Google’s robotics software group is betting that the expensive part of automation is teaching the machine. Its answer combines reusable skills, a virtual workcell and an unexpectedly useful respect for loose cables.
Augmentus is a Singapore- and Texas-based robotics software company that makes industrial robots as easy to program as a smartphone. Its no-code platform pairs industrial 3D scanning, AI-driven path planning and adaptive motion control to auto-generate robot programs for surface finishing, welding, shot peening and material removal - turning weeks of manual programming into minutes. Founded in 2019, it sells a B2B software licensing product used at 50+ production sites across aerospace, heavy industry and energy in the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Realtime Robotics is a Boston-based deep-tech company that gives industrial and collaborative robots the ability to plan collision-free motion in real time. Spun out of DARPA-funded research at Duke University in 2016, its RapidPlan software and RapidSense perception system let robots generate and adjust their own paths in microseconds, cutting the time and cost of programming, deploying, and coordinating multiple robots in a shared workspace. Its technology is used by manufacturers including the BMW Group, and the company is backed by strategic investors such as Mitsubishi Electric, HAHN Automation, and SAIC Capital.