceuticals, Shire, Bossa Ventures, and Cathay Venture, GV, Novartis, AstraZeneca, Ping An Ventures, Virtus Ventures and others. More Coverage on The Robot Report
4. DecaWave, a Dublin, Ireland-based fabless semiconductor company specializing in precise location and connectivity applications, raised $30 million in funding. Atlantic Bridge Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Enterprise Ireland, China Ireland Growth Technology Fund, ACT Venture Capital and ZZ Ventures.
5. Magazino, a Munich startup providing mobile picking robots for small and medium-sized boxes, cases and pods, raised $24.8 million in a round led by the Körber Group with participation by Cellcom Resources, Zalando and Fiege Logistics.
6. CommonSense Robotics, an Israeli startup integrating robotics with online grocery fulfilment, raised $20 million in a Series A funding led by Playground Global, with participation from Aleph VC and Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors. CommonSense employs robots to power custom warehouses or micro-fulfilment centers that are small enough to be placed in urban areas. The robots are designed to store products and bring the right ones to humans who then pack a customer’s order. More robots are then used to get the packaged order out to dispatch.
7. Prophesee SA, a Paris-based creator of a bio-inspired vision system, raised $19 million in funding. Investors include 360 Capital Partners, Supernova Invest, iBionext, Intel Capital, Renault Group and Robert Bosch Venture Capital.
8. Citadel Defense Company, a San Diego-based drone system developer, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners.
9. Drone Base, a Los Angeles startup that connects drone users with commercial tasks, raised $12 million in a Series B funding round co-led by Upfront Ventures and Union Square Ventures. DJI, Hearst Ventures and Pritzker Group also participated in the round.
10. May Mobility, an Ann Arbor-based startup developing self-driving shuttles for large campuss and central business districts, raised $11.5 million in seed funding from Toyota AI Ventures and BMW i Ventures. More Coverage on The Robot Report
11. Miso Robotics, a Pasadena, CA food handling robot startup, raised $10 million in a Series B round led by Acacia Research Corporation, with participation from Levy Restaurants, OpenTable CTO Joseph Essas, and Cali Group, owner of CaliBurger. Miso Robotics is one of a number of companies trying to use robots to replace or augment fast food workers.
12. inVia Robotics,a Westlake Village, Calif.-based provider of robotics warehouse automation solutions for e-commerce fulfillment centers, raised $9 million in funding. Upfront Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Embark Ventures.
13. EdgyBees, a CA startup providing augmented reality for drones and other moving platforms, raised $5.5 million in a seed round led by OurCrowd with participation from 8VC, Verizon Ventures, Aspect Ventures, Motorola Solutions Ventures and NFX.
14. Fourier Intelligence, a Chinese startup providing exoskeletons for rehab and prosthetics, raised $4.7 million in a Series A round let by Prosperico Venture with participation from Volcanics Venture, IDG Capital Partners and Qianhai Fund of Funds.
15. Invert Robotics, a NZ RaaS (robotics as a service) startup providing inspection of industrial equipment across a range of applications, raised $4.6 million (6.4 NZ$) from Powerhouse Ventures, NZ Venture Investment Fund and Allan Moss.
16. American Robotics, a Boston-based startup developing a drone system for farmers, has raised $2 million in a second seed round (they raised $1.1 million last year). Investors included BRC Innovation and Brain Robot Capital.
17. Dash Robotics, a Silicon Valley startup developing futuristic, app-controlled toy robots, raised $2.7 million in a Series A funding round led by Ironfire Ventures.
18. Planys Technologies, an Indian marine robotics startup, raised $1 million from Kris Gopalakrishnan along with Pratithi Investment Trust and MEMG (Manipal Education and Medical Group).
19. Solinftec, a Brazilian ag tech startup, raised an undisclosed Series B funding from AgFunder and TPG ART.
Acquisitions
1. KBR, a large engineering and construction company formerly owned by Halliburton, acquired Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies, an integrator of space and defense systems, from the government for $355 million.
2. Fanuc acquired Japanese co-bot maker Life Robotics for an undisclosed amount.
3. Humatics, a Cambridge, MA startup developing a localization platform, has acquired 5D Robotics, a Carlsbad, CA provider of mobility products using radio waves for distancing, and 5D’s subsidiary, Time Domain, an Alabama provider of ultra-wide-band chips, for an undisclosed amount. More Coverage on The Robot Report
4. Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices acquired Orthotaxy, a French developer of software-enabled surgery technologies, including a differentiated robotic-assisted surgery solution for total and partial knee replacement. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. More Coverage on The Robot Report
5. FarmShots, a NC startup providing imagery and analytics for farmers, was acquired by Syngenta for an undisclosed amount. FarmShots collects data for 8 million acres.
IPOs
Nada. Zip. Zero!
Failures
1. New Matter, a Pasadena-based maker of 3D printers is closing down after running out of the $6.5 million funding it had raised. It will continue to maintain printers it has sold to consumers and schools through the summer of 2018.
2. RoboBusiness Europe, a trade conference and expo scheduled to be held in February by the same group that produces RoboBusiness in America, cancelled due to lack of funding.
3. Innorobo, a service robotics expo and conference to be held in June has also been cancelled due to a lack of funding.
MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga said that “data is the new oil.” Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, says that artificial intelligence combined with data gathered by billions of sensors is bringing on an information revolution.
Manufacturers everywhere are changing – some, with government assistance – because of new technologies, new competitors, new ecosystems, and new ways of doing business. Companies that adopt these new digital-based capabilities are creating value in their businesses and becoming leaders of their industries.
The following 18 recent research reports, grouped into five categories, cover the robotics industry. All indicate double-digit compound annual growth rates (CAGR) and each makes the connection of digitalization and data to growth and economic efficiencies.
To 2025, global revenue of collaborative robotics shipments is forecast to grow at a 49.8% CAGR compared to 12.1% for Industrial robots and 23.2% per cent for service robotics.
Tractica forecasts that worldwide shipments of enterprise robots (ag, construction, warehousing and logistics, remote presence, customer service) will grow from 83,000 units in 2016 to 1.2 million units in 2022, at a CAGR of 57% during that period. Revenue will increase from $5.9 billion in 2016 to $67.9 billion in 2022.
Early adopters (500+ acres and greenhouse growers) of harvesting robotics to reach $5.5bn according to study of 1,300 growers whose principle reason is to off-set the cost of labor.
Forecasts based on technology roadmaps, suggest that the market will grow to $35Bn by 2038 with the potential to reach higher levels- around $45Bn- in a highly accelerated technology progression and market adoption scenario. The infection point will arrive in 2024 onwards. At this point, sales will rapidly grow.
Oct 2017, 170 pages, Persistence Market Research, $4,900
Focuses on maritime security coupled with greater offshore oil & gas production are the key drivers of the autonomous underwater vehicle market that is anticipated to push past $445 million by end 2022 at a CAGR of 6.1%.
The Autonomous Mobile Robots industry was $158 million in 2016 and is projected to reach $390 million by 2022, at a CAGR of 16.26% between 2016 and 2022.
Twenty-five different startups were funded in January cumulatively raising $784 million; a great start for the new year. Four acquisitions were reported during the month while the IPO front lay waiting for something to happen.
More than half of startups surveyed (51%) reported that at least one of their founders is an immigrant. One-third of startups said laws and regulations prompted them to locate facilities (or move non-sales operations) offshore. U.S. immigration policy was cited as being the biggest driver, followed by tax policies and the regulatory environment.
An interesting aside in the bank’s Chinese version of the survey is that about 2/3 of Chinese startups have at least one woman in a senior role, a considerably higher percentage than in the US where 71% of startups have no women on their board of directors and only 43% have women in executive positions.
Fundings
1. Carbon 3D, a 2013 Silicon Valley 3D manufacturing startup using elastomers and carbon steel, raised $200 million for a Series D funding led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation. Other funders included Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Management & Research Company ARCHINA Capital, Hydra Ventures (the corporate venturing arm of Adidas), GE Ventures, JSR Corporation, and Emerson Elemental. The funding is also supported by current investors including BMW Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Silver Lake Kraftwerk, and Reinet Investments and others.
2. Pony.ai, a Fremont, Calif. and China-based self-driving startup, raised $112 million in Series A funding. Morningside Venture Capital and Legend Capital led the round, and were joined by investors including Sequoia China, IDG Capital, Hongtai Capital, Legend Star, Puhua Capital, Polaris Capital, DCM Ventures, Comcast Ventures and Silicon Valley Future Capital.
3. Rokid, a Chinese and Silicon Valley developer of award-winning consumer products rivaling Amazon’s Echo (in China), raised $100 million in a Series C round from Temasek Holdings with participation from Credit Suisse, IDG Capital Partners and CDIB Capital.
4. Nuro, a Silicon Valley startup developing a self-driving delivery vehicle, raised $92 million in a Series A funding led by Banyan Capital and Greylock Partners plus individual investor Simon Rothman.
5. Precision Hawk, a Raleigh, NC provider of drone technology and analytics, raised $75 million in funding. Third Point Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Comcast Ventures, Senator Investor Group, Constellation Technology Ventures andSyngenta Ventures. Existing investors Intel Capital, Millennium Technology Value Partners, DuPont, Verizon Ventures, and Indiana University’s Innovate Indiana Fund participated.
