Gecko Robotics, a creator of wall-climbing robots for asset inspection, announced that it’s expanding its work with the US Navy. Gecko’s robots will now be inspecting the US Navy’s first amphibious assault ship and an additional Arleigh Burke Class destroyer. 

Gecko’s AI-powered robots gather data and build digital models of the Navy’s vessels to increase the speed of maintenance cycles and reduce the amount of time Navy vessels spend in dry dock. 

Since being deployed with the Navy, Gecko’s robots have been able to reduce the lead time required for a ship rudder inspection from 11 days to one. Gecko’s inspections are also much more thorough than manual ones, for example, for one Navy asset, Gecko’s robots found more than 4.2 million data points on its inspection, while traditional methods found only 100 data points. 

“We built Gecko Robotics to solve the hardest physical problems facing the world’s most important organizations,” Jake Loosararian, CEO and Co-Founder of Gecko Robotics, said. “We are proud to have a mature technology that has been tested and approved by both Navy technical leaders and the sustainment officials charged with reducing the Navy’s maintenance backlog. The sailors of the U.S. Navy have a vital mission in an increasingly complicated geopolitical environment and Gecko stands with them to make sure they have the tools they need to do their jobs safely and effectively.”

Gecko isn’t just working with the US Navy, in December 2022, the company announced it was awarded an 18-month, $1.5 million contract through the US Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.

Gecko Robotics’ technology is made for the power generation, oil and gas, heavy manufacturing and defense industries. Its TOKA Series robots, which include the TOKA 3, TOKA 4, TOKA 4 GZ and TOKA Flex, are each designed to perform under certain circumstances.

The TOKA 3, for example, is better for inspections on medium-sized piping and high-temperature surfaces, while the TOKA 4 does better with boiler walls and curved surfaces. The TOKA 3 is able to cover 60 feet per minute, while the others in the series can reach a top speed of 30 feet per minute.

Gecko was co-founded by Loosararian and Troy Demmer, now the chief product officer. Loosararian started the company in 2013 and in 2016 joined efforts with Demmer. The company received $2.1 million in funding the same year. 

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Iron Drone offers a counter-drone intercepting system that can eliminate small drones without using GPS or RF jamming. | Source: Ondas Holdings

Airobotics, a subsidiary of Ondas Holdings, announced that it has completed the acquisition of the assets of Iron Drone Ltd, an Israeli-based company that creates autonomous counter-drone systems. The acquisition became effective on March 6, 2023. 

Iron Drone offers a fully-automated drone intercepting system that can eliminate small drones without using GPS or RF jamming. Based on initial radar guidance, the company’s interceptor drone is launched from a designated pod and autonomously flies toward its targets. The drone then locks onto the target with advanced AI vision, follows the target, incapacitates and captures it using a net and a parachute before it safely lowers it to the ground. 

“Iron Drone’s counter-drone technology is a perfect fit for Ondas’ portfolio as it is a mission-critical system that can be installed to protect sensitive assets,” Eric Brock, Chairman and CEO of Ondas, said in a release. “The combination of Airobotics with Iron Drone represents a new revenue opportunity for Ondas in a market that is seeing a lot of growth. Iron Drone’s expertise and technology will be complementary to the Optimus System drone, providing our growing list of customers in the public safety and industrial sectors with the solution they are looking for.”

Iron Drone is Ondas’ first foray into the public safety, homeland security and defense markets. The company’s system and Airobotics’ Optimus System together offer a government-grade drone system for security and critical infrastructure protection and monitoring. 

“We’re moving fast to bring the Iron Drone solution to the homeland security worldwide market,” Meir Kliner, Ondas Autonomous Systems President, said in a release. “We have already been approached by various potential customers who are looking for a reliable, non-weaponized counter-drone solution. The unique integrated AI-based Iron Drone solution relies on [the] physical elimination of the target drone. This makes it effective against pre-programmed hostile drones and UAVs which do not rely on [the] operator’s radio-link. Moreover, due to its low collateral signature, it can be operated in areas where the use of jamming is prohibited, such as airports, populated areas, and critical infrastructures. With Iron Drone, our customers will be able to neutralize threats while utilizing Optimus drones for monitoring, observation, and video surveillance.”

Ondas announced it was acquiring Airobotics in July 2022, with the goal of accelerating American Robotics‘, another Ondas subsidiary, technical development and regulatory roadmap and expanding the breadth of applications, use cases and vertical AR targets. 

Airobotics’ Optimus System is an autonomous unmanned aircraft system that focuses on high-value applications within the industrial, homeland security and smart city services market. The system includes an industrial-grade drone-in-a-box and the Optimus Airbase, which allows for robotic battery and payload swapping. 

