Acquisition underlines ABB’s strategic funding concentrate on progressive AI options reworking industries
Thursday 11 January, 2024, Zurich, Switzerland: ABB at present introduced that it has acquired Swiss start-up Sevensense, a number one supplier of AI-enabled 3D imaginative and prescient navigation know-how for autonomous cell robots (AMRs). Sevensense was based in 2018 as a spin-off from Swiss technical College, ETH Zurich.
Sami Atiya, President of ABB Robotics and Discrete Automation mentioned:
This marks a big step in direction of our imaginative and prescient of a office the place AI-enabled robots help individuals, addressing our prospects’ wants for better flexibility and intelligence amidst essential expert labor shortages. Every cell robotic, geared up with imaginative and prescient and AI, scans a novel a part of the constructing; collectively these robots complement one another’s view to type an entire map, enabling them to work autonomously in a quickly altering setting.
The acquisition follows ABB’ minority funding in Sevensense after becoming a member of the corporate’s innovation ecosystem in 2021, the identical yr ABB acquired ASTI Cellular Robotics. Monetary particulars of the transaction weren’t disclosed. Following pilot buyer tasks within the automotive and logistics industries, ABB will combine Sevensense’s know-how into the corporate’s AMR portfolio, providing an unprecedented mixture of velocity, accuracy, and payload.
The marketplace for cell robots is anticipated to develop at 20 % CAGR by 2026, from $5.5bn to $9.5bn and ABB’s AI-powered 3D imaginative and prescient know-how is on the forefront of this development.
Sevensense’s pioneering navigation know-how combines AI and 3D imaginative and prescient, enabling AMRs to make clever choices, differentiating between mounted and cell objects in dynamic environments. As soon as manually guided, cell robots with Visible Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (Visible SLAM) know-how create a map that’s used to function independently, decreasing commissioning time from weeks to days and enabling the AMR’s to navigate in extremely complicated, dynamic environments alongside individuals. Maps are consistently up to date and shared throughout the fleet, providing instantaneous scalability with out interrupting operations and better flexibility in comparison with different navigation applied sciences.
Right now, this AI-enabled navigation know-how is already reworking the automotive manufacturing and logistics sectors, delivering worth by sooner and extra environment friendly operations. For automotive producer Ford, Visible SLAM enabled ABB AMR’s will create effectivity beneficial properties in manufacturing websites within the US, whereas Michelin will use the know-how in intralogistics at its manufacturing facility in Spain. Different automotive producers will roll out the know-how within the UK, Finland and Germany.
Marc Segura, President of ABB’s Robotics Division, commented:
Providing extra autonomy and cognitive intelligence, ABB’s distinctive market-proven know-how paves the way in which for a shift from linear manufacturing strains to dynamic networks. Clever AMRs autonomously navigate to manufacturing cells, monitoring inventory stock as they go and sharing this info with different robots, whereas collaborating safely side-by-side with people. With the acquisition of Sevensense, ABB turns into the chief in next-generation AMRs, providing Visible SLAM in Autonomous Cellular Robots, along with an built-in portfolio overlaying robots and machine automation options, all managed by our value-creating software program.
Gregory Hitz, CEO of Sevensense, mentioned:
It is a vital second in our shared journey, as we introduce our home-grown know-how to a wider vary of markets and sectors. ABB is the perfect house for us to proceed scaling our versatile platform for 3D visible autonomy, serving OEMs throughout the automated materials dealing with and repair robotics industries. Collectively, we are going to redefine the bounds of AI-enabled robotics.
This revolutionary know-how has the potential to affect robotics far past AMRs, resulting in better effectivity, flexibility and accuracy all through manufacturing and intralogistics. The know-how can even proceed to be bought throughout segments together with materials dealing with, cleansing and different service robotics fields beneath the product identify Sevensense.
The Sevensense partnership highlights the success of ABB’s dedication to nurturing the following technology of improvements. Via its companion ecosystem and collaboration with start-ups and universities, ABB develops main know-how for the advantage of international companies. Sevensense’s roughly 35 workers will proceed to be based mostly at its Swiss workplace in Zurich.