6. AImotive, a Hungarian startup offering full-stack autonomous vehicle technology, raised $38 million in Series C funding. B Capital Group and Prime Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Cisco Investments, Samsung Catalyst Fund, and Series A and B investors Robert Bosch Venture Capital, Inventure, Draper Associates and Day One Capital.
7. Knightscope, a Mountain View, Calif.-based maker of security robots, raised more than $25 million in funding. Investors include Konica Minolta and Bright Success Capital.
8. EasyMile, a French self-driving systems startup with tests running in Finland, Greece, France and Switzerland, raised around $17.4 million in a Series A round funded by Alstom.
9. Occipital, a Boulder, Colo.-based developer of mobile computer vision applications, raised $15 million in Series C funding, according to TechCrunch. Foundry Group led the round. With this round, Occipital is looking to expand its tracking platform into what it calls its “Perception Engine,” which will require it making some deeper moves into machine learning, pushing into technologies that reside outside of simply defining the geometry of a space. The startup wants its tracking tech to recognize people and identify objects.
10. Voyage, a Silicon Valley autonomous taxi service, raised $15 million from led by InMotion Ventures with additional funds from SV Angel, Khosla Ventures, Initialized Capital, CRV and Amino Capital. Voyage recently announced plans to deploy a fleet of AV taxis in a 125k resident retirement community in Florida.
11. Huazhi IMT, a Chinese industrial robot integrator, received $15 million in early stage funding from Ying Capital and Banyan Capital.
Canvas Technology is building mobile robots for warehouses. (Credit: Canvas Technology)
12. Canvas Technology, a Boulder, CO startup building mobile robots for warehouses, raised $15 million in a Series A round led by Playground Global, with previous investors Xplorer Capital, AME Cloud Ventures and Morado Ventures.
13. Mall Parking, a Shenzhen mobile parking system developer, raised $12.5 million in Series B funding from the Holdfound Group.
14. Robotis Dynamixel, a Korean maker of actuators, parts and educational robot kits, raised $8.5 million from LG Electronics for a 10.12% share of the company.
15. Beijing Aqiu Technology (Aqrose), a Chinese start-up that applies machine vision and machine learning technology into industrial automation, raised $8 million in a series A round led by Baidu Ventures and DCM China with participation by Long Capital, Powercloud Venture Capital and Innoangel Fund.
16. Iris Automation, a San Francisco-based provider of collision avoidance for commercial drones, raised $8 million in Series A funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners and including Bee Partners.
17. SkySpecs, an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based automated infrastructure inspection company, raised $8 million in Series B funding. Investors include Statkraft Ventures, UL Ventures, Capital Midwest, Venture Investors, and Huron River Ventures.
18. CalmCar Vehicle Vision, a Chinese driving vision system provider, raised $4.6 million from Shenzhen Guozhong Venture Capital Management.
19. Doxel, a Silicon Valley construction productivity startup using AI and vision systems, raised $4.5 million in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation by Alchemist Accelerator, Pear Ventures, SV Angel and Steelhead Ventures participating. Doxel uses autonomous devices to monitor a site every day, with LIDAR and HD cameras. Their AI then processes this visual data, inspects installation quality, and quantifies how much material has been installed correctly and then provide real-time feedback on productivity.
20. Altitude Angel, a UK startup providing a drone traffic management platform and airspace integration system, raised $4.5 million in Series A funding led by Seraphim Space Fund with participation from ADV and Frequentis AG.
21. Iron Ox, a San Francisco, Calif.-based developer of robots for crop harvesting, raised $3 million in seed funding. Eniac Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Amplify Partners.
22. Understand.ai, a machine-learning startup for training and validation data in autonomous vehicles, raised $2.8 million in seed funding. LEA Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including Frontline Ventures, Synapse Partners and Agile Partners.
23. Converge Industries, a San Francisco-based startup providing AI powered software for commercial drones for insurance adjusters, raised $750k in a seed round led by Samsung’s NEXT Ventures, Techstars and Kima Ventures with participation from Right Side Capital Management.
24. Maidbot, an Austin, TX industrial cleaning robot startup, received an undisclosed amount in an A round led by Bissell with participation from existing and new investors including 1517 Fund, Comet Labs, and Rough Draft Ventures, along with strategic hospitality and industrial cleaning organizations.
25. Connexient, a New York City-based provider of indoor mapping, navigation and location-based services for companies with large, complex buildings and campuses raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Riverside Acceleration Capital.
Acquisitions
1. Uber sold a 15% stake to SoftBank for $7.75 billion. $6.5 billion of the SoftBank investment was at a 30% discount against Uber’s private valuation of $69 billion. The additional $1.25 billion was at Uber’s current/higher valuation. That’s a major deal at a significant discount for SoftBank.
2. Key Technology, a Walla Walla, WA-based industrial robots integrator, was acquired by Duravant, a food processing equipment solutions provider, for $175 million. Duravent issued a tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Key common stock at $26.75 per share ($175 million).
3. PaR Systems, a Minnesota-based integrator of industrial robotics and also engineering services for mission-critical special situations, was acquired by the Pohlad family (which also owns the Minnesota Twins baseball team. PaR has 380 employees. Financial details were not disclosed. Pohlad bought PaR from MML Capital Partners, an equity fund.
4. Visual Components, a Finnish software and AI company providing 3D simulation software to manufacturers including Kuka, Foxconn and Samsung, was acquired by Kuka.
IPOs
Nada. Zip. Nothing. In the SV Bank survey referenced above, executives were asked what their realistic long-term goal and/or exit plan was and 57% responded they thought that acquisition was the most common path for them. Only 18% said they would go public.
This year’s CES was a great show for robots. “From the latest in self-driving vehicles, smart cities, AI, sports tech, robotics, health and fitness tech and more, the innovation at CES 2018 will further global business and spur new jobs and new markets around the world,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CTA.
But with that breath of coverage and an estimated 200,000 visitors, 7,000 media, 3,000 exhibitors, 900 startups, 2.75 million sq ft of floorspace at two convention centers, hospitality suites in almost every major hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, over 20,000 product announcements and 900 speakers in 200 conference sessions, comes massive traffic (humans, cars, taxis and buses), power outages, product launch snafus and humor:
AI, big data, Amazon, Google, Alibaba and Baidu
“It’s the year of A.I. and conversational interfaces,” said J. P. Gownder, an analyst for Forrester Research, “particularly advancing those interfaces from basic conversations to relationships.” Voice control of almost everything from robots to refrigerators was de rigueur. The growing amount of artificial intelligence software and the race between Amazon, Google and their Chinese counterparts Alibaba and Baidu to be the go-to service for integration was on full display. Signs advertised that products worked with Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa or both, or with Duer-OS (Baidu’s conversational operating system) but, by the sheer number of products that worked with the Alexa voice assistant, Amazon appeared to dominate.
“It’s the year when data is no long static and post processed” said Brian Krzanich, Intel’s CEO. He also said: “The rise of autonomous cars will be the most ambitious data project of our lifetime.” In his keynote presentation he demonstrated the massive volume of data involved in the real-time processing needs of autonomous cars, sports events, smart robotics, mapping data collection and a myriad other sources of data-driven technology on the horizon.
Many companies were promoting their graphics, gaming, and other types of processors. IBM had a large invite-only room to show their Quantum Computer. Their 50-qubit chip is housed in that silver canister at the bottom of the thing/computer. Not shown is the housing which keeps the device super cool. IBM is making the computer available via the cloud to 60,000 users working on 1.7 million experiments as well as commercial partners in finance, materials, automotive and chemistry. (Intel showed their 49-qubit chip code-named Tangle Lake in a segment in Krzanich’s keynote.)
Robots, robotics and startups
Robots were everywhere ranging from ag bots, tennis bots, drones, robot arms, robot prosthetics and robot wheelchairs, to smart home companions, security robots and air, land and sea drones. In this short promotional video produced by CES, one can see the range of products on display. Note the quantity of Japanese, Chinese and Korean manufacturers.
One of the remarkable features of CES is what they call Eureka Park. It’s a whole floor of over 900 startup booths with entrepreneurs eager to explain their wares and plans. The area was supported by the NSF, Techstars and a host of others. It’s a bit overwhelming but absolutely fascinating.
Because it’s such a spread-out show, locations tend to blur. But I visited all the robotics and related vendors I could find in my 28,000-step two-day exploration and the following are ones that stuck out from the pack:
LiDAR and camera vision systems providers for self-driving vehicles, robots, and automation such as Velodyne, Quanergy and Luminar were everywhere showing near and far detection ranges, wide, narrow and 360° fields of view, and solid state or other conventional as well as software to consolidate all that data and make it meaningful.
Innoviz Technologies, an Israeli startup that has already raised $82 million, showed their solid state device (Pro) available now and their low-cost automotive grade product (One) available in 2019.
Bosch-supported Chinese startup Roadstar.ai is developing Level 4 multi-sensor fusion solutions (cameras, LiDARs, radars, GPS and others).