The Scout System from American Robotics includes Scout, a fully-autonomous drone, ScoutBase, a weatherproof charging and edge computing station and ScoutView, a fleet management and analytics software. Scout is intended for industrial, agricultural, and defense markets. 

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Welcome to Episode 101 of The Robot Report Podcast, which brings conversations with robotics innovators straight to you. Join us each week for discussions with leading roboticists, innovative robotics companies and other key members of the robotics community.

In this episode we discussing San Francisco’s voting around its police department being able to use robots with lethal force in emergencies. After initially voting 8-3 in favor of cops using robots with lethal for as a last-ditch effort, San Francisco supervisors reversed course on Tuesday and unanimously voted to temporarily ban its police department from using robots with lethal force. The issue is being sent back to a committee for further discussion and could be voted on again in the future.

After last week’s 8-3 vote, I spoke to Paul Scharre, vice president and director of studies at the Center for a New American Security. He previously worked in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) where he played a leading role in establishing policies around unmanned and autonomous systems and emerging weapons technologies.

In the interview, Paul details his work at the OSD and describes the process they went through to develop policies around the aforementioned issues. Paul and I dive into what’s going on in San Francisco and how to improve the process of debating, developing and implementing policies around arming police officers with robots with lethal force in emergencies. Paul also shared his thoughts on how the robotics industry might better help with these types of issues going forward.

Links from today’s show:

• Call for presentations for Robotics Summit
• In reversal, San Francisco bans police from using robots with lethal force
• Paul Scharre’s website

If you want to be a guest on an upcoming episode of the podcast, or if you have recommendations for future guests or segment ideas, contact Steve Crowe or Mike Oitzman.

For sponsorship opportunities of The Robot Report Podcast, contact Courtney Nagle for more information.

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A woman holds up a sign while taking part in a demonstration about the use of robots by the San Francisco Police Department outside of City Hall in San Francisco on Monday. | Credit: Jeff Chiu/AP

San Francisco supervisors reversed course on Tuesday and unanimously voted to temporarily ban its police department from using robots with lethal force. The issue is being sent back to a committee for further discussion and could be voted on again in the future.

Tuesday’s unanimous vote is a reversal from last week’s 8-3 vote in favor of allowing police officers to use remote-controlled, ground-based robots with lethal force in emergency situations. The board voted in favor of giving police the option to deploy robots as a last resort.

The police said last week they had no plans to arm the robots with guns, but wanted the ability to put explosives on them in extraordinary circumstances. The proposal said officers could only use such robots after using alternative force, de-escalation tactics or deciding that the subject wouldn’t be subdued using these alternative means. Even then, only a few high-ranking officers can authorize the use of robots for deadly force.

The proposal would have allowed officers to use robots to kill a suspect “when risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and officers cannot subdue the threat after using alternative force options or de-escalation tactics.”

However, some supervisors said they felt the public did not have enough time to engage in the discussion about whether robots could be used to kill people before the board first voted last week.

“The people of San Francisco have spoken loud and clear: There is no place for killer police robots in our city,” supervisor Dean Preston told ABC News in a statement after Tuesday’s reversal. “There have been more killings at the hands of police than any other year on record nationwide. We should be working on ways to decrease the use of force by local law enforcement, not giving them new tools to kill people.”

“The use of robots in potentially deadly force situations is a last resort option. We live in a time when unthinkable mass violence is becoming more commonplace,” San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said at the time. “We need the option to be able to save lives in the event we have that type of tragedy in our city.”

Proponents of the measure said using robots in extreme situations can keep more police officers safe by taking them out of deadly situations. Some said it could decrease the use of deadly force, as officers often use it when they feel their lives are in danger, and a robot would remove that risk.

“Thanks to the passionate residents of the Bay Area and the leadership of Supervisors Preston, Ronen, and Walton, the Board today voted against SFPD use of deadly force with remote-controlled robots,” said Matthew Guariglia, policy analyst for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “Should the Rules Committee revisit the issue, the community must come together to stop this dangerous use of technology.”

The first time a robot was reportedly used by law enforcement with deadly force in the United States was in Dallas in 2016, when police used a bomb-disposal robot equipped with an explosive device to kill a sniper who had killed five police officers.

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Kodiak’s autonomous driving platform was specifically built for autonomous trucking. | Source: Kodiak Robotics

The United States Army and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) awarded Kodiak Robotics with a 24-month, $49.9 million contract in October. Kodiak beat out 33 other autonomous vehicle companies for the opportunity. 

Under the contract, Kodiak will work with the Army’s Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) program. The company will develop an autonomous solution that can be used in future Army ground vehicles for reconnaissance, surveillance and other high-risk missions. Kodiak will develop remote driving capabilities alongside its autonomous capabilities to give the Army more flexibility with its vehicles. 

