The Rise of the Robots

With the rise and rise of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, a Sci-Fi style robotic world as depicted in ‘The Terminator’ films of the 80’s and 90’s has pulled focus. With everyone from national labs and small startups quietly working on them, a total of USD $18.8 billion was spent on robotics M&A alone on H1 last year. Here’s some of the developments in the robotic world. 

One of the major areas that saw a boom in robot use is e-commerce and retail. Google was on a robotics startup buying spree back in 2013 under the leadership of Andy Rubin, but it’s attention to robotics has been less intense of late. One of the most famous acquisitions was Boston Dynamics, which frequently releases video of astounding robots including a robotic running cheetah, a robotic dogs for delivery, and another robot that can clear hurdles and walk the stairs. We’ve all seen the slightly eary videos!

Google sold Boston Dynamics along with Schaft (a Japan based robotics firm that unveiled a walking robot last year) to Softbank. Softbank has major interest in robotics, with a majority stake in a robotics company named Aldebaran which is responsible for the famous robot ‘Pepper’ for customer service and retail settings in Japan. 

As e-commerce grows worldwide, the need for efficient warehouse pick and pack process sky rocketed. Industry leader Amazon bought Kiva Systems for $775 million back in 2012 that is now saving Amazon US$2.5Bn yearly by increasing efficiency in the warehouse. Today Kiva Systems has been renamed 'Amazon Robotics' with more than 30,000 Kiva robots running around its warehouses across the globe. Amazon’s robotics labs are hard at work on automation in the hopes of cutting cost and speeding fulfilment. It has also started working on automated drones. 

Manufacturing is also on the brink of another revolution brought by robotics providing an alternative human labour, or at least one which Scientists hope will create a symbiotic relationship between human and robots. Veo are working on robotic software that allow robotics take consideration of its surroundings, recognize humans and respond to their presence using depth-sensing cameras.

Tearing your attention away from those strong, hard edge robots for warehouse and military applications, today we have developed “soft robots” that operates with finesse.

• Soft robotic sleeve for medical patients with heart problems developed by Harvard university and Boston Children’s hospital
• Vine-like robots from Stanford University that look like inflated plastic tubes that could travel through narrow spaces to transport materials, for search and rescue missions and more
• Soft grippers for extracting organism samples under the water from Harvard University and Wyss Institute. 

Brian Trappe is Managing Director of Axiom Technology HeadhuntingAxiom Technology Headhunting in Hong Kong.