Beijing Visum Technology, another Chinese vision system startup, but this one uses what they called ‘Natural Learning’ to continually improve what is seen by their ViEye, stereoscopic, real-time vision detection system for logistics and industrial automation.
Korean startup EyeDea displayed both a robot vision system and a smart vision module (camera and chip) for deep learning and obstacle avoidance for the auto industry.
Occipital, a Colorado startup developing depth sensing tech using twin infrared shutter cameras for indoor and outdoor for scanning and tracking.
Aeolus Robotics, a Chinese/American startup working on a $10,000 home robot with functional arms and hands and comms and interactivity that are similar to what IBM’s Watson offers, appeared to be focused toward selling their system components: object recognition, facial/pedestrian recognition, deep learning perception systems and auto safety cameras which interpret human expressions and actions such as fatigue.
SuitX, a Bay Area exoskeleton spin-off from Ekso Bionics, focused on providing modular therapeutic help for people with limited mobility rather than industrial uses of assistive devices. Ekso, which wasn’t at CES, is providing assistive systems that people strap into to make walking, lifting and stretching easier for employees and the military.
There were a few marine robots for photography, research and hull inspection:
Sublue Underwater AI, a Chinese startup, had a tank with an intelligent ROV capable of diving down to 240′ while sending back full HD camera and sensor data. They also make water tows.
RoboSea, also a Chinese startup, was showing land and sea drones for entertainment, research and rescue and photography.
QYSea, a Chinese startup making a 4k HD underwater camera robot which can go to a depth of 325′.
CCROV, a brand of the Vxfly incubater of China’s Northwestern Polytechnical University, demonstrated a 10-pound tethered camera box with thrusters that can dive more than 300′. The compact device is designed for narrow underwater areas and dangerous environments for people.
All were well-designed and packaged as consumer products.
UBTech, a Chinese startup that is doing quite well making small humanoid toy robots including their $300 StarWars StormTrooper showed that their line of robots are growing from toys to service robots. They were demonstrating the first video-enabled humanoid robot with an Amazon Alexa communication system touting its surveillance capabilities and Avatar modes for this little (17″ tall) walking robot. It not only works with Alexa but can also get apps and skills and accept controls from iOS and Android. Still, like many of the other home robots, they can’t grasp objects, consequently they can’t perform services beyond remote presence and Alexa-like skills.
My Special Aflac Duck won the CES Best Unexpected Product Award for a social robot designed to look like the white Aflac duck but also designed to help children coping with cancer. This is the second healthcare-related robotic device for kids from Sproutel, the maker of the duck. Their first product was Jerry the Bear for diabetic kids.
YYD Robo, another Chinese startup, was demonstrating a line of family companion, medical care robots (although the robot’s hands could not grasp), which also served as child care and teaching robots. This Shenzhen-based robot company says they are fully-staffed and have a million sq ft of manufacturing space, yet the robots weren’t working and their website doesn’t come up.
Hease Robotics, a French mobile kiosk startup, showed their Heasy robotic kiosk as a guide for retail stores, office facilities and public areas. At CES, there were many vending machine companies showing how they are transitioning to smart machines – and in some cases, smart and robotic as the Heasy robotic kiosk.
Haapie SAS, also a French startup, was showing their tiny interactive, social and cognitive robots – consumer entertainment and Alexa-like capabilities. Haapie also integrates their voice recognition, speech synthesis and content management into smartphone clients.
LG, the Korean consumer products conglomerate, showed an ambitious line of robot products they called CLOi. One is an industrial floor cleaner for public spaces which can also serve as a kiosk/guide; another has a build-in tray for food and drink delivery in hotels; and a third can carry luggage and will follow customers around stores, airports and hotels. During a press conference, one of the robots tipped over and another wouldn’t hear instructions. Nevertheless all three were well-designed and purposed and the floor cleaner and porter robots are going to help out at the airport for next month’s Winter Olympics.
Two Chinese companies showed follow-me luggage: 90FUN and their Puppy suitcase and ForwardX and their smart suitcases. 90FUN is using Ninebot/Segway follow-me technology for their Puppy.
Twinswheel, a French startup, was showing a prototype of their parcel delivery land drone for factories, offices and last-mile deliveries.
Dobot is a Chinese inventor/developer of a transformable robot and 3D printer for educational purposes and a multi-functional industrial robot arm. They also make a variety of vision and stabilizing systems which are incorporated into their printers and robots. It’s very clever science. They even have a laser add-on for laser cutting and/or engraving. Dobot had a very successful Kickstarter campaign in 2017.
Evolver Robots is a Chinese developer of mobile domestic service robots specifically designed for children between the ages of 4-12 offering child education, video chat, games, mobile projection and remote control via smartphone.
Although drones had their own separate area at the show, there were many locations where I found them. From the agricultural spraying drones by Yamaha, DJI and Taiwanese Geosat Aerospace to the little deck-of-cards-sized ElanSelfie or the fold-into-a-5″ X 1/2″ high AEE Aviation selfie drone from Shenzhen, nothing stood out amongst the other 40+ drone vendors to compete with the might of DJI (which had two good-sized booths in different locations).
Segway (remember Dean Kamen?) is now fully owned by Ninebot, a Beijing provider of all types of robotic-assisted self-balancing scooters and devices. They are now focused on lifestyle and recreational riders in the consumer market including the Loomo which you ride like a hoverboard and then load it up with cargo and have it follow you home or to another place in the facility. At their booth they were pushing the Loomo for logistics operations however it can’t carry much and has balance problems. They would do better having it tow a cart.
Yujin Robot, a large Korean maker of robotic vacuums, educational robots, industrial robots, mobility platforms for research and a variety of consumer products, was showing their new logistics transport system GoCart with three different configurations of autonomous point-to-point robots.
The Buddy robot from Blue Frog Robotics won CES’s Robotics and Drones Innovation Award along with Soft Robotics and their grippers and control system that can pick items of varying size, shape and weight with a single device. Jibo, the Dobot (mentioned above) and 14 others also received the Robotics and Drones Innovation Award.
[The old adage in robotics that for every service robot there is a highly-skilled engineer by its side is still true… most of the social and home robots frequently didn’t work at the show and were either idle or being repaired.]
At a hospitality suite across from the convention center, the head of Harmony, the sex robot by San Diego area Abyss Creations (RealDoll), was available for demos and interviews. It will begin shipping this quarter at $8-$10,000.
FoldiMate, a laundry folding robot, requires a human to feed the robot one article at a time for it to work (for just $980 in late 2019). Who’s the robot?
And Intel’s drones flew over the Bellagio hotel fountains in sync with the water and light musical show. Very cool.
ABC’s Shark Tank, the hit business-themed funding TV show, was searching for entrepreneurs with interesting products at an open call audition area.
Bottom Line
Each time I return from a CES (I’ve been to at least six) I swear I’ll never go again. It’s exhausting as well as overwhelming. It’s impossible to get to all the places one needs to go — and it’s cold. Plus, once I get there, the products are often so new and untested, that they fail or are over-presented with too much hype. (LG’s new CLOi products failed repeatedly at their press conference; Sony’s Aibo ignored commands at the Sony press event.)
I end up asking myself “Is this technology really ready for prime time? Will it be ready by their promised delivery dates? Or was it all just a hope-fest? A search for funding?” I still have no answer… perhaps all are true; perhaps that’s why I keep going. It’s as if my mind sifted through all the hype and chaff and ended up with what’s important. There’s no doubt this show was great for robotics and that Asian (particularly Chinese) vendors are the new power players. Maybe that’s why I copied down the dates for CES 2018.
Today’s e-commerce spurs demand for reduced response times in fulfillment centers; generally has fewer products per order; and is constantly changing — increasing system complexity and the need for flexibility in automation. Today’s warehouses and distribution centers are far more complex than they were 10 years ago and employee turnover remains high; with complexity comes higher wages yet labor is increasingly hard to find — all adding to the equation.
Businesses are making investments in a variety of technologies to improve their inventory control, order processing methods, labor situation and to enhance their pick and pack operations to be faster, less rigid, requiring less physical exertion, and achieve more accurate results. “These factors are contributing to the need to convert warehouses and distribution centers into assets for competitive differentiation. Mobility will be front and center in this shift, says VDC Research in their recent ‘Taking Advantage of Apps and App Modernization in Warehousing‘ report.
[NOTE: Mobile robotic platforms can be “autonomous” (AMRs) also called self-driving or vision guided vehicles (SDVs or VGVs), which means they can navigate an uncontrolled environment without the need for physical or electromechanical guidance. Alternatively, mobile robots like automated guided vehicles (AGVs) rely on guidance devices that allow them to travel a pre-defined navigation route in relatively controlled spaces.]