“At Kodiak, we are honored to take on the challenge of developing technology to protect those who defend us. We believe our work with the Army and DIU will both help strengthen national security and further accelerate our path to commercial deployment of our long-haul self-driving trucking technology,” Kodiak’s CEO and founder Don Burnette said in a release. “We owe a debt of gratitude to the servicemen and women who step into harm’s way to keep us safe; keeping them safe in return is an honor we take seriously.”

The army hopes to use the project to keep up with the latest commercial technologies by creating a continuous technical pipeline that will enable rapid development and deployment of new autonomous vehicle technologies as they become commercially available. 

The contract also gives Kodiak the opportunity to improve its Kodiak Driver, the company’s autonomous trucking platform. 

Last year, Kodiak brought in $125 million in Series B funding, bringing its total funding at the time to $165 million. Kodiak’s autonomous driving system is purpose-built for long-haul trucking. The fourth-generation truck has a modular sensor suite that includes a center pod on the truck’s front roofline and pods integrated into both side mirrors. Kodiak’s autonomous trucks handle the on-highway driving, while a human driver handles getting on and off the highway and driving to the final destination.

This won’t be the company’s first time working with government agencies. In 2021, it received a U.S. Air Force Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract. Under the contract, Kodiak worked with the Dover Air Force Base to develop a software platform for simulated autonomous vehicles that would navigate the Dover flightline. 

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A Qinetiq multi-mission explosive ordnance disposal robot. | Source: Qinetiq

San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday night to allow the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) to use remote-controlled and potentially lethal robots in emergency situations. The board voted 8-3 in favor of giving police the option to deploy robots as a last resort in emergency situations. 

Tuesday night, the board added language to the proposal to specify that officers can only use such robots after using alternative force, de-escalation tactics or deciding that the subject wouldn’t be subdued using these alternative means. Even then, only a few high-ranking officers can authorize the use of robots for deadly force. 

This will allow officers to use ground-based robots to kill “when risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and officers cannot subdue the threat after using alternative force options or de-escalation tactics.”

The vote followed an over two-hour-long debate, with opponents of the measure voicing concerns about further militarization of San Francisco’s police force, which civil liberties and other police oversight groups said was already too aggressive with poor and minority communities.

Proponents of the measure, however, said using robots in extreme situations can keep more police officers safe by taking them out of deadly situations. Some said it could decrease the use of deadly force, as officers often use it when they feel their lives are in danger, and a robot would remove that risk. 

Currently, the San Francisco Police Department says it has no pre-armed robots and no plans to start strapping guns to robots. Instead, the department said it could equip one of its 12 functioning robots with explosive charges. According to SFPD spokesperson Allison Maxie, these robots would be used to contact, incapacitate or disorient armed or dangerous suspects. 

“Robots equipped in this manner would only be used in extreme circumstances to save or prevent further loss of innocent lives,” Maxie said in a statement.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed’s office said the policy “strikes a good balance between protecting lives and establishing guardrails to prevent misuse” in a statement about the decision. 

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Applied Intuition’s Simian simulation platform can create thousands of scenarios for autonomous vehicle development. | Source: Applied Intuition

The Army and Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) have selected Applied Intuition to deliver an end-to-end autonomy software development and testing platform for the Army’s Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV program). The contract has a $49 million ceiling for the competitive prototyping phase that will span two years. 

Applied Intuition will be drawing on its expertise in developing software products to develop and test autonomous vehicles to provide a foundational modeling and simulation platform for the RCV program. The platform aims to give the RCV program office, under the umbrella of PEO Ground Combat Systems, the ability to manage software development and testing for mission and mobility autonomy to be used in RCV variants. 

The RCV program turned to Applied Intuition and its end-to-end autonomy development solutions to improve its off-road maneuvering, obstacle avoidance and safety capabilities. Applied Intuition’s toolchain will also help the RCV program evaluate autonomy stacks created by the Army and its other commercial partners. 

“We are excited to bring our proven enterprise autonomy development toolchain to the Army’s RCV program,” Qasar Younis, co-founder and CEO of Applied Intuition, said. “Our modeling and simulation development environment will enable continuous improvement of autonomy software across the program’s lifecycle and will ultimately enhance the Army‘s broader approach to autonomy stack development.”

The contract, part of the Software Pathway under the Agile Acquisition Framework, is a result of DIU’s Commercial Solutions Opening, which involves the Army’s RCV program working in close coordination with DIU to acquire commercial software.

“The innovative use of the Department of Defense’s Software Acquisition Pathway to acquire commercial modeling and simulation software for autonomy development is a landmark achievement,” Colin Carroll, the Head of Government at Applied Intuition, said. “We look forward to helping the RCV program and the DOD quickly and safely scale production of autonomous systems.”

