European technology services giant ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd., better known as ABB, said today it has acquired a startup called Sevensense Robotics AG that specializes in improving the mobility and awareness of industrial robots.

Sevensense combines artificial intelligence smarts with 3D vision capabilities to enable robots to move around factories and warehouses, so they can work independently of human operators. The company was founded in Zurich in 2018 as a spinoff from the Swiss technical university ETH Zurich.

In a press release announcing the deal, ABB said Sevensense specializes in making systems that use AI, cameras and sensors to provide robots with the eyes and the brains they need to maneuver around industrial facilities safely. It’s mainly focused on robots in the manufacturing industry that move around components and other equipment. However, its technology can also be integrated with forklift trucks, robotic cleaning machines and other types of robots to give them “unprecedented” autonomy.

ABB’s head of robotics and discrete automation, Sami Atiya, told Reuters that robots used to supply production lines have previously always been restricted to following fixed magnetic strips, limiting their versatility. “Now we have robots which can go all over the factory, but with eyes and a brain,” he said. “Under the old system when you needed to change a production line of 100 meters, adding a new production cell for example, it was impossible to divert the robot. Now we can do that easily.”

Sevensense’s systems equip mobile robots with something called Visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping, or Visual SLAM technology. It works by creating a 3D map of the robot’s surroundings that it then relies on to move around independently. Using AI algorithms to recognize what it sees, the robots can differentiate between fixed and mobile objects and humans in dynamic environments. The maps are constantly updated and shared across entire fleets of robots.

Marc Segura, president of ABB’s robotics business, said ABB’s intelligent autonomous mobile robots will also be able to track stock inventories as they work, sharing this information with other robots while collaborating with humans safely. “With the acquisition of Sevensense, ABB becomes the leader in next-generation AMRs, offering Visual SLAM in Autonomous Mobile Robots, together with an integrated portfolio covering robots and machine automation solutions, all managed by our value-creating software,” he said.

The acquisition could prove to be a smart buy for ABB if its own forecasts are accurate. In a report last year, it said the market for AMRs is expected to grow at around 20% per year for the next three years, rising from $5.5 billion in 2023 to $9.5 billion by 2026. That growth rate is much faster than the one indicated for conventional fixed robots, which is only expected to grow by 8% per year.

Holger Mueller of Constellation Research Inc. said growth in the AMR market will primarily be driven by intelligence, and to make these robots smarter, spatial awareness will be the key. “Whoever is able to get autonomous robots up and running soonest on factory shop floors will be the most successful,” the analyst explained. “This is why the acquisition of Sevensense makes a lot of sense for ABB, as it’s already one of the top players in this industry.”

ABB, which competes with Japan’s FANUC Corp. and Germany’s Keller und Knappich Augsburg GmbH in the industrial robotics industry, has made a number of acquisitions in this area. Prior to buying Sevensense, it acquired ASTI Mobile Robotics Group Ltd. in 2021.

ABB said it has already carried out extensive pilots integrating Sevensense’s technology with its AMRs, with notable projects involving the U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co. and the French tyre maker Michelin SCA.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. ABB said Sevensense’s 35 employees will now join its robotics division, and will continue to be based at the startup’s Swiss headquarters in Zurich.

Photos: ABB