Point-to-point mobile robots
Businesses of all types — from auto manufacturers to hospitals, from job shops to hotels — want to use point-to-point mobile devices instead of human messengering or towing for a variety of cost-saving reasons but mainly because it’s now achievable, cost-effective, and proven — plus there’s a real need to replace older people-dependent mobility tasks with more automated methods. Warehouse executives know that picking (grasping) still eludes robotics so they can’t buy cost-efficient robots that can pick and pack. But they also know that sensors and communication have improved to the point that navigation, collision avoidance, and low-cost mobile robots (and kits for forklifts and AGVs) can equip a warehouse with safe mobile devices that can carry or tow items from place to place thereby reducing costs and increasing productivity. Pallets, boxes and totes can be ported from point A to point B with economy and efficiency using a networked swarm of small, medium and large AMRs. Thus managers can effect economic efficiencies by cutting out wasted steps and reducing injuries and lost time through the use of point-to-point mobile robots.
Research and forecasts
In a recent 193-page report by QY Research, the new autonomous mobile robots market was reported to have grossed $158 million in 2016 and is projected to reach $390 million by 2022, at a CAGR of 16.26% between 2016 and 2022. This is the most conservative of the many research reports on the subject.
Tractica, a Colorado research firm with more optimistic projections and including a more expanded view of robot applications in the warehouse, recently published their Warehousing and Logistics Robots report which forecasts worldwide shipments of warehousing and logistics robots to grow from approximately 40,000 units in 2016 to 620,000 units in 2021 with estimated revenue of $22.4 billion in 2021.
IDTechEx is forecasting that AGVs/carts, autonomous industrial material handling vehicles, autonomous mobile carts, autonomous mobile picking robots, autonomous trucks, and last mile delivery drones and droids will become a $75bn market by 2027 and more than double by 2038. The report also discusses how mature technologies such as AGVs are evolving to be vision and software navigated to perform their various material handling tasks; it forecasts how navigational autonomy will “induce a colossal transfer of value from wages paid for human-provided driving services towards autonomous industrial vehicles which in turn will fuel the growth in this newer material handling vehicle industry.” [NOTE: Much of this revenue will be for last-mile delivery from startups like Marble, Marathon Technologies, Piaggio and Starship.]
Tractica researched a wider audience of vendors than those cited by QY Research for their research, but neither was up-to-date with the Korean and Chinese vendors and many new startups in this space, Noticeably missing from both research reports were Asian vendors Geek+, Yujin, Quicktron and GreyOrange, startup Canvas Technology, and the nav/vision conversion kit providers Seegrid, Balyo and RoboCV. The IDTechEx report includes all of these and more.
Point-to-point robot vendors
There has been much media attention – and a good lot of hype – about autonomous mobile picking robots, autonomous trucking, and last mile delivery (by land or air), yet few are delivering products in quantity or beyond the trial and error stage which is one reason why the point-to-point vendors are doing so well. There’s also news about converting AGVs, forklifts and tugs to become vision enabled and autonomous and although these adaptions are being made, those conversions are at a slower pace than those of the vendors shown below.
Here are profiles for a select few of the most interesting vendors serving the point-to-point mobile logistics robots market:
MiR (Mobile Industrial Robots), a 2015 Danish startup, is the first mover in flexible point-to-point mobility. Their product line is spot on what other mobile robot manufacturers are beginning to find out from their customers: they want a bare-bones, simply-instructed, low-cost, mobile platform that can carry or tow anything anywhere. MiR’s products meet those criteria perfectly. Their towing system enables automatic pick-up and drop-off of carts carrying payloads of up to 1,100 lbs. They also provide fleet software to optimize control, coordinate orders to multiple robots, enable switch-outs when a robot must recharge itself, and provides ease of programming and integration to manufacturing and warehousing systems.
In a recent press release, MiR announced that 2017 sales had tripled over 2016; 2017 unit sales exceeded 1,000 robots; employees grew to 60 and are expected to double in 2018; that MiR robots were now at work in Honeywell, Argon Medical, Kamstrup, Airbus, Flex and many other facilities all over the world; and that MiR anticipates 2018 sales to increase similarly.
MiR’s rapid rise parallels the trend of businesses using point-to-point mobile devices instead of human messengering or towing. It isn’t MiR alone that is finding significant growth – other suppliers are also selling well above expectations.
MiR’s rise is also being propelled by MiR CEO Thomas Visti’s use of a tried-and-true global network of distributors/integrators which he developed for the very successful co-bot manufacturer Universal Robots. MiR’s 120 distributor/reseller network covers 40 countries and has helped MiR jump-start its global sales.
Swisslog, a Kuka/Midea subsidiary, has a wide and varied product line covering healthcare, warehouse and distribution centers. Their TransCar AGVs for hospitals are used as tugs and tow vehicles; their Carry Robots are used in factories and warehouses for point-to-point deliveries and to move shelves to and from pickers. Swisslog also offers extensive automated warehouse devices such as the CarryPick System and miniload cranes, pallet stacker robots, conveyor systems, and the elaborate storage system AutoStore, a top-down small parts storage and item picking system.
Seegrid, co-founded in 2003 by Hans Moravec of the Robotics Institute of CMU, and funded by Giant Eagle, the big East Coast grocery chain, began with the goal to help distribution centers like Giant Eagles transform their AGVs into vision guided vehicles (VGVs). They built their own line of lifts and tugs but more recently have joint-ventured with lift manufacturers to enable them to offer Seegrid vision systems which navigate without wires, lasers, magnets, or tapes, as add-on equipment. Seegrid systems focus on the movement of full pallet loads to and from storage racks and in and out of trucks.
Fetch Robotics has a catchy description for their mobile robots: VirtualConveyor robots — and they’ve partnered with DHL who helped Fetch produce a glowing video of how they are being used in a major parts resupply warehouse. Fetch, which started out as a pick and delivery system, has been quick to reorganize to take advantage of the demand for point-to-point robots including adding robots that can handle a variety of heavy payloads.
Clearpath Robotics, a maker of research UGVs, and their new OTTO line of mobile transporters, have followed a similar path as Fetch: quickly adapting to market demand by producing autonomous transporters that handle heavy and light load material. They offer two stylish and well-lighted transporters for 100kg payloads and 1500kg ones plus fleet management software. Their 360° lighting system displays familiar turn signals, brake lights status lights and audible tones so it is clearly evident where the device is going.
Vecna Robotics, a developer and provider of robotics and telepresence solutions for healthcare, has recently expanded into logistics with a line of general purpose mobile robots. They offer platforms, lifters, tuggers, and conversion kits so that their product line offers solution robots for the transport of pallets, cases and individual items or totes.
Aethon, a developer and manufacturer of tug and autonomous robots for hospitals and warehouses, was recently acquired by ST Engineering, a Singapore conglomerate with 50 years of engineering experience, a presence in over 100 countries and a focus on the aerospace, electronics, land systems and marine sectors. Aethon has made over 30 million robotic deliveries and pioneered their patented command (communication) center to maintain their robots. They offer two versions of their tug: one that can carry or pull 450kg and the other 645kg. [NOTE: Similar communication centers have since become de rigueur for maintaining operational up-time for mobile robot fleets.]
Omron Adept, in addition to a wide range of one-armed and Delta robots, has a line of mobile platforms and transporters, plus fleet and navigation software. Adept Technologies acquired mobile robotics pioneer MobileRobots in 2010 and was itself acquired by Omron in 2015. MobileRobots sold their mobile robots to Swisslog and many others who rebranded them. Adept’s autonomous mobile robots were unlike traditional autonomously guided vehicles (AGVs). They didn’t require any facility modifications (such as floor magnets or navigational beacons) thereby saving users up to 15% in deployment costs.
Amazon Robotics, Geek+, Quicktron and Grey Orange are all providers of very similar shelf-lifting robotic systems which bring those shelves to pick stations where items are selected and packed and the shelves are then returned to a dynamic free-form warehouse. Amazon has gotten the lion’s share of news because they acquired the inventor of this type of goods-to-man system from Kiva Systems and now have over 40,000 of those robots at work in Amazon fulfillment centers. But GreyOrange, Geek+ and Quicktron also have thousands of these robots deployed with many thousand more coming online all over Asia and India. They are included here because they represent an important use of mobility in fulfillment applications that as yet cannot be fully completed by picking robots.
Other vendors offering various types of mobile robotics included in the research reports by IDTechEx, QY Research and Tractica include:
Aviation Industry Corp of China
Cimcorp Automation
Daifuku
Dematic
Denso Wave
FANUC
Hi-Tech Robotic Systemz
Kawasaki Heavy Industries
KION Group
Knapp
Krones
Locus Robotics
Meidensha Corporation
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR)
Murata Machinery
SMP Robotics
SSI SCHAEFER
Tata Motors (BRABO)
Toyota Industries Corporation (Material Handling Group TMHG)
Vanderlande
Yaskawa Electric Corporation
Bottom Line
There are thousands of point-to-point operations being conducted by humans towing or pushing rolling carts in all types of businesses for all manner of purposes. Point-to-point mobile robots are popular now because they can replace those humans with simple, easy to operate devices that do the same job for less cost, hence a fast ROI. With labor costs rising, robot costs coming down, and so many gofor applications, these types of robots are no-brainers for businesses everywhere and for a long time to come.
Twenty-one different startups were funded in December cumulatively raising $430 million, down from the $782 million in November. Three didn’t report the amount of their funding. Only three were over $50 million of which one was a Chinese startup. Three acquisitions were reported during the month including two takeovers of Western robotics companies by Chinese ones. Nothing new on the IPO front.