Applied Intuition was founded in 2017, and has since raised over $350 million. In November 2021, when it announced its last funding round, the company was valued at $3.6 billion. It offers a suite of products aimed at facilitating testing for autonomous vehicles. These include Simian, the company’s core simulator that provides comprehensive scenario coverage for AV development, and Spectral, a platform to train, test and validate perception systems. 

The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley and has offices in Los Angeles, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Munich, Stockholm, Seoul and Tokyo.

Applied Intuition recently partnered with Ouster, which recently announced it was merging with Velodyne, with the goal of speeding up customer deployment of LiDAR-based perception systems. The partnership will involve the companies collaborating to create, test and release synthetic models of Ouster LiDARs. 

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The IP-54-rated aircraft features a 31-minute flight time, radar-based front collision avoidance, and backpack portability, so professional UAV pilots can fly safely when and where the mission demands. | Credit: FLIR

Teledyne FLIR, part of Teledyne Technologies Incorporated, launched SIRAS, a professional drone that includes a quick-connect dual radiometric thermal and visible camera payload. Engineered for data security, performance, and affordability, SIRAS is optimized for industrial and utility inspection, public safety, firefighting, and search and rescue missions.

Teledyne acquired FLIR for $8 billion in a major merger, early in 2021. Since the acquisition, the new division has continued to engineer new products and expand its portfolio of drone-specific options.

“Designed to provide pilots with the flexibility to get the job done, SIRAS delivers a geofence-free flight experience with thermal and visible imaging capabilities at $9,695 USD,” said, Mike Walters, vice president of product management, Teledyne FLIR. “SIRAS is the only enterprise drone to currently incorporate the patented MSX technology, which overlays the edge detail from the visible camera on the thermal image to provide critical information in real-time.”

The IP-54-rated aircraft features a 31-minute flight time, radar-based front collision avoidance, and backpack portability, so professional UAV pilots can fly safely when and where the mission demands. The included Vue TV128 payload features a quick-connect gimbal, which provides imagery compatible with FLIR Thermal Studio and leading third-party photogrammetry applications. The 16MP visible camera can zoom 128x to pinpoint details. The integrated 640×512 pixel, radiometric Boson provides best-in-class thermal imagery, 5x digital zoom, and temperature measurement of every pixel in the scene.

With a startup time of one minute, pilots can get eyes on the scene quickly and maintain control via a dual-band radio (2.4/5.8 GHz) connection, while hot-swappable batteries ensure efficient operation. To improve data security, SIRAS stores imagery on an onboard SD card and does not include cloud connection capability. Furthermore, pilots are not required to create an online profile, increasing ease of use and reducing potential unintended online data access.

The SIRAS aircraft was designed in collaboration with and is manufactured by Coretronic Intelligent Robotics Corporation (CIRC) in Taiwan, a subsidiary of Coretronic Group. Final payload integration and quality control are completed in the USA.

SIRAS will begin shipping in the fourth quarter of 2022 in the US. SIRAS is dual use and classified under US Department of Commerce jurisdiction as EAR 6A003.b.4.a.

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The K1 Hemisphere (right) is a wall-mounted security solution to be deployed near entrances of facilities. | Credit: Knightscope

Knightscope continues to diversify its portfolio with non-robotic security products. The San Francisco-based company recently introduced its K1 Hemisphere, a compact, stationary, mounted security solution with three cameras that provide 180-degree, eye-level, high-definition video. The solution features automatic license plate recognition and criminal facial recognition called Automatic Criminal Detection Capability (ACDC).

Knightscope is positioning itself as a security provider rather than a robotics manufacturer, and its two latest solutions represent an expansion of the company’s roadmap. Before the K1 Hemisphere, Knightscope in 2017 introduced the K1 Tower, a stationary, kiosk-style implementation of its security technology. 

Knightscope has struggled to reach profitability since it was founded in 2013. It began trading publicly on the NASDAQ exchange in January 2022. As a result of being a public company, the books are now transparent. Looking at the recent Form-10Q for Q1 2022, the data exposes this struggle.

The company charges up to $7 per hour to deploy its autonomous security robots (ASRs) and, until recently, wrote those contracts based on a 24/7 deployment. This means each robot brings in a maximum of about $62K in annual recurring revenue (ARR) for the company. Recognizing that revenue every quarter means each robot earns about $15K in quarterly recurring revenue (QRR).

