ABB (ABBN.S) has acquired a firm that focuses on improving industrial robot mobility through the use of 3D vision and artificial intelligence, allowing these machines to navigate more efficiently around warehouses and factories.
The acquisition of Sevensense, a Swiss start-up, is ABB’s latest robotics investment, and it coincides with rising demand for industrial robots that can move and function autonomously.
Zurich-based Sevensense designs and manufactures sensor and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions that effectively give manufacturing robots – which transport components to production lines – eyes and brains to move around plants.
“In the past, robots that supplied production lines usually followed fixed magnetic strips, they took a long time to install and weren’t very flexible,” said Sami Atiya, ABB’s head of robotics and discrete automation. “Now we have robots which can go all over the factory, but with eyes and a brain.”
Each robot, which has six cameras, can move 2 tonnes of material at rates of 1.5 meters per second.
“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,” he said. “Now we can do that easily,” he explained.
According to ABB predictions, the market for autonomous mobile robots (AMR) would rise by roughly 20% each year until 2026, growing from $5.5 billion in 2023 to $9.5 billion by 2026. This rate is faster than ABB’s projected yearly growth rate for conventional fixed robots, which is 8%.
The acquisition of Sevensense is the latest investment by ABB, which competes in industrial robots with Japan’s FANUC (6954.T) and Germany’s Kuka (KUKAF.PK) and follows the development of its US facility last year with the purchase of ASTI Mobile Robotics in 2021. The acquisition’s terms remained undisclosed.
Ford (FN) of the United States purchased 300 robots for its facility in Tennessee, while Michelin (MICP.PA), a French tire maker, is among the clients whose technology is now integrated into ABB’s products.