Fundings:
Farmers Business Network, a San Carlos, Calif.-based farmer-to-farmer network raised $110 million in Series D funding. T. Rowe Price Associates Inc and Temasek led the round, and were joined by investors includingAcre Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, GV and DBL Partners.
Ripcord, a Hayward, CA robotic digitization company, raised $59.5 million this year in a March Series A and Aug/Dec Series B equity funding led by GV and Icon Ventures with Lux Capital, Telstra Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, Kleiner Perkins, Google and Baidu Ventures. Ripcord has developed and is providing as a service a digitization service using AI, scanning and robotics to go from cardboard storage boxes full of tagged manila folders, to scanable pdf files available through ERP and other office systems.
JingChi, a Chinese-funded Beijing and Silicon Valley self-driving AI systems startup, raised $52 million (in September) in a seed round led by Qiming Venture Partners. China Growth Capital, Nvidia GPU Ventures and other unnamed investors also participated in the round. Baidu is suing former Baidu employee Wang Jing for using Baidu IP for his new startup.
Groove X, a Tokyo startup developing a humanoid robot Lovot, raised $38.7 million in a Series A round by Mirai Creation Fund, government-backed Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), Shenzhen Capital Group, Line Ventures, Dai-ichi Seiko, Global Catalyst Partners Japan (GCPJ), Taiwan’s Amtran Technology, OSG and SMBC Venture Capital. Groove X has raised $71.1 million thus far.
Kespry, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based aerial intelligence solution provider, raised $33 million in Series C funding led by G2VP, and was joined by investors including Shell Technology Ventures, Cisco Investments, and ABB Ventures.
Ouster, a San Francisco startup developing a $12,000 LiDAR, raised $27 million in a Series A funding round led by Cox Enterprises with participation from Fontinalis, Amity Ventures, Constellation Technology Ventures, Tao Capital Partners, and Carthona Capital.
Fetch Robotics, a Silicon Valley logistics co-bot maker, raised $25 million in a Series B round led by Sway Ventures in San Francisco and included existing investors O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Shasta Ventures and SoftBank’s SB Group US. The round brings total funding to $48 million. Fetch, in addition to warehousing customers, is selling to “Tier 1” automakers, which like the ability of Fetch’s robots to detect and track the location of parts “to avoid losing transmissions.
Virtual Incision, a spinout from the U of Nebraska, is a medical device company developing miniaturized robotically assisted general surgery device, raised $18 million in a Series B funding round co-led by Chinese Sinopharm Capita and existing investor Bluestem Capital, with participation from PrairieGold Venture Partners and others.
Wuhan Cobot Technology, a Chinese co-bot startup, raised $15.4 million in a Series B round led by Lan Fund with participation by Matrix Partners and GGV Capital.
PerceptIn, a Silicon Valley vision systems startup, raised $11 million in Angel and A round funding, from Samsung Ventures, Matrix Partners and Walden Intl. Perceptin also announced their new $399 Ironsides product, a full robotics vision system combining both hardware and software for realtime tracking, mapping and path planning.
Upstream Security, a San Francisco-based cybersecurity platform provider for connected cars and self-driving vehicles, raised $9 million in Series A funding. Charles River Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Glilot Capital Partners and Maniv Mobility.
Robocath, a French medical robotics device developer, raised $8.6 million in two funding rounds from from Crédit Agricole Innovations et Territoires (CAIT), an innovation fund managed by Supernova Invest. Cardio Participation also invested. Robocath raised $5.6 million in May led by Normandie Participation, M Capital Partners with participation by NCI Gestion and GO Capital and $3 million in December.
FarmWise, a San Francisco agricultural robotics and IoT startup developing a weeding robot, raised $5.7 million in a seed round led by hardware-focused VC Playground Global with Felicis Ventures, Basis Set Ventures, and Valley Oak Investments also participating.
Guardian Optical Technologies, an Israeli sensor maker, raised $5.1 million in Series A funding from Maniv Mobility and Mirai Creation Fund.
Aeronyde, a Melbourne, Fla,-based drone infrastructure firm, raised $4.7 million led by JASTech Co. Ltd.
Elroy Air, a San Francisco startup building autonomous aircraft systems to deliver goods to the world’s most remote places, raised $4.6 million in a seed round led by Levitate Capital with participation by Shasta Ventures, Lemnos Labs and Homebrew.
Tortuga AgTech, a Denver-based robotics startup targeting controlled-environment fruit and vegetable growers has raised a $2.4 million Seed round led by early-stage hardware VC Root Ventures and closed in September. Also participating in the round were Silicon Valley tech VCs Susa Ventures and Haystack, AME Cloud Ventures, Grit Labs, the Stanford-StartX Fund and SVG Partners. Tortuga is developing robotic systems for harvesting fresh produce in controlled environments, from indoor hydroponics to greenhouses, starting with strawberries.
FluroSat, an Australian crop health startup, has raised $770k in a seed round by Main Sequence Ventures, manager of the Australian government’s $100 million CSIRO Innovation Fund, Airtree Ventures and Australia’s Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC).
Blue Frog Robotics, a Paris-based robotics startup, raised funding of an undisclosed amount. Fenox Venture Capital led the round with Gilles Benhamou and Benoit de Maulmin participating.
SkyX, an Israeli agtech developing variable aerial spraying software methods, raised an undisclosed seed funding round by Rimonim Fund.
TetraVue, a Vista, Calif.-based 3D technology provider, raised funding of an undisclosed amount. Investors include KLA Tencor, Lam Research, Tsing Capital, Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH, Samsung Catalyst Fund and Nautilus Ventures.
Acquisitions:
Chinese medtech investment firm Great Belief International has acquired the IP and assets of the SurgiBot surgical robot developed by TransEnterix for $29 million. TransEnterix retains distribution rights outside of China. SurgiBot failed an FDA application whereupon TransEnterix acquired an Italian competitor with a less advanced product. TransEnterix will continue to develop and market that Senhance robotic assisted surgery platform – which has both CE and FDA approvals. “The relationship with GBIL will allow us to advance the SurgiBot System toward global commercialization while significantly reducing our required investment and simultaneously leveraging ‘in-country’ manufacturing in the world’s most populous country,” TransEnterix president & CEO Todd Pope said.
Estun Automation, a Chinese industrial robot and CNC manufacturer, acquired 50.01% (with the right to acquire the remainder of the shares) of Germany-based M.A.i GmbH, a 270 person integrator with facilities in the US, Italy, Romania and Germany, for around $10.5 million.
Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) acquires Odos Imaging for an undisclosed amount. Odos develops 3D imaging technologies for manufacturing systems.
Twenty-two different startups were funded in November cumulatively raising $782 million, down a bit from the $862 million in October. The big $400 million funding for UBTech and the $55 million for TuSimple were the only two fundings over $50 million and they were both for Chinese startups with funding from Chinese VC firms.
Six acquisitions were reported during the month including another takeover of a European robotics company by a Chinese one.
On the IPO front, three existing publicly-traded stocks announced additional shares to raise additional funds.
Fundings:
Ubtech, a Shenzhen-based humanoid robots maker startup, raised $400 million in a Series C round led by Tencent Holdings (which invested $40 million in the round). Ubtech (Union Brothers Technology) builds and sells toy robots. Their most recent is a $300 Star Wars Stormtrooper robot which will ship just before the movie debuts mid-December.
TuSimple, a Chinese startup providing autonomous driving technology for the trucking industry, raised $55 million in a Series C round led by Fuhe Capital with Zhiping Capital and SINA Corp. Note that TuSimple raised $20 million in August in a Series B round.
Markforged, a Watertown, MA maker of carbon fiber and metal 3D printing devices, raised $30 million in a Series C round led by Siemens’ next47 venture firm. Microsoft Ventures and Porsche SE also participated along with existing investors Matrix Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners, and Trinity Ventures.
Kindred Systems, a Toronto warehousing AI startup, raised $27.5 million in a Series B round led by First Round Capital with participation by Tencent Holdings and Eclipse. Kindred is building human-like intelligence in machines. It’s first commercial offering is Kindred Sort, a put wall integration of arm, gripper and software to pick and sort random objects.
Locus Robotics, an Andover, MA-based provider of mobile robots for e-commerce fulfillment warehouses, raised $25 million in a Series B funding led by Scale Venture Partners with participation by existing investors.
Optimus Ride, a MIT spinoff company developing self-driving technology, raised $18 million in Series A funding. Greycroft Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including Emerson Collective, Fraser McCombs Capital and Joi Ito.
Bossa Nova, a San Francisco-based developer of autonomous service robots for the global retail industry, raised $17.5 million in Series B funding. Paxion led the round, and was joined by investors including Intel Capital, WRV Capital, Lucas Venture Group, and Cota Capital.
Riverfield Surgical Robot Lab, a Japanese startup and spin-off from the Tokyo Inst of Technology, raised $10 million in a Series B round from Toray Engineering, SBI Investment and JAFCO Japan.
Arbe Robotics, an Israeli radar collision avoidance platform, raised $9 million in a Series A round. O.G. Tech Ventures and OurCrowd led the round, with previous investors Canaan Partners, iAngels, and Taya Ventures also participating. Arbe is also developing radar for autonomous vehicles that facilitates real-time mapping at distances up to 300 meters.