Looking at the revenue for Q1 2022, Knightscope brought in $944,000 compared to the same quarter in 2021 where it earned $866,000, a positive delta of $78,000. However, given the average QRR, this implies that the company only deployed three additional robots from Q1 2021 to Q1 2022. During Q1, the cost to deploy was $310K. So the company spent $310K to earn $78K (or $4 for every $1 of revenue) in Q1. What’s not clear is how much of this operational cost is fixed and how much is variable based on the deployment of each subsequent robot.

Since the beginning of 2022, the company has announced 40+ new contracts, so we’ll have to wait for the Q2 numbers to see the results of these new deployments. However, if the costs to deploy scale similarly, then the company will be digging an even deeper hole.

New revenue streams

All of this is to say Knightscope needed additional revenue streams. The new K1 Hemisphere is an addition to the product portfolio that will enable upselling of future and existing customers with additional Knightscope solutions. It’s easy to imagine that each K3/K5 robot will drag an additional 5-10 K1 Hemispheres to the account (to cover each ingress/egress point on a property).

With an introductory price of $0.75 per hour on an annual contract, the K1 Hemisphere provides a cost-effective security solution for companies. For an additional $2 per hour, Knightscope+ remote monitoring services are available as an option.

Knightscope’s K1 Hemisphere is designed for commercial property owners, residential, bank ATMs, truck stops, lobbies, loading docks, ports, rail, schools, and more. The compact size and affordable subscription price make it an attractive entry point to deploy Knightscope’s advanced security technology. The K1 Hemisphere will begin shipping later this year.

“Over the next three decades, you should expect a very wide portfolio [from Knightscope] with solutions of every size and form factor that you could possibly imagine,” Knightscope chairman and CEO William Santana Li told The Robot Report. “We plan to put these devices into every nook and cranny, indoors and outdoors, on the corner of a federal courthouse, through an entire city or on a highway and everything in between. All these machines should be able to see, feel, hear and smell and do 100 times more than a human (security guard) could ever possibly do.”

William said the robotics industry focuses too much on robotics technology and not enough on solving customer problems. Part of the mission for the K1 Hemisphere is to be able to provide eyes, ears and voices on the ground in multiple locations simultaneously for the officers and guards to do their jobs much more effectively.

“I don’t think the founders of this country ever expected us to build a society where going to work, going to school, or going to a movie theater literally came with the risk of being shot or killed,” William said. “That’s not acceptable.”

For a use case like a school or corporate campus, the ideal situation would be to position a (stationary) Knightscope K1 tower at the ingress/egress to the parking lot, combined with a Knightscope K5 ASR patrolling in the parking lot. The K1 Hemisphere watches entrances and exits of buildings for extra coverage of the interior of a facility.

The K1 tower is a stationary, kiosk-style implementation of Knightscope’s security technology. | Credit: Knightscope

William said Knightscope releases new software features every two weeks. The company tries to release new hardware every 3-6 months. Features like visible weapon detection and acoustic gunshot detection are all feasible today. According to Knightscope, the roadmap for K1 Hemisphere will include features like gunshot detection and triangulation.

“I think we’re doing really well, in casinos and hospitals, commercial real estate, corporate campuses, some schools and cities, and law enforcement,” said William. “PG&E recently doubled their order, due partly to the ROI they are experiencing.”

He said supply chain issues are currently one of the biggest issues for the company, calling it a massive “Whack a Mole” problem.

William said the company is constantly chasing supply chain issues for its manufacturing line. He said the company has an order backlog of several million dollars. He added that Knightscope is taking the necessary steps to acquire, and in some cases even hoard, the materials required to stay on pace to deliver customer orders.

Knightscope’s machine-as-a-service (MaaS) business model means it can’t recognize revenue until the equipment is deployed in the field and operating for clients.

The Knightscope K3 tower is a mobile indoor version of the Knightscope security technology. | Credit: Knightscope

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Prosegur has equipped the Boston Dynamics Spot quadruped with a unique sensing payload for use in guard patrols. | Credit: Prosegur

There’s a new security dog in town and his name is Yellow. The Boston Dynamics Spot quadruped has been equipped with a unique sensor payload by Prosegur Security USA. This payload gives the robot enhanced sensing capabilities.

Prosegur is primarily a human guard services company, offering contractual guard services in a number of markets. Prosegur is expanding its clientele options by introducing The Yellow Robot, a new service, to its portfolio.

The robot is meant to be used in places that are too dangerous or hard for people to access. Yellow can distinguish “friend from foe” using GenzAI facial recognition technology from Azena, warning security of potential attacks.

The data stream from Yellow is connected to any Prosegur security operations center (SOC) using 5G technology.

