ABB has announced the acquisition of Sevensense, a Swiss start-up specializing in AI-powered 3D vision technology that helps Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) navigate. As a manufacturer of AMRs, industrial robots and collaborative robots, among other products, ABB will integrate Sevensense's technology into its product portfolio.
Sevensense, founded in 2018 as a spin-off from the Swiss university ETH Zurich, develops navigation technology for AMRs by combining AI and 3D vision technology. This technology enables AMRs to navigate autonomously in industrial environments, allowing them to make intelligent decisions and distinguish between fixed and moving objects in dynamic settings.
Commissioning and applications During commissioning, the AMRs only need to be manually guided through the environment once. In doing so, they create a map using Visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (Visual SLAM) technology, enabling them to navigate the environment autonomously. This approach significantly shortens the commissioning of AMRs equipped with Visual SLAM technology, reducing it from weeks to days. The AMRs can navigate autonomously in complex and dynamic environments, including those where people are present. The robots continuously update their maps and share this information with one another.
ABB's vision for the future ABB, which already took a minority stake in Sevensense back in 2021, is now focusing on fully integrating Sevensense's technology into its own AMR portfolio. In doing so, ABB is anticipating the expected growth in demand for AMRs, which is projected to rise from 5.5 billion dollars in 2023 to 9.5 billion dollars in 2026, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20%.
Customers and applications Several customers, including Ford and Michelin, have embraced the technology. Ford intends to deploy the ABB AMRs with Visual SLAM technology to increase efficiency at production facilities in the United States. Michelin uses the AMRs at its factory in Spain. Other automakers in Germany, Finland and the United Kingdom have also expressed interest.
Future availability of Sevensense technology The integration of Sevensense into ABB does not mean that Sevensense will disappear from the market. ABB plans to continue supplying Sevensense's technology for applications in material handling, cleaning and other service-oriented uses. Sevensense offers three products: Alphasense Position for positioning mobile machines, Alphasense Autonomy for AI navigation for AMRs, and Core Research for exploring Visual AI applications using an inertial sensor.
Sevensense's 35 employees will continue to work from the Swiss office in Zurich. Financial details of the acquisition have not been disclosed.