AUBO Robotics (prev named Smokie), a Chinese co-bot manufacturer, raised $9 million in a Series A round by Fosun RZ Capital. “When we decided to manufacture in China we had to be incorporated in China to get the incentives. They had to have a name change because the laws in China state that the name be a Chinese name. AUBO or AU BO loosely translated means ‘New Technology’. The AUBO-i5 production is in Changzhou and we also have R&D in Beijing and Knoxville TN,” said Aubo’s VP of Sales Peter Farkas.
Beijing TechX Aviation Innovation, a Chinese drone startup for military and high-end industrial users, raised $7.5 million in a Series A round from Fosun RZ Capital.
Leju Robotics, a Shenzhen startup developing humanoid robots for the service industry, raised $7.4 million (in August) from Green Pine Capital Partners and Tencent.
Embodied Intelligence, an Emeryville, CA startup developing teaching AI for existing robots, raised $7 million in a seed round led by Amplify Partners with participation from Lux Capital, SV Angels, FreeS, 11.2 Capital and A.Capital.
Apis Cor, a Moscow startup using a massive robotic 3D device for printing concrete, raised $6 million (in September) in a seed round from Rusnano Sistema Sicar venture fund.
Rokae, a Chinese startup making lightweight/lightload industrial robot arms, raised $6 million in a Series A round from THG Ventures, the venture arm of Tsinghua Holdings, and Delin Capital.
AerDrone Intl, a startup of Irelandia Aviation Drones, both of Dublin, raised $5 million in seed funding from Irelandia to provide leasing funding for drone users.
GJS Robot, a Shenzhen startup making personalized fighting robots known as Ganker robots, raised an undisclosed Series A investment estimated to be $5 million, from Tencent Holdings.
Catalia Health, a San Francisco-based healthcare startup providing an AI-powered patient engagement platform, raised $4 million in pre-Series A funding. Ion Pacific led the round.
TortugaAgTech, a Colorado ag robotics startup, raised $2.6 million (in September) from SVG Partners and Thrive AgTech Ventures. Tortuga is developing robotics for indoor farming operations.
Ceres Imaging, the Oakland, CA aerial imagery and analytics company, raised an additional $2.5 million for their May, 2017 Series A round (which raised $5M). Romulus Capital was the sole investor.
Wink Robotics, a startup focused on using robotics, AI and machine vision for the beauty industry, raised $1.73 million (in August) in seed funding from undisclosed sources.
Natilus, a San Jose, Calif.-based maker of large aircraft drones to haul freight, raised seed funding of an undisclosed amount. Investors included Starburst Ventures, Seraph Group, Gelt VC, Outpost Capital and Draper Associates.
Acquisitions:
Dash Robotics, a Hayward, CA connected toys developer, acquired Austin, TX-based Bots Alive, a robotics and AI hobby kit and toy developer, for an undisclosed amount.
Huachangda Intelligent Equipment, a Chinese industrial robot integrator servicing primarily the auto industry, has acquired Swedish Robot System Products (RSP), for an undisclosed amount. RSP manufacturers grippers, welding systems, tool changers and other peripheral products for robots.
Atronix Engineering, a GA-based industrial robot system integrator, was acquired by MHS (Material Handling Systems), a KY-based integrator of material handling systems, for an undisclosed amount. In April, 2017, MHS was itself acquired by Thomas H. Lee Partners, a Boston-based equity fund.
Mapbox, a DC and SF nav systems provider for car companies, acquired a 4-person Minsk, Belarus mapping startup, MapData, for an undisclosed amount. Just last month Mapbox raised $164 million in a round led by the SoftBank Vision Fund. The deal spearheads the hiring of more engineers to help build its next big product, an SDK that will let developers build augmented reality-based maps into their apps that will work by way of the front-facing cameras on people’s devices.
Argo AI, a Pittsburgh autonomous vehicles and AI startup, using some of the $1 billion it raised from Ford, acquired Princeton Lightwave for an undisclosed amount. Princeton is a New Jersey manufacturer of real-time Geiger-mode LiDAR technology.
Tesla acquired Perbix, a Minnesota integrator of automated machines and industrial robotics that had been a contract supplier to Tesla for many years, for around $10.5 million.
IPOs:
Titan Medical(TSE:TMD), a Canadian single-port surgical robot device maker, announced an offering of shares for a minimum of $14,000,000 and a maximum $18,000,000. Titan will issue shares at a price of CDN $0.50 per Unit and each Unit is comprised of one common share and one warrant, exercisable for one Common Share at a price of CDN $0.60, for a period of 5 years following the closing of the Offering.
Myomo (NYSEMKT:MYO), a Cambridge, MA-based exoskeleton provider, announced an offering of 1.5 million shares of common stock and warrants to purchase an additional 750,000 shares at a price of $6.25 per share for 1/2 a warrant. Myomo hopes to raise $8.5 on the initial offering with an additional $1.4 million from an underwriter’s option.
Fastbrick Robotics (ASX:FBR), an Australian brick-laying startup, raised $26.5 million by offering 184 million shares in a private placement. This is in addition to the $2 million investment in July by Caterpillar who will be manufacturing, selling and servicing Fastbrick’s technology mounted on Caterpillar equipment.
There’s a scare-tactic video going around on social media, and I wanted to weigh in on it—this particular video has gone from 500,000 views to almost 2 million in the past 10 days. As a matter of principle, I will not link to it. It presents a scary future in which killer robotic drones—controlled by any terrorist organization or government—run rampant.
The twin issues of killer robots and robots taking our jobs are the result of the two-edged blade of new technology, i.e., technologies that can be used for both good and evil. Should these new technologies be stopped entirely or regulated? Can they be regulated? Once you see a video like this one, one doubts whether they can ever be controlled. It’s fearful media that doesn’t say it is fake until far beyond the irresponsible level.
Videos like this one—and there are many—are produced for multiple purposes. The issues often get lost to the drama of the message. They are the result of, or fueled by, headline-hungry news sources, social media types and commercial and political strategists. This particular shock video—fake as it is—is promoting a longer, more balanced documentary and non-profit organization on the subject of stopping autonomous killing machines. Yet there are other factual videos of the U.S. military’s Perdix drones swarming just like in the shock video. Worse still, the same technologists that teach future roboticists at MIT are also developing those Perdix drones and their swarming capabilities.
My earlier career was in political strategy and I know something about the tactics of fear and manipulation—of raising doubts for manipulative purposes, as well as the real need for technologies to equalize the playing field. Again, the two-edged sword.
At the present time, we are under very real threat militarily and from the cyber world. We must invest in countering those threats and inventing new preventative weaponry. Non-militarily, jobs ARE under threat—particularly the dull, dirty and dangerous (DDD) ones easily replaced by robots and automation. In today’s global and competitive world, DDD jobs are being replaced because they are costly and inefficient. But they are also being replaced without too much consideration for those displaced.
It’s hard for me as an investor and observer (and in the past as a hands-on participant) to reconcile what I know about the state of robotics, automation and artificial intelligence today with the future use of those very same technologies.
I see the speed of change, e.g.: for many years, Google has had thousands of coders coding their self-driving system and compiling the relevant and necessary databases and models. But along comes George Hotz and other super-coders who single-handedly write code that writes code to accomplish the same thing. Code that writes code is what Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking fear, yet it is inevitable and soon will be commonplace. Ray Kurzweil named this phenomenon and claims that the ‘singularity’ will happen by 2045 with an interim milestone in 2029 when AI will achieve human levels of intelligence. Kurzweil’s forecasts, predicated on exponential technological growth, is clearly evident in the Google/Hotz example.
Pundits and experts suggest that when machines become smarter than human beings, they’ll take over the world. Kurzweil doesn’t think so. He envisions the same technology that will make AIs more intelligent giving humans a boost as well. It’s back to the two-edged sword of good and evil.
In my case, as a responsible writer and editor covering robotics, automation and artificial intelligence, I think it’s important to stay on topic, not fan the flames of fear, and to present the positive side of the sword.
Press releases for this batch of 30 research reports all agree that most segments of the robotics industry are expected to grow at a double-digit pace at least through 2022.
Although these reports vary widely in their forecasts – often on the same topic, they all seem to agree that the global robotics industry is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the teens or greater.
Unmanned mobile air, land and sea vehicles (commercial and military)
Commercial UAV Report Aug 2017, Interact Analysis, free
Industry revenues for commercial-use drones are forecast to reach $15 billion by 2022, up from just $1.3 billion in 2016. This includes revenues from hardware, software/analytics and drone services. Rapidly increasing penetration rates into a huge number of commercial applications are driving a six-fold increase in drone shipments, surpassing 620,000 units in 2022. Only the trend of using drone service providers rather than purchasing hardware will temper this growth.
Global driverless tractors market
Nov 2017, 109 pages, QY Research, $3,500
Describes offerings from John Deere, Autonomous Tractor, AGCO/Fendt and CNH/Cash IH.