“Prosegur understands the importance of intelligent, integrated security offerings, and Yellow is an innovative approach that connects and communicates with people and technologies to provide a comprehensive security solution,” said Mike Dunn, chief technology officer at Prosegur. “By leveraging our GenzAI platform, state-of-the-art machine learning, communication, smart cameras and video analytics, Yellow can detect security threats, relay information to the SOC and on-site security to quickly respond and neutralize any danger.”

Yellow uses video analytics in its guarding activities as an extension of Prosegur’s GenzAI platform and in collaboration with software from the Azena marketplace to detect and recognize suspicious aspects and immediately notify the SOC of any potential risks.

Yellow improves the effectiveness and support of human patrol operations, raising the level of safety and security for standalone manned guards. Yellow’s hypersensitive sensors allow it to identify temperature and gas variations that could be signs of a fire or a gas leak.

Yellow is expected to be deployed at sporting events and large gatherings to help enhance the function of human security guards. | Credit: Prosegur

Yellow’s ability to conduct perimeter patrols both independently and under the supervision of a security team member enables real-time application at both private businesses and public events, such as concerts and sporting events. Yellow can also adapt to any terrain, avoid obstacles, and make a detailed map of its patrol area thanks to its machine learning capabilities. Furthermore, Yellow’s sophisticated equipment permits uninterrupted transmission of its actual location to the SOC and local security. Yellow’s capabilities are adaptable and dynamic, and the dog easily fits into Prosegur’s overall security philosophy.

Hartmut Schaper, CEO of Azena, the platform powering Yellow’s video analytics, added, “Innovation is at the forefront of all we do at Azena and now AI-enabled video analytics can be leveraged in more sectors than ever before to improve safety, security and operational efficiency. We are proud to be working in partnership with Prosegur Security to augment human response by employing sophisticated detection technology.”

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Stratom RAPID uses an industrial robot arm to autonomously refuel a military vehicle. | Credit: Stratom

Stratom is a Colorado-based, veteran-owned robotics company that is helping automate various logistics processes for the United States military. Today, the company launched RAPID, its autonomous refueling, recharging and liquid transfer system for rugged environments and a variety of applications.

The solution leverages an industrial robot arm to autonomously locate a refueling port on a vehicle and then deliver the fuel. The system is ruggedized and designed to be deployed in the field, in adverse and difficult conditions.

Stratom’s core autonomy software drives the entire system, and the solution is versatile enough so that it can be configured for any number of mounting use cases and fuel types.

RAPID is adaptable to different vehicle types and can be deployed for a variety of applications, from mining, warehouse operations, trucking, aviation and cargo movement to high-volume container refilling and the transport of other materials, including water, other liquids and hazardous wastes.

The system can be used in both autonomous and human-operated applications. It can be operated remotely, so that the refueling operator can remain in another vehicle, bunker or a safe distance away. Vehicle operators do not need to exit their vehicles during the refueling process.

“Autonomy is transforming how we live, work, learn and entertain ourselves. Trends are increasingly showing that applications of this technology center around autonomous vehicles and the deployment of autonomous fleets,” said Mark Gordon, president and CEO of Stratom. “As the world moves toward an autonomous future, why bring humans back in the loop? At Stratom, we automate monotonous, difficult or dangerous tasks to help keep organizations — and their most valuable asset, their people — operating safely and at peak efficiency.”

Stratom has already deployed the RAPID solution to refuel helicopters. | Credit: Stratom

Stratom has deployed a number of autonomous refueling solutions, including helicopter refueling stations. The portability of the solution is key to the design as it allows the entire system to be transported and deployed to support mobile operations in the field.

Stratom claims the operational benefits of RAPID include:

• Reduced human exposure to hazardous environments
• Improved productivity and efficiency of fuel delivery system
• Streamlined configurability as a self-sufficient containerized system
• Ruggedized design for deployment in the most austere environments
• Increased resilience of operations

“Delivering a completely customized, groundbreaking solution aligned with the evolution of autonomous vehicles empowers Stratom to partner with innovative companies across industries to continue to solve the most pressing real-world operational challenges,” said Ryan DelGizzi, Stratom’s director of engineering. “With RAPID, crewed and uncrewed transportation and logistics operations decision-makers can significantly increase project flexibility and cost-efficiency while simultaneously solving productivity and safety challenges related to conveying significant amounts of liquid or fueling or recharging autonomous systems, vehicles, aircraft and other platforms.”

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As part of the ARM Institute’s COVID-19 focused project call, Siemens Corporation Corporate Technologies, Henderson Sewing Machine Corporation, Sewbo Inc, Bluewater Defense and Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center (ISAIC) collaborated on an robot that autonomously creates cloth face masks. | Source: ARM Institute

The Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute released its technology project call. The ARM Institute’s project calls are an opportunity for projects that help bridge the gap between the push of technology and pull of the need of the robotics industry to receive funding. 

