The world of robotics is rapidly expanding. Markets including manufacturing, logistics, consumer, healthcare, delivery and many more are embracing automation on a global scale.
While the innovation pace is amazing, the vast majority of the robots today are still not autonomous, and are not capable of moving around freely in complex real-life environments. Mobile robots in warehouses are becoming more common, but are still too complex, too expensive, and too limited to very controlled environments to tap into the broader market opportunity. Robotic vacuums and lawnmowers show great potential, but still lack the ability to truly understand their surroundings to behave and act as natural as humans do. Most other markets are even further behind.
As the level of required understanding rises, we believe only vision-based perception can really achieve human level understanding. Just like humans, combining vision with additional sensors makes the perception robust, accurate and immune to temporal failures. We are pioneering an artificial perception technology that enables mobile robots to understand complex surroundings and operate autonomously just like humans. Our vision is to enable any machine to move autonomously in any environment. Since RGo was founded in 2018, our team has created patent-pending computer vision and AI technology that will deliver on this promise. We have world-leading experts in artificial intelligence, computer vision, sensor fusion and other advanced automation technologies. We call the platform Perception Engine.
Perception Engine software, combined with ultra-low cost, low-power hardware, comprise a complete intelligent autonomy solution for a robot manufacturer. It determines precise position on a rich, user-friendly map. It detects obstacles and will be able to recognize and respond intelligently to people and other robots in complex environments. Over time, Perception Engine builds spatial contextual awareness as it learns more about its surroundings.
The hardware component is elegantly designed for seamless integration into nearly any kind of mobile machine. The system itself has a small footprint with extremely low power demands, despite its ability to conduct heavy computing at the edge.
How does Perception Engine compare to other technologies being used for robot navigation today? LiDAR is widely deployed, especially for self-driving vehicles thanks to their high-precision. But they are very expensive and difficult to integrate. And the use of lasers only allows them ‘see’ narrow slices of the environment. Non-vision sensors such as GPS can provide position data, but lack the ability to see or understand their environments. Perception Engine’s ability to localize, map, and at the same time provide full, spatial cognition is truly unique.
The applications for Perception Engine are nearly endless, from lawn care and floor cleaning to last mile delivery and logistics, to construction and agriculture, and many more. In fact, I believe the largest robotic applications of the future will be the ones we haven’t imagined yet. Our business model is to partner with robotics manufacturers who share our vision of a future where autonomy is widespread and unfettered. We are already engaged with some of the world’s leading brands on proof-of-concept programs across multiple applications.
I’m very proud and excited to introduce you, in this first blog post, to RGo Robotics. I invite you to join us as we revolutionize the field of mobile robotics!