Tractica forecasts that worldwide shipments of enterprise robots will grow from approximately 83,000 units in 2016 to 1.2 million units in 2022, increasing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 57% during that period. Worldwide revenue for the enterprise robotics market will increase from $5.9 billion in 2016 to $67.9 billion in 2022.
Global indoor robots market Oct 2017, 223 pages, BIS Research, $4,499
The global indoor robots market, which consists of cleaning, medical, security & surveillance, public relations, education, entertainment, and personal assistant robots, generated $3.7 billion in 2016 and has exhibited a high growth rate.
Global defense counter-UAS technologies Oct 2017, Frost & Sullivan, $1,500
Over 50 global defense companies now offer some sort of counter unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS).
The military robots market is expected to grow from an estimated $16.79 billion in 2017 to $30.83 billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 12.92%. Drivers for military robots include rising number of terrorist activities, increasing need of systems that can conduct remote operations for a longer time, and technological developments in unmanned systems. Mine clearance is expected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period.
The Global Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Robot market is valued at $5.98 billion in 2016 and is expected to reach $8 billion by the end of 2022, growing at an annual CAGR of 4.6%.
Autonomous underwater vehicle market Aug 2017, Markets and Markets, $5,650
The market for autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is expected to grow from $362.5 million in 2017 to $1,206.9 million by 2023, at a CAGR of 22.20% between 2017 and 2023.
IDC forecasts worldwide purchases of robotics, including drones and robotics-related hardware, software and services, will total $97.2 billion in 2017, an increase of 17.9% over 2016. IDC expects robotics spending to accelerate over the next five years reaching $230.7 billion in 2021 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.8%.
The Global Collaborative Robots market is expected to increase from $177.2 million in 2016, to $4,238.3 million in 2023, at a significant CAGR of 57.4% from 2017 to 2023. Increasing investments in automation by industries to support industry 4.0 revolution (smart production), low price of collaborative robots and high return on investment (ROI) rates are the factors attributing towards the growth of the global collaborative market during the forecast period.
Dec 2017, 350 pages, Data Bridge Market Research, $4,200
The Global Industrial Robots Market accounted to $38.20 billion in 2016 growing at a CAGR of 9.54% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2024. The upcoming market report contains data for historic years 2015, the base year of calculation is 2016 and the forecast period is 2017 to 2024.
Global Collaborative Robots market is expected to grow at 49.14% CAGR during the forecast period 2017-2025; North America collaborative robots market was valued at $74 million in 2016 and is estimated to generate a net revenue of approximately $1592 million by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 40.93%.
The market for collaborative robots is expected to grow at a CAGR of 56.6% from 2017 to 2023. Drivers are towards automation as well as growing demand for compact, lightweight and dexterous robots along with low average selling price and higher returns by investing on collaborative robots.
The report reviews the major drive providers (Nabtesco, Harmonic Drive, Sumitomo) and four new Chinese providers as well (an important factor since there is a major backlog in harmonic drive production and much of the demand is for robots in China).
Low power, smaller, lighter sensors with enhanced performance attributes and minimal false alarms is driving innovations in the sensors space for safety systems, wearables, drones, radar and intrusion detection.
Professional, agricultural, commercial and consumer service robots
The global Agriculture Robot market is expected to increase from $1.03 billion in 2016, to $4.7 billion in 2023, at a CAGR of 24.31% from 2017 to 2023. The overall Agriculture Robots market is mainly driven by the focus on technological innovations such as precision farming to enhance the yield of crops.
Europe was the largest production market with a market share of 48.63% in 2016, it is also the biggest consumption market with a market share of 59.44% in 2016. North America ranked the second markets with the production market share of 33.28% in 2016 and with the consumption share of 32.52% in 2016.
The global commercial robotics market is set to rise to $17.6 billion by 2022 at a CAGR of 24.4% beginning at $5.9 billion by the end of 2017, 40% of which is medical robotics.
The global agricultural robots market is estimated to account for a market revenue of $2,927 million in 2016 and is expected to reach to $11,050 million in 2023.
Oct 2017, 203 pages, Meticulous Market Research, $4,175
Global Food Robotics Market is expected to reach $2.2 billion by 2022 supported by a CAGR of 12.5% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2022. Drivers include lack of skilled workforce, increasing food safety regulations, rising demand for advanced food packaging and growing demand to improve productivity.
Ten major segments hold great market potential for next decade: floor cleaning robots, robot lawn mowers, milking robots, telepresence robots, surgical robots, automated guided vehicles, autonomous mobile robots, unmanned aerial vehicles and humanoid, assistant and social companion robots. The installed base of service robots in these segments reached 29.6 million worldwide at the end of 2016.
The humanoid robot market is expected to reach $3.9 billion by 2023 from $320.3 million in 2017, at a CAGR of 52.1% between 2017 and 2023. This growth can be attributed to the introduction of advanced features in humanoid robots, the increasing use of humanoids as educational robots, and growing demand from the retail industry for personal assistance.
Covers top manufacturers Softbank, Robotis, Hanson, Ubtech, Hasbro, Wowwee, Qihan and basic uses for this type of robot in education, entertainment, space, R&D, personal assistance, caregiving, search & rescue and PR.
Two International Federation of Robotics Annual Reports
The fact-based backbone for many of the research reports shown above are the International Federation of Robotics’ (IFR) annual World Robotics Industrial Robotsand World Robotics Service Robots reports. These two books represent the official tabulation and analysis from all the robot associations around the world and cover all aspects of industrial and service robotics.The 2017 reports cover 2016 activity.
Industrial Robots: By 2020 the IFR estimates that more than 1.7 million new industrial robots will be installed in factories worldwide. In 2017 robot installations are estimated to increase by 21% in the Asia-Australia region. Robot supplies in the Americas will surge by 16% and in Europe by 8%.
Service Robots: The IFR estimated that sales of all types of robots for domestic tasks – e.g. vacuum cleaning, lawnmowing, window cleaning – could reach almost 32 million units in the period 2018-2020, with an estimated value of about $11.7 billion. At the same time total unit sales of professional service robots are estimated to reach a total of almost $18.8 billion – about 400,000 units will be sold.
The two reports can be purchased from the IFR for $2,100 (€1800 + VAT where applicable). The reports can also be purchased separately: the industrial report in pdf format costs $1,400 (€1200) and the service report $700 (€600).
Locus Robotics, a Wilmington, MA-based startup, raised $25 million in a Series B funding led by Silicon Valley Scale Venture Partners, with additional participation from existing investors. Locus plans to use the funds to expand into international markets and build up its growing subscription-based robot fleet. Locus business model uses Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) which allows customers to use Locus’ solutions without a large-scale capital investment.
The story of how Locus came to be is almost as interesting as why their mobile robots and RaaS business mode are getting so much attention and acceptance.
In March 2012, in an effort to make their distribution centers (DCs) as efficient as possible, Amazon acquired Kiva Systems for $775 million and almost immediately took them in-house. There was a year of confusion after the acquisition whether Kiva would continue providing DCs with Kiva robots. It became clear that Amazon was taking all Kiva’s production and that, at some future date, Kiva would stop supporting their existing client base and focus entirely on Amazon – which happened in April 2015 when Amazon renamed Kiva to Amazon Robotics and encouraged prospective users of Kiva technology to let Amazon Robotics and Amazon Services provide fulfillment within Amazon warehouses using Amazon robots.
Locus Robotics came to be because its founders were early adopters of Kiva Systems robotics technology. When they couldn’t expand with Kiva because Kiva had been taken off the market by Amazon, they were inspired to engineer a system they thought better and which empowered human pickers with mobile robots. The Locus mobile robot and related software are their solution.
Jibo is a personal robot with a difference. It is unlike the stationary Amazon Alexa or Google Home. It attempts to offer the same repertoire of features while adding its physical presence and mobility to the mix.
Quoting Time Magazine, “Jibo looks like something straight out of a Pixar movie, with a big, round head and a face that uses animated icons to convey emotion. It’s not just that his body swivels and swerves while he speaks, as if he’s talking with his nonexistent hands. It’s not just that he can giggle and dance and turn to face you, wherever you are, as soon as you say, “Hey, Jibo.” It’s that, because of all this, Jibo seems downright human in a way that his predecessors do not. Jibo could fundamentally reshape how we interact with machines.”
Jibo can recognize up to six faces and voices yet it still has a lot to learn. Although he can help users in basic ways, like by summarizing news stories and taking photos, he can’t yet play music or work with third-party apps like Domino’s and Uber.
As an original IndieGoGo backer back in 2014, it’s been a long wait. Three years! Yes, this version of Jibo still has a lot to learn. But those skills are coming in 2018 as Jibo’s SDK becomes available to developers.
Huachangda Intelligent Equipment, a Chinese industrial robot integrator primarily servicing China’s auto industry, has acquired Swedish Robot System Products (RSP), a 2003 spin-off from ABB with 70 employees in Sweden, Germany and China, for an undisclosed amount. RSP manufactures grippers, welding equipment, tool changers and other peripheral products for robots.
Last monthHTI Cybernetics, a Michigan industrial robotics integrator and contract manufacturer, was acquired by Chongqing Nanshang Investment Group for around $50 million. HTI provides robotic welding systems to the auto industry and also has a contract welding services facility in Mexico.