The ARM Institute is looking for submissions that respond to the specific needs of the manufacturing industry and the Department of Defense (DoD). 

For this project call, teams are able to request up to $1 million per project, with a minimum 1:1 cost share required for all submissions. The overall ARM budget for the project will be approximately $10 million. 

The project call’s topic areas have been expanded to include an increased focus on artificial intelligence (AI) for robotic manufacturing systems. 

ARM Institute’s latest project call also features a new two-step process. The first step of the process will involve submitting a concept paper. During the second phase, the teams behind selected concept papers will be invited to give a project presentation to the Institute’s panel of reviewers. 

Along with new topic areas, the ARM Institute’s project call includes a number of new Special Topic Areas, including: 

• Adaptive Real-Time Path Planning and Control: A solution that allows an advanced manufacturing robotic system to adjust a path or trajectory to variations that may occur in the system or process. 
• Human Action & Intention Prediction: A project that involves robots assisting humans efficiently to prevent mistakes and errors. 
• Robot Learning: Models or methods that allow robots to learn a manufacturing task from another robot or a human. 
• Feature and Post Recognition and Estimation: A system that gives robots contextual awareness of a manufacturing task, component, process or other activity within a facility. This system should allows robots to anticipate the next step in the process. 
• Virtual Commissioning of Advanced Robotic Systems: Systems that reduce the risk of commissioning new manufacturing robotic systems and accelerate the deployment of automation. These systems should avoid the need for testing at installation time, when defects in the system can be costly to resolve. 
• AI and Data for Advanced Manufacturing Robotic Systems: Benchmarks, test methods and metrics to evaluate the performance of manufacturing robotic systems that leverage AI algorithms and associated data. 
• Multi-Agent Motion Planning and Tasking for Discrete and Continuous Manufacturing Processes: Motion Planning that involves real-time robotic awareness of other robots and agents, provides cooperation motion and tasking and error recovery of one or more agents in a multi-agent setting. 
• Virtual Masking for Advanced Coating Applications: A project that eliminates or significantly reduces the need for the labor intensive advanced coating process in aerospace and on ground vehicles. 

To submit a concept paper, your organization must be an ARM member. Concept paper submissions will close on August 12, 2022. 

The ARM Institute announced eight new robotics technology projects in February 2022. At the time, it planned to award nearly $4 million in funding across the projects. The projects chosen address issues found by the DoD and commercial community to be the most urgent and important. 

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FORT offers a number of hardware solutions, like a vehicle safety controller, nano safety controller and endpoint controller. | Source: FORT Robotics

FORT Robotics announced that it raised $25 million in a Series B funding round. The round was led by Tiger Global.

FORT plans to use the funding to accelerate the rollout of its machine communications platform, the FORT Platform, expand its platform’s functionality and enhance new security offering to address growing demands from end-users. 

The FORT Platform is aimed at making autonomous machines safer and more secure. It allows for highly reliable communication to, from and between machines by fusing functional safety and cybersecurity principals. All messages sent with the platform are speedy, accurate and secure. 

“Smart machines are transforming the world, but they come with unprecedented safety and security risks,” Samuel Reeves, Founder and CEO of FORT, said. “There’s a massive need for these machines to communicate in a trustworthy way, and it’s something that’s yet to be addressed in the industry. This investment will allow us to scale up to meet the demands of the next generation of smart machines.”

The FORT Platform is the foundation for FORT’s hardware solutions, which are used by customers like Agility Robotics, Hexagon and Moog. FORT’s hardware solutions include a wireless e-stop which instantly stops machines from a distance, safe remote controls that take manual control of autonomous machines and a vehicle safety controller that can act as an input, output or bridge. 

“Trust in machine communications is vital as the number of autonomous systems deployed in the real world multiplies exponentially. FORT’s platform is already being utilized by some of the biggest names in automation, and we are thrilled to be a part of their continued growth,” Griffin Schroeder, partner at Tiger Global, said.

In total, the company has raised $41.5 million, its last funding round closed in March 2021 and totalled $13 million. Lemnos, GRIDS Capital, Creative Ventures, Compound, Prologis and Funders Club also participated in the funding. 

Along with the funding, FORT announced that Sineesh Keshav, the managing director and chief technology officer at Prologis, will join FORT’s board. 

“Through Prologis Ventures, we are focused on supporting innovative and game-changing companies like FORT,” Keshav said. “Over the years, a lot of work has gone into protecting networks, users and critical data in the enterprise from cyber threats. I’m delighted to join the FORT board and help support the company’s work to extend the existing cybersecurity boundaries to the smart machine landscape using their deep background in machine safety as a unique differentiator.”

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The prototype of the STARFISH underwater gripper developed by RE2. | Source: Sarcos

RE2 Robotics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sarcos Technology and Robotics Corporation, announced that it reached a technical milestone on its Strong Tactile mARitime hand for Feeling, Inspecting, Sensing and Handling (STARFISH). The company has successfully assembled and lab tested a complete gripper that can grasp and hold a variety of objects. 

STARFISH is an underwater end-of-arm tooling that is equipped with tactile feedback. The gripper will be deployed with the U.S. Navy for mine countermeasures and explosive ordnance dispose (EOD). The project is being funding through the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research (ONR). 

“The way they handle EOD’s now is they typically send a diver down in the water to render a threat safe. You can think about the USS Cole, for example,” Jorgen Pedersen, Sarcos COO and former RE2 CEO, said. “That would be an example where if they had suspected that there would be a threat there, they would send a diver down to go try to take care of that. Now we have the ability to replicate that diver capability in robotic form.” 

The STARFISH prototype uses three tactile-sensing fingers to grip small and larger objects. It’s even able to perform fine motor skills like squeezing tweezers. The grippers fingers conform to the shape of the objects its holding, which allows it to handle objects on contact.

The prototype is durable enough to withstand turbulent underwater conditions, like ocean swells and other hazards. Its fingers are covered in a multimodal tactile sensor skin that allows them to feel normal and shear forces.

Sarcos developed this technology with Dr. Veronica Santos, the director of the Biomechatronics Laboratory at UCLA, and Dr. Jonathan Posner, a professor of mechanical engineering and chemical engineering at the University of Washington.

“[The skin] provides different forms of feedback—pressure, temperature, vibration—so that the same type of sensing that you have as a human you’re getting now at the end of the robot’s fingertip,” Pedersen said. 

The gripper can be teleoperated and can perform some autonomous functions with a human always in the loop to make sure things are running smoothly. 

The RE2 Sapien Sea Class is a dual arm system designed for deep ocean use. | Source: RE2 Robotics

In the next phase of the project, the STARFISH gripper will be attached to Sapien Sea Class underwater arms mounted onto an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV). While the technology is being developed for use in the Navy, according to Pedersen the company hopes to apply it to more applications in the future.  

“What’s cool about this technology is it’s foundational,” Pedersen said. “This same technology that works underwater can work on land. So, it’s not limited to subsea, we just happened to pick the hardest environment to work in. So my confidence in extending this into a terrestrial application is very high.”

RE2 was acquired by Sarcos in March 2022 for $100 million. The deal consists of $30 million in cash and $70 million of Sarcos common stock, and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022.

“It was a perfect strategic fit form both sides. Both companies had essentially the same mission,” Pedersen said. “We’re improving worker safety and productivity through robotics. So there was no change in the goal by bringing these two companies together.” 

The deal nearly doubles Sarcos’ engineering team and adds Pittsburgh, one of the world’s leading robotics clusters, as a second location. RE2 will eventually be rolled up into the Sarcos brand but will remain in Pittsburgh.

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Indoor Robotics, a 2022 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award winner, raised $15 million in Series A funding. The Israeli company said it will use the funding to continue development of its Tando indoor security drone. The round was led by Pitango and included Target Global, European Innovation Council Fund, and Spider Capital.

Indoor Robotics’ Tando uses multiple sensors and proprietary algorithms to map and navigate any indoor space. Tando docks on the ceiling and can function as a security camera when not in flight. In addition to office buildings, Indoor Robotics said Tando is currently being used to secure and monitor warehouses, data centers, malls, and retail establishments.

“We reimagined what a drone was capable of and combined human-like capabilities with AI tools to enable next-generation security and monitoring,” said Doron Ben David, co-founder, and CEO of Indoor Robotics. “Tando has already been deployed by the world’s leading enterprises and security monitoring companies and is making a tangible impact on safety and security.”

Indoor Robotics said the Series A funding will enable it to move into full production and develop its go-to-market strategy. Tando can also collect thermal imaging data and environmental data, as well as recording temperatures of rooms and identifying leaks.

Indoor Robotics was founded in 2018 by Ben David and Amit Moran. Ben David left his role as CTO of Israel Aerospace Industries’ Space Division when he began to collaborate with Moran, who is the former head of robotics innovation at Intel.

Ben David shared a story on LinkedIn about how the company was nearly shut down.

“We seized the opportunity to increase our investment in Indoor Robotics following the successful launch of Tando and the team’s demonstrated ability to surpass critical milestones,” said Rami Kalish, managing partner at Pitango. “Indoor Robotics’ proven capabilities have generated exciting demand from the market, which the investors are excited to facilitate.”

According to Crunchbase, Indoor Robotics’ Seed round closed in January 2019.

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