China is in the midst of a national program to develop or acquire its own technology to rival similar technologies in the West, particularly in futuristic industries such as robotics, electric cars, self-driving vehicles and artificial intelligence. China’s Made in China 2025 program will “support state capital in becoming stronger, doing better, and growing bigger, turning Chinese enterprises into world-class, globally competitive firms,” said President Xi at the recent party congress meeting in Beijing.
Made in China 2025 has specific targets and quotas. It envisions China domestically supplying 3/4 of its own industrial robots and more than 1/3 of its demand for smartphone chips by 2025, for example. These goals are backed with money: $45 billion in low-cost loans, $3 billion for advanced manufacturing efforts and billions more in other types of financial incentives and support.
Over the last two years there have been many targeted acquisitions by Chinese companies, of robotic companies in the EU and US. Following are the major ones:
Midea Group, for around $4.5 billion, last year acquired the world’s 4th largest robot manufacturer, Germany-based Kuka AG.
Baidu acquired Silicon Valley vision systems startup Xperception for an undisclosed amount.
Servotronix, an Israeli motion control and automation systems company, was acquired by Midea Group for $170 million. Servotronix, founded in 1987, develops and manufactures comprehensive and high performance motion control solutions.
RoboRobo, a Korean educational robotics kit and course provider startup, was acquired by Shengtong Printing for $62 million in cash and stock.
Hocoma, a Swiss provider of robotic and sensor-based rehabilitation solutions, merged with Chinese DIH International to provide comprehensive rehab solutions.
Bottom line:
The consequences of China’s relentless quest for technology acquisitions may upset global trade. Their efforts have many American and European officials and business leaders pushing for tougher rules on technology purchases. Jeremie Waterman, President of the China Center at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the following to the NY Times.
“If Made in China 2025 achieves its goals, the U.S. and other countries would likely become just commodity exporters to China — selling oil, gas, beef and soybeans.”
Bossa Nova Robotics, a Silicon Valley developer of autonomous service robots for the retail industry, announced the close of a $17.5 million Series B funding round led by Paxion Capital Partners and participation by Intel Capital, WRV Capital, Lucas Venture Group (LVG), and Cota Capital. This round brings Bossa Nova’s total funding to date to $41.7 million.
Bossa Nova helps large scale stores automate the collection and analysis of on-shelf inventory data by driving their sensor-laden mobile robots autonomously through aisles, navigating safely among customers and store associates. The robots capture images of store shelves and use AI to analyze the data and calculate the status of each product including location, price, and out-of-stocks which is then aggregated and delivered to management in the form of a restock action plan.
They recently began testing their robots and analytic services in 50 Walmart stores across the US. They first deployed their autonomous robots in retail stores in 2013 and have since registered more than 710 miles and 2,350 hours of autonomous inventory scanning, capturing more than 80 million product images.
“We have worked closely with Bossa Nova to help ensure this technology, which is designed to capture and share in-store data with our associates in near real time, works in our unique store environment,” said John Crecelius, vice president of central operations at Walmart. “This is meant to be a tool that helps our associates quickly identify where they can make the biggest difference for our customers.”
CMU grads launched Bossa Nova Robotics in Pittsburgh as a designer of robotic toys. In 2009 they launched two new products: Penbo, a fuzzy penguin-like robot that sang, danced, cuddled and communicated with her baby in their own Penbo language; and Prime-8, a gorilla-like loud fast-moving robot for boys. In 2011 and 2012 they changed direction: they sold off the toy business and focused on developing a mobile robot based on CMU’s ballbot technology. Later they converted to normal casters and mobility methods and spent their energies on developing camera, vision and AI analytics software to produce their latest round of shelf-scanning mobile robots.
The Singles’ Day Shopping Festival held each year on November 11th is just like Black Friday, Mothers’ Day or any other sales-oriented psuedo-holiday, but bigger and more extravagant. Starting in 2009 in China as a university campus event, Singles Day has now reached all over China and to more than 180 countries.
After 24 hours of non-stop online marketing, including a star-studded Gala with film star Nicole Kidman and American rapper Pharrell Williams, the day (also known as Bachelors Day or 11/11 because the number “1” is symbolic of an individual that is alone) concluded with a sales total of ¥168 billion ($25.3 billion) on the Tmall and Taobao e-commerce networks (both belong to the Alibaba Group (NASDAQ:BABA)). Other e-commerce platforms including Amazon’s Chinese site Amazon.cn, JD.com, VIP.com and Netease’s shopping site you.163.com also participated in the 11/11 holiday with additional sales.
Singles Day sales reported by Alibaba were $5.8 billion in 2013, $9.3 billion in 2014, $14.3 billion in 2015, $17.8 billion in 2016, and $25.3 billion for 2017.
In a story reported by DealStreetAsia, JD.com said that their sales for Singles’ Day – and its 10-day run-up – reached ¥127.1 billion ($19.1 billion), a 50% jump from a year ago. JD started its sales event on Nov. 1st to reduce delivery bottlenecks and to give users more time to make their purchasing decisions.
Muyuan Li, a researcher for The Robot Report, said: “Chinese people love shopping on e-commerce websites because sellers offer merchandise 20% – 60% cheaper than in the stores, particularly on 11/11. Sites and consumer items are marketed as a game and people love to play. For example, if you deposit or purchase coupons in advance, you can get a better deal. Customers compare prices on manmanbuy.com or smzdm.com and paste product page urls into xitie.com to see the historical prices for those products. There are lotteries to win Red Envelope “cash” which are really credits that can be applied to your Singles Day shopping carts, and contests to beat other shoppers to the check out.”
Robotics-related products sold in great quantities on Singles Day. ECOVACS and other brands of robot vacuum cleaners were big sellers as were DJI and other camera drones and all sorts of robotic toys and home assistants.
The process:
Although 11/11 was a great day for people buying robotic products, it was also a significant day for the new technologies of handling those products: 1.5 billion Alibaba parcels will transverse China over the next week delivering those purchases to Chinese consumers while all those packed and shipped items will have been manufactured, boxed, cased, temporarily stored and then unskidded, unboxed, picked and packed, sorted for shipment and shipped in all manner of ways.
New technology is part of how this phenomenal day is possible: robots, automation, vision systems, navigation systems, transportation systems and 100,000 upgraded smart stores (where people viewed items but then bought online) – all were part of the mechanical underside of this day – and foretell how this is going to play forward. There were also hundreds of thousands of human workers involved in the process.
Material handling:
Here are a few of the robotics-related Chinese warehousing systems vendors that are helping move the massive volume of 11/11’s 1.5 billion packages:
Siasun Robot & Automation — Siasun, China’s largest robot manufacturer, posted an article about how their robots are used in logistics centers around China to handle 11/11 and the steadily growing consumer e-commerce volume.
Alibaba and Jack Ma:
Jack Ma, is the founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group and one of Asia’s richest men, with a net worth of $47.8 billion, as of November 2017 according to Forbes. His story is a rags to riches one with an ‘Aha’ moment, where, on a trip to the US, he tried to search for general information about China and found none. So he and his friend created a website with a rudimentary linkage system to other websites. They named their company “China Yellow Pages.”
Quoting from Wikipedia: “In 1999 he founded Alibaba, a China-based business-to-business marketplace site in his apartment with a group of 18 friends. In October 1999 and January 2000, Alibaba twice won a total of a $25 million foreign venture capital investment. Ma wanted to improve the global e-commerce system and from 2003 he founded Taobao Marketplace, Alipay, Ali Mama and Lynx. After the rapid rise of Taobao, eBay offered to purchase the company. Ma rejected their offer, instead garnering support from Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang with a $1 billion investment. In September 2014 Alibaba became one of the most valuable tech companies in the world after raising $25 billion, the largest initial public offering in US financial history. Ma now serves as executive chairman of Alibaba Group, which is a holding company with nine major subsidiaries: Alibaba.com, Taobao Marketplace, Tmall, eTao, Alibaba Cloud Computing, Juhuasuan, 1688.com, AliExpress.com and Alipay.”
Ma was recently quoted at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum as saying that people should stop looking to manufacturing to drive economic growth. That message ties into his and Alibaba’s overall business plan to be involved in all aspects of the online e-commerce world.
Industrial & collaborative robots
Service & surgical robots
Agricultural & food handling robotics
Surveillance robots, drones, mobile robots & ROVs
This year’s CES was a great show for robots. “From the latest in self-driving vehicles, smart cities, AI, sports tech, robotics, health and fitness tech and more, the innovation at CES 2018 will further global business and spur new jobs and new markets around the world,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CTA.
MiR (Mobile Industrial Robots
There’s a scare-tactic video going around on social media, and I wanted to weigh in on it—this particular video has gone from 500,000 views to almost 2 million in the past 10 days. As a matter of principle, I will not link to it. It presents a scary future in which killer robotic drones—controlled by any terrorist organization or government—run rampant.
CMU grads launched Bossa Nova Robotics in Pittsburgh as a designer of robotic toys. 
Here are a few of the robotics-related Chinese warehousing systems vendors that are helping move the massive volume of 11/11’s 1.5